Games for Lunch: FUEL

In a nutshell: Where we're going, we don't need roads...
6/26/2009 6:25 PM | 3 Comments | Page 1 of 3

Developer: Asobo Studios
Publisher: Codemasters
Release Date: June 2, 2009
Systems: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PS3, PC
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site

0:00 A racing game with an incredibly huge, open post-apocalyptic world? Yes, please!

0:01 A super-quick downloadable update and we're on our way. The camera does a super-zoom through some vivid, colorful desert scrub. The title comes up at the end, followed by what looks like an advertising trailer. "These were once fertile lands, 'til weather waged war on man. The seas rose, the sun scorched the Earth, and the people fled. Some ... remained behind." A car and bike bouncing around the wasteland. Eventually, a huge tornado starts chasing them. A huge explosion sets the tornado ON FIRE as the buggy flips out in a spectacular wreck. Intense!

0:02 "Take a 15-minute break every hour," says the loading screen. "The game isn't going to vanish is it?" But how do I know it won't vanish? HOW DO I KNOW?

0:04 A cargo chopper carries a dune buggy to a relatively nice military-looking camp on the coast. "Offshore Shack" is the name of the place? Or the mission? Or something? I dunno...

0:05 "Start your engines! To start a career race within an unlocked zone, select career." Wow, thanks, super-obvious instructions! There are three available missions to start with ... I'll take "01 The Leap of Faith." It's a checkpoint bike race on "mostly offroad surface." Let's do it!

0:06 "How confident are you?" Oooh, I LIKE the way they phrased the difficulty question there. Rookie, Expert or Legend ... let's go with Expert. Even though it's not the hardest level, I like being able to say I'm an expert =)

0:07 My driver looks like a rejected extra from "Mad Max" mixed with one of the guys from Limp Bizkit. I can customize his look, but I'm just not in the mood. I do give my bike a nice red paintjob, though. "START THE RACE!"

0:08 Some more pre-loading screens tell me that I can make my own path, and that I shouldn't follow the GPS blindly. "Think!" As if I needed that. I watch "The Office", y'know.

0:10 After lots of loading and "Generating..." we're finally off. The camera is set close, right behind my rider. Trying to figure out how to change it, I tap Y and accidentally reset my bike into the center of the road. This also pushes me to the back of the pack. Whoops.

0:12 I like how the right stick lets me move the camera around to look for alternate paths without actively turning the bike. I also like how the bike seems nice and floaty in the air but solid and heavy on the ground. Best of both worlds, there.

0:15 I'm just a smidge behind first place -- 18 hundredths of a second -- when I make it across the finish. "TRY HARDER... ... OR FAIL FOREVER!" the game admonishes me. Harsh!

0:17 I jump into first place early on this time by going straight through the brush while everyone else is curving around the beaten path. The only problem with being in first ... I have no idea where I'm going. The path is so subtle that, by the time I think to look at my radar, I'm well to the west of the finish line. D'oh! One more time!