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Fuel

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6.4 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 16 critic reviews
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Based on 24 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Codemasters

Developer: Asobo Studio

Genre(s): Racing, Driving

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: June 23, 2009

Summary

Get fuelled up and prepare to race and explore the world's largest ever racing environment - over 5,000 square miles of spectacular wilderness. Set to revolutionise multi-terrain, multi-vehicle racing, FUEL is a fiercely competitive game without boundaries. On and off-road, two and four-wheeled vehicles race a massively diverse environment, from scaling the highest snow-capped mountain to racing the deepest arid canyon. In a fictional present, vast swathes of the United States have been ravaged by the extreme effects of accelerated global warming: tornados, brush fires, hurricanes and tsunamis have driven people from their homes leaving huge areas of America abandoned. Now these dangerous areas have created the perfect playground for a new breed of adrenaline junkies who set out to conquer each other, and Mother Nature, in closely fought races. There are over 70 different vehicles with which to take on any challenge that FUEL’s stunning environment throws at you. On-road and off-road bikes, cars, quads, trucks, buggies and dragsters take dangerous short-cuts, perform death-defying jumps and tear through spectacular cross-over points. FUEL's landscape is powered by cutting-edge technology and, using satellite data, features some of the most exciting and inspiring areas of America - including the Grand Canyon, Yosemite National Park, Mount Rainier and much more. In FUEL, if you can see it, you can drive to it, taking any route - on or off-road - that you want. With a draw distance of 40KM, 100,000 miles of roads, tracks and trails and hundreds of race events FUEL’s epic world demands to be explored. [Codmasters]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Play Magazine

You want Bikes, ATVs, Muscle Cars, SUVs, Buggies, Trucks…they’re all in here, along with every conceivable type of race set across thousands of miles of populated ultra-realistic topography, complete with dynamic weather. And it all looks and plays spectacularly. Unless you’re looking for an authentic hard core sim, there’s no reason you shouldn’t leave right now, and even if you are, a little FUEL might just change your mind.

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AceGamez

FUEL is bold, imaginative, and fun, a refreshingly straightforward slice of arcade racing ecstasy that's a much-needed antidote to the hardcore simulations that are usually offered.

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Edge Magazine

Even if some of the fundamental stuff has been sacrificed to the creation of this huge world, Fuel still makes it across the finish line on a far-from-empty tank. [July 2009, p.97]

GameStar

The huge world of FUEL is fascinating, but not much more than just a backdrop. There should be better reasons to drive around for 30 minutes than just unlocking a new paint job for your car.

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PC Format

Impressive as the scale and visuals are as a technical achievement, the game itself is little more than a hollow shell. [Aug 2009, p.90]

InsideGamer.nl

FUEL is a huge project but never quite fulfills its potential. The game lacks polish and style, and the overwhelmingly enormous world is too lifeless to keep you entertained. Thus, FUEL never manages to impress, making it nothing more than an average off road-racer inferior to competitors like Pure and Motorstorm.

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3DJuegos

Those who have followed the development of Fuel will be disappointed with the final result, while those who know nothing about its scope will find an enjoyable but at the same time unremarkable game.

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PC Gamer UK

Fuel's races can sometimes frustrate, but making your own fun in a truly massive world is rarely a chore. [Sept 2009, p.76]

PC Zone UK

It's professor Rubbish AI and his evil sidekick Shite Physics. [Sept 2009, p.60]

Multiplayer.it

14000 square kilometers are not enough to make a good game. Fuel tries to overlap its competitors by taking a sand box approach to the genre, but it fails by offering races that are neither challenging nor thrilling set in enormous and boring open spaces.

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GameSpot

This expansive arcade racer may be ambitious, but it doesn't nail all of the basics.

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LEVEL (Czech Republic)

Simple concept, simple name, simple game. Here you have your driving wheel and nearly endless (and rather empty) racing sandbox with suspiciously behaving opponents. [Aug 2009]

Absolute Games

Ten thousand square kilometers of crushing solitude. You drive on a track poorly lit by a full moon, and you desperately long for something interesting to happen. But no, there are no surprises at all.

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IGN

After putting in numerous hours with Fuel, I've struggled to find anything that I especially like about it. The racing has issues, but in and of itself (outside of not being able to select a ride you might want), it works well enough. Not great, but well enough.

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Total Video Games

We had high hopes for FUEL, which promised to offer an expansive game world teaming with insane weather and even crazier racing. Ultimately, however, Asobo Studio has served up a barren wasteland filled with nothing to do, bland race events, and weather effects that are far less dynamic than Codemasters might have you believe.

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Total PC Gaming

FUEL is a big world of promise, but sadly it can't deliver most of them. [Issue#23, p.54]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 24 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Stuipid game gave it a1:
What a terrible game. I played the demo and it was so boring and simple ( I took first place at all skill levels on my first try) Great graphics if you like to see the same trees over and over again with a hill thrown in for fun.

John R gave it an8:
This game has been given a bad review by so many people. I almost did not buy it. I am glad that I did. It is an imaginative racing game that reminds me of my youth when I would ride motorbikes through the Australian bush. My children spend hours exploring in search of all the hidden surprises thoughout the landscape.

Veron M gave it a4:
Fuel is a grandiose idea that is ultimately hollow and full of the kinds of things that don't matter. Sort of like Al Gore's version of Global Warming upon which the backdrop for this game is derived. Ok you have the latest in gorgeous backgrounds and all manner of technical effect afforded to you in video gaming today. However with all the advancement in graphics there have been those same advances in physics modeling and artificial intelligence; the deficiency of this game being in the latter two. Ok is the game fun? Yes, it can be. Nearly all games are fun in some way. But with video gaming there's a bit more involved with the need of a console or a PC, the costs involved there and then the cost of the game itself. For all that cost, and the hype with it, a game like this should deliver. I'd rent this, try it out then forget about it. Oh wait I did, except for writing this short review. So with throwing at you graphics and variety Codemasters and Asobo Studio are giving you just the same kind of useless and costly package that Al Gore and Congress are giving you with Cap and Trade. Better to save your Federal Reserve notes to buy a few ounces of real money like silver bullion than spend them on the retail asking price of this game.

Fletcher O gave it a4:
This game could have been much better but as others have said, it lacks a sense of speed and has very odd physics for a racing game. I'm not too far into it, but from what I've played makes me not want to go any farther in it. Sliding out of control (when staying in control leads to getting passed by everyone) leads to frustrating racing. It does provide a massive area to explore but why would I want to? If they had answered that question, then the game would have been much better.

Buddhamind gave it a9:
FUEL is so badly rated, and maybe objectively there are a lot of points which could be better. Yet I am quite a fan of race games - like more than a decade - and intuitively this game feels just right. Personally I like to drive the huge open ended world even though it is a bit 'empty'. But the races make everything more than good. Unlike Burnout Paradise which goes way to soon way too fast, FUEL has just exactly the right speed. Maybe in the beginning the cars and bikes are a bit slowy, but I think the programmers want players to focus on steering/ drifting which is exactly what the challenge is in races. Also unlike ANY game I've played before the races have a certain bigness. You're not cramped up in a city, but you're driving these big plains, rolling down mountains is just superbly done. I have not seen anything like this before. So even though there are some theoretical flaws (they're not really obvious or an annoyance while playing like in most games), I find myself just being extremely excited everytime I play, not knowing exactly why.

Dylan T gave it an8:
FUEL delivers on almost all its promises. Having said that, from what I've played the actual racing lacks a sense of speed and the sound effects become annoying after a short time.

Nicolas G. gave it a10:
This was probably the best game i have ever played. Really easy to handle. Wonderful graphics and good racing! You have to love it!

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