5.7.2009

FUEL is an off-road, arcade racing game with a HUGE free roaming area and online multi player feature. I loved Test Drive Unlimited and the open, real time driving and discovery in it, so I've been looking forward to this. Firstly I see complaints here about a lack of wheel support which is a shame, but at the same time it's not a driving simulation - you don't even have the option of a manual shift. I've been playing it first with keyboard then my cheap game controller and it works fine, so it's not as though it's like Juiced 2 for the PC which supported only the 360 controller. I will add an installation note: you must install the Windows Live part to be able to play it offline.On to the game.A sort-of post-apocalyptic future where climate change has forced mankind to live in cities, leaving the remaining US wasteland open for a bunch of environmentally unfriendly, fossil fuel racers. There are 4 different vehicle types from dirt bike to muscle car and apparently 74 different vehicles. In career mode you've got races and challenges including checkpoint races, beat the clock, beat the chopper etc. For each race you can choose your level of expertise. Winning at a high level will earn you more stars, which indicate progress and are used to unlock new territories. The races themselves are decent arcade fun and don't require a huge amount of driving skill, roughly comparable to playing Flatout. Playing on higher levels of expertise improves the driving skills of your opponents. Winning also earns you FUEL.The free roaming is great. You can follow the roads but it's wise to go off-road. The idea is to pick up barrels of FUEL dotted about which are the equivalent of credits in the game and used to pay for new vehicles. The environments are like riding through Fallout 3 on a quad bike, full of deserted farms and abandoned cars. Now and again there's traffic, so watch out in free ride that you don't hit an oncoming truck. Some barrels are less easily accessible, requiring you to perform jumps over ramps to get to them. You'll also discover new challenge races, livery, clothes and vantage points on your travels. Considering the 5000 sq mile map and real time driving, this game is going to take plenty of time to finish.Graphics are very pretty indeed and performance is good. The colours are realistic, the bloom isn't overwhelming, the sunrise and sunset are spectacular and there's weather too. I'm running on a low spec'd system AMD X2 3800 and nVidia 7900 at 1024 but it almost never drops below 35 frames and is smoother than playing TDU. No crashes or glitches encountered either.Only negative point is that the soundtrack is practically non-existent. There's a decent rock tune going on in the background but that's it. Doesn't affect the gameplay though.Bottom line: If you like driving in pretty real-world environments and racing without too much thought, then this is for you.

12.3.2010

Out of all the racing games I have played on PS3, FUEL is the most intelligent. It has you by the bull's horns and keeps you gripped within a tight white knuckle drive from start to finish and start again and try harder! - that's what this Codemasters title does. It is by far the biggest driving game on PS3 and deserves utmost credit. I have been playing it for 39 hours - actual gaming - and I just want more, and MORE! I've got to the point where I am 19 stars away from unlocking Dustbowl City. There are many reasons why you might not be taken in by this title to begin with, but, worry not, just think of the competition: MotorStorm Monument Valley and Pacific Rift, both of which are intense also.Yes, they are two great alternatives, but they are different, as is Pure [only ATVs and no first person perspective]. I'm strictly race rather than freestyling and I would suggest that you forget about Sega Rally and, please, don't consider MX vs ATV Untamed [ever], which is the worst racing game I have ever wasted a tenner on. DiRT2 is comparable with FUEL in some ways, but, nonetheless, for sheer unbridled wild west expansive free roam, open your mind, kit back and enjoy, learn and be apprehensively excited, this has got to be top of the pile. One thing to note: Codemasters forgot to say in their instruction manual that you can play this game from first person perspective by pressing the R3 button, which is a fundamental aspect to this game's appeal. FUEL IS fast, very fast and exhilarating from drivers' eye - don't listen to the critics who say FUEL is too slow. They say that tosh because they have only tinkered on it for perhaps an hour or so. The range of vehicles is vast, seventy in total and you unlock these faster vehicles as the journey goes on. FUEL is indeed a journey - a flaming massive one! Through dark winter starlit nights, lonely on the highway, to full-on tornadoes, high winds and thunderstorms on tricky dusty windswept tracks, yes, FUEL keeps you fully occupied. The game's racing engine is a fair one and the AI is all about who is in front - just like in real life - once you take the lead you tend to get nervious by having no one to follow. FUEL provides the thinking man's brain with enough feedback to want to have another go and try to win each stage - it's all about winning those precious stars to further your career. There are also many 'Challenges', as well as 'Free-roam' where you can find essential fuel to buy more powerful vehicles, which, in turn, helps you to progress quicker. Spend time with this amazing game and check the vistas out, find new liveries and generally drive into the sunset with free abandon. I simply love FUEL because you can drive Bikes, ATVs, Buggies, Muscle cars, Mud Pluggers and Trucks, all of which are totally renegade and ill, perhaps the only vehicle class missing is Go-karts. Bravo to the makers of FUEL.

9.7.2009

Ok so before this I read mixed reviews. Sounded like one of those games you either love or hate.Its a simple straightforward answer for me - I love it!!Anyone who like tinkering with car setups wont like it as you cannot do any of that - to me it saves messing about. I just want to press the throttle and go. All the cars handle differently ie varying on road, off road , speed, grip etc but each handles with relative ease. I dont mean the games easy it isnt, but depending on the vehicle you select or are given it handles just as its supposed to.This games so vast that even after over 20 hours of gaming you never see the same old acks again. Although you can do each challenge from 1 to 3 stars increasing difficulty as you move up.

15.6.2009

I ordered this game last week and did so before reading the reviews on here. I was somewhat disheartened after reading the reviews as it was already delivered and waiting at home for me! I finally bit the bullet yesterday and gave it a go and was completely shocked and surprised. I don't understand why there is such negativity about it.I, like many others, am an experienced gamer (currently just over 69000 gamerscore!) and racing games is a genre that I enjoy. I could liken "Fuel" to many others:Sega Rally (Graphics)Test Drive Unlimited (Big map idea and gameplay type)Dirt (Hint of Gameplay)Burnout Paradise (Collecting of things and building up races)The list goes on but all round I can see it staying in the disc tray for a while longer than originally anticipated.

16.6.2009

This map is enormous and you don't understand the full size of it until you play the game. It would take 40 minutes real time to drive top to bottom and that's in a straight line which is nearly impossible with the many varieties of terrain.Good Points- massive map- large selection of vehicles, clothing, liveries and paint styles- variety of vehicles (different vehicles good for different types of races or terrain etc.)- different race types and lost of different challenges(difficulty can be changed to suit the driver)- different "things" to pick up along the way i.e. hundreds maybe thousands of "fuel" (game's currency)

6.6.2009

I've had this for a day now and i have to say the gameplay is addictive, i love the way the game is laid out, you never see the same scenery twice, There's around 20 regions of the game and it takes me around 30 minutes + to cross one region. Its so vast and if your worried of not being able to get where you want quickly there's a quick travel function via an in game helicopter feature. Its not need for speed with nitrous oxide and big rims on your car, Its insanely fun off road vehicles that are addictive and fun to drive. I would rate this game much higher than other reviews. A quick summary:1) The map is huge and fun to travel around2) There's a quick travel easy function3)

1.3.2014

This game is 100% Amazing. I got it with as a free game for my new Gaming/Home PC. Despite not a very good tutorial it becomes very good once you get into the game.The aim of the game is to race and collect stars to unlock areas of the map that unlock new vehicles. It is very challenging on Legend difficulty (The hardest) as very easy on Rookie difficulty (The easiest) there is also a expert mode.The map is huge so you can travel almost everywhere. It took 30 minutes to get to one camp to the other.The types of weather were a let down but the sounds do cover that up a lot. Also as this is a 5 year old game the online mode is pretty much useless as nobody plays on it on PC (as of GFWL's terrible

21.8.2012

This game is great if you find it going cheap, and this game is a must if you love exploration. The main problem with this game is... the map is a little too big. You can spend a LOT of time aimlessly wandering, looking for a challenge. It's lucky that Codemasters filled it with ramps. The land really lets your imagination run wild. Miles and miles of land to explore, but... there's not much character in it. The other thing I wanted to point out is it's the wrong genre. An open world RACING game??Now for the good points. Mainly: the sheer AMOUNT of content. The hundreds of skins, the tons of vehicles, the truly GARGANTUAN world map... this game delivers in SPADES. I'm still figuring out how they fit all that in an XBOX,

17.6.2009

for the hundreds of games that have copied the old gta.loads have been unsecsesful. but what i think fuel was trying to do was break the boundry and push it way to far,the things that they lack are simple, if they had better sound and better graphics it would be imense! but for the people who have xbox live its a compleat disaster with the invites, and for me who likes staying with my mates instead of going off with noobs its rubbish. after every match you have to reinvite people and it gets realy anoying. but exept that its realy fun! almost full custumisation on your car and your clothes.if you love free roaming games then get the game.but if your a perfectionalist that prefers critisising the game than having a bit of fun then this isnt your game.

9.9.2009

Fuel must be applauded for being so ambitious.The playing area is absolutly HUGE and the graphics range from good to stunning.I can understand the mixed reviews,the handling takes a lot of getting used to,the landscape is a bit lifeless and the music and sound effects are pretty poor.However,if you like exploring and collecting stuff,like Crackdown or Oblivion,this is the driving equivalent.There are 100's of races that you can jump right into,and the tight,circuit races can be great fun,but i've got most pleasure from this game by sticking a custom soundtrack on and driving about in the huge range of vehicles,collecting,speaking to other online drivers you meet on the way and just admiring

14.6.2009

This game is probably my least favourite racing game I have played to date. Okay, so the technology behind it is great, fitting all that terrain into one game, nothing short of a miracle. But why did they have to lack in areas such as Graphics, Control or Sound?The handling feels a little bit like you are trying to drive a hovercraft over water.. it just feels floaty. The graphics let themselves down a bit too, I would've expected to have seen these graphics on a PS2 or and Original Xbox and the sound? There wasn't enough, you would go 'round the corner and get the same tyre squeel sound effect as the last corner.This game is fun if you like driving around all the time to get to races.

29.11.2009

I love the scale of free roam in this game, sometimes it can take a while to drive to somewhere, but i like it nevertheless.Lots of different places to explore :)Good range of vehicles too! "The Educator" (which is basically an american school bus on monster truck wheels) is my "get out of any situation" car :PThe online service could be better, you would have to organise where to meet up with someone before-hand, i think there should be a feature where you can see everyone on the map, such as in Test Drive Unlimited (google it).Overall a good game though, i recommend buying it if you love offroading + free roaming.

28.1.2012

How I missed this game when it first came out, I do not know. So far, this is such an enjoyable game to play. It has LOVELY graphics, PLENTY of races, and LOTS of things to hunt. The map is HUGE to explore, which never gets boring. The bike/car handling is spot on, which is a joy to just take out for a spin in free mode play. The only gripe I have with this game, is when it gets dark, can be abit difficult to see where you're going. This DOES NOT spoil the gameplay though, and so far all my races/challenges have been in daylight. Highly recommendable!!

5.7.2009

Fuel, a driving experience unmatched by any game in this genre. Recieved the day of release, it has been a great game. So much to unlock. The game is based on over 14000sq km. It is a quite realistic world with amazing weather effects, realistic terrian and tough AI.There is variable races with different challenges that can take some time to beat (1st only). It does take some time to find your way around, and get some decent machines, but well worth the effort.I haven't played it through XBOX live but I am sure it would be a lot of fun.

25.4.2019

I won't bother duplicating other reviews here, apart to say I've had this on the PC as well as (now) my Xbox One X and it's fine. An open world driving/racing game, with the occasional lunatic truck barrelling along roads without respect for you, just when you're out for a drive/looking for fuel barrels. Some of the races can be a bit of a challenge, but the graphics are fine (rather than jaw-dropping - remember the age of this game) and when you find some unexpected ruin or other sight it can look quite beautiful.Basically, I like it.

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