Fuel

Review from AJ and AJ - Monday, 27 July 2009 @ 6:05pm

Fuel was a tough game to review. While I was waiting for the game to arrive I’d read a couple of other reviews around the web. I was actually surprised by the general lack of positivity towards the game. IGN and Gamespot gave the game a 5.1 and a 6 respectively. Both of their scores were frankly harsh. Whoever reviewed the game for IGN sounded like they decided the game was shit after a couple of hours and moved on to something else (by their own words, “numerous hours”). The Gamespot review was practically glowing in praise for the game and yet still only gave it a 6 out of 10. Needless to say, I was disappointed to read these scores for a game I’d been looking forward to for a long long time.

Let this be a lesson for you. Just because some video game “journalist” doesn’t think much of a game, doesn’t mean that you won’t like it. Personally, I’ve now clocked in well over 40 hours on the game, and I’m STILL playing it. I can’t actually put the game down.

Yes, twisters are cool

But I can tell you why there are such wide and varied review scores on Metacritic for this game. It’s because if you played it for a few hours, you’d probably hate it. But once you open up a few of the more impressive zones, and some of the better handling vehicles, the game becomes a whole lot more fun. I could’ve easily played this for a day and written a scathing review and given the game a 5 out of 10, but something just kept dragging me back in. Now I love the game. Of course, the fact that the game doesn't start hitting its stride until 15 hours in is something of a problem...but it DOES get there.

Fuel is a post-apocalyptic open-world racer. In this case is the apocalypse comes in the form of global warming. Throughout the game you’ll see references to this, whether it be burning forests, flooded cities, abandoned homes, cars and power stations. Of course to counter that, there are wind farms, solar farms and plenty of snow....so it can’t be all bad in the future can it? The premise is that in this new world there is a fuel shortage, and racers race to win fuel...and use fuel to buy better vehicles. Which does beg the question, if fuel is so scarce.....why am I racing in monster truck school bus called "The Educator"?

The game is not without its flaws, and as far as first impressions go, the game fails. The game isn’t as graphically pretty as say Forza or Gran Turismo, and it certainly doesn’t have the handling and realism of Colin McRae Dirt. So if you downloaded the demo, or hired the game for the weekend you’d probably hate it. On top of that, the game is initially tough. I mean real tough. You can forget about getting 3 stars on many of the races early on, you’ll be playing on the lowest difficulty. Later on when you’ve unlocked some more of the better vehicles you can come back and claim your stars...and you’ll need to do exactly that to unlock all the games different zones. A few reviewers have bitched about how the game doesn’t have “rubber banding AI” whatever the hell that means. Yes the AI gets an unfair head start, and yes they slow down towards the end...so what? Half the fun of the game, particularly on the latter stages with narrow cliff top roads, is trying to get past the opposition....that's why you always start last. It can be annoying and is certainly not realistic, but I don’t think this game is striving to be a driving simulator.

Riders on the Storm..but without The Doors

I can accept the poor handling of some of the earlier vehicles, simply because it makes unlocking new ones a totally rewarding experience. That race you couldn’t beat before, you can now go back and have another go at with that new bike or buggy. The difficulty in this game isn’t about fancy AI, it’s about having the right vehicle for the task. Every race is pretty much a time trial. You get to the end within a certain time and you’ll win. The opposition is just there to get in your way. Who cares if occasionally they sit there trying to get up a hill they can’t possibly get up... I’ve done that plenty of times!

Graphically, first impressions are also harsh. The game looks rough. Textures look blocky on occasion, and the whole thing looks kinda low rez. Later in the game, however, you can more than forgive the engine for being a little crusty as you speed through tornados, lightning storms, sand dunes, snow, burning forests and even a near white-out blizzard. I don’t know if Fuel uses the same tree and terrain rendering engine as Oblivion, but it sure looks like it. If I said to you that you could take a dirt bike through the forests of Cyrodil, you’d be pretty close to what it’s like playing Fuel...except without the ludicrous amount of lens flare! Sure the game graphically isn’t up to its step-brother Dirt, but given the open nature of the game, I think it is to be expected. Being able to drive anywhere you like unfortunately does have a cost. Oh...and the first time you race along side a tornado...I guarantee you you'll get a surprise or two!

10 seconds of hang time...oh yeah!

For me, Fuel is at its best on bikes. Some of the off-road bikes are the best handling in the game, and hurtling through forests at 150mph is a bit of a buzz that I just don’t get tired of. Speaking of never tiring of something.... there is some strange attraction to suiciding off the edge of the Grand Canyon that I will just never tire of. 10 seconds of air time? No problem! This game frequently reminds me of the classic Motocross Madness from Microsoft which came out about 10 years ago and featured the same sort of cross country tree dodging fun. Fans of track racing....stay away!

I read a review where some idiot said that fuel lacked variation in terrain. HA! I wanted to reach into my monitor and slap the guy. Fuel has something like 15 different zones. Each one completely different terrain. You start of in grasslands, move to the beach, then to the swamp, after that it is a burnt out forest, then a crater lake, another region is akin to Death Valley and the Grand Canyon, then there are deserts, salt lakes, little mountains, big mountains (believe me, big mountains need their own category!), coal mines, dense forests, cities submerged in water, cities submerged in sand, aircraft graveyards and of course then there is Rainier Peak.... the mutha of all mountains. No variation. So...Uhhmm... did you review the demo? For the record, unlocking Rainier Peak requires winning every race on the medium difficulty or better, just winning everything on medium is not enough to unlock it...you have to be pretty serious! It is well worth the effort though!

Vista points are DEFINITELY worth checking out

Another thing that pissed me off, and I know I’m harping on this... what is it with reviews that bitch about Burnout Paradise having to DRIVE to a challenge instead of having a menu but then having reviews that bitch about Fuel having a menu instead of having to drive to a challenge? Frankly, I think it’s awesome to not have to drive. Open the menu, go where you want to go. Easy. On top of that Fuel, unlike Burnout Paradise actually let’s you RESTART a race should you stuff up. On that topic, however, Fuel’s load times can be a bit nightmarish...if you have the space, I recommend using the hard disk install through your Xbox dashboard!

So if you don’t have to drive to your race, why have this massive opens space?? This is something that it appears that other reviews either didn’t notice or didn’t care about. In Fuel you can create your own races FROM anywhere TO anywhere VIA anywhere. It is entirely possible to create a race that will take several hours to complete...just don’t expect anyone to enjoy it :P With the landscape littered with jumps, cliffs, swamps, forests and freeways you can come up with some pretty interesting races. Of course, the only problem I had was trying to find someone online to race against.....maybe that’s because too many people read about how supposedly crap this game was. The other great thing about the wide open spaces are the point to point races. These are races which require you get from A to B in the quickest time possible. There are some pretty wild shortcuts you can take, and the risk in taking these is a big part of the fun. Following the GPS is a lame way to win!

Roads are good...but off-road is usually better

Speaking of the GPS, this game would suck without it. Checkpoint races which feature a set course whether it be on road or off road often demand paying close attention to the GPS. This is especially true with vehicles which aren't so good off road....as a short cut is often not as short as it would seem. The GPS actually does a great job of calculating the best way to get somewhere, even though it won't work out cliff jumping short cuts for you!

This is a game that is universally hated by gaming elitists. The exact sort of person who ensures that the future of gaming is a murky cess pit of re-makes and sequels. The people who give Fuel a 5/10 are the same people who panned games like Mirror’s Edge and Assassin's Creed for all their failings without praise for their successes. There is always criticism when the technology isn’t quite up to their ambitious goals or when the budget couldn’t quite handle another 6 months of AI programming, or a better physics engine. Some reviewers have their heads so far up their own arses that they forget WHY we review games. These are the people that call themselves gaming “critics” instead of just accepting that they’re people who just happen to write about games. People who hate a game because the draw distance isn’t far enough, or because the AI isn’t realistic enough really need to get a life.

You only need to know two things about this game.

1. FUEL is a shit load of fun.

2. IGN and Gamespot suck.

I have no doubt it’ll be on the discount shelves soon, so go pick it up.

Pros

Huge variety of vehicles and terrain.
Crazy weather.
Point to point races allow you decide how to get there.
Vista points ARE actually worth checking out!
Wide variety of race types and challenges.

Cons

Occasional framerate issues (especially in the shorter circuit races in and around buildings)
Yes, the AI cheats...get over it.
Physics is a bit iffy to say the least.