Actually..I'm lying
This is my First game review, I chose this game because it contains some interesting things and the fact that I’ve got this game…If you find anything in this review which is incorrect or does make sense it does not then please comment on this page or tell me on MSN. My next review might be a video review instead of a written one..
A racing game with Twisters..what could possibly go wrong?
Fuel is developed by Asobo Studio and published by Codemasters, it was released on the 2nd of June for Consoles (Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3) and was released on PC using Games for windows live a couple of weeks ago. Fuel takes place in a seemingly post-apocalyptic island where when most of the residents swam away, crazy people stayed and they now race for fuel which doesn’t make sense. This game as with most Racing games does not contain a story. Don’t expect to be playing this to find out what happens next..Because its Race after Race unless you choose to free roam with nothing to do.
When I purchased this game I thought that it would be like DiRT and GRiD but instead its a game that is nowhere near the style of gameplay of those 2 games. This game has lots of vehicles and stuff to unlock/find but when you find something in the game world its usually a livery for a shit car or some barrels of Fuel it could even be a vista point which is quite pointless as the average graphics don’t compliment this.
Seeing as this game has a massive map they had to remove some features you would find in almost any modern racer. The Damage models in GRiD and DiRT were brilliant and physics engine was built for rolling cars and smashing in to walls at 150mph however in Fuel damage models do not exist so you have indestructible cars and the physics model is shit. if you drove off a cliff at 100mph in real life it would probably involve a few rolls and a flattened car at the end however in fuel driving a car off a cliff does nothing the car does not shake, roll, show signs of damage or even malfunction so straight away this game lets down on damage and physics which is what the previous 2 codies racing games delivered so well on.
Despite the negatives this game can be fun, driving across the rocky plains of a section in fuel is quite exhilarating and the races can be quite nail-biting but the AI suffer from whentheplayercantseetheAItheydoaesomeitis which is quite depressing and I’ve no idea Asobo studios did this..its something EA would do.
The GPS is quite distracting at times with giant red arrows over the vehicle takes out the fun of finding your own way to the checkpoint you can turn it off with a press of a button but it also removes the compass at the top which is a shame because the compass is useful, which means you must have your GPS on in Races otherwise you will have no idea where to go.
- Dont you wish your GPS was big, red and pointy?
I believe the Consoles suffer from a minor issue of Pop-ins where a rock or something randomly pops up in your path and you crash in to it and the PC version seems to mess up sometimes…Some of the trees you can drive through and other times you can crash into thin air, hopefully these issues will get fixed by Asobo.
One of the features that Asobo kept releasing trailers about was the Dynamic weather, where you would be driving along and then all of a sudden a Twister forms and starts destroying everything in its path which sounded awesome, that alone persuaded me to buy this game..but they lied the Twister only happens occasionally in races as scripted events which is not as it was advertised.
The presentation of the game is not bad but its not special. The Lighting is brilliant but everything else is a bit bland. The Motion blur isn’t actually Motion blur its an overlay just like the black corners. Its not clear why Asobo added this since it seems to make the screen smaller..On the PC the 8800gt can max this game out with no lag whatsoever.
All in all this game has its moments but failing to deliver on the 2 major factors is a big dissappointment, the map is massive but uninteresting and empty. The vehicles handle weirdly, sound like hairdryers. Its a budget game and the £30 retail price is too much just wait 6 months and then find it in a bargain bin for a fiver
EPICS
