Check out our interview with Brad Schalchter.

Codemasters has a rich history in racing titles, with their in-house developed Grid and Dirt each receiving praise for the realistic take on driving, without bowing down to using it as an excuse. Their next published (but not developed) racer is Fuel, which seems to take yet another step back from realism in favor of nitrous-fueled action.

Global Warming has ravaged the world, and instead of simply making it slightly more uncomfortable, the result is more akin to what was seen in the Day after Tomorrow. Tornadoes skip across the land, as well as raging fires, terrible hail, and blinding sandstorms. The effects are more than just cosmetic, and areas plagued with tornadoes will see vehicles thrown through the air and other obstacles smashed into the battlefield. This, however, will not be the same every time, giving the game more of an Excite Truck feel than the developers seemed willing to admit.

Though, to be honest, even after playing Fuel at an event in NYC this week, I’m not sure what the actual intent is. There’s a definite emphasis on scale: Fuel is BIG. With 5,000 square miles of world to explore, there’s absolutely no shortage of areas to explore. Even so, the races, or at least the one I was in, seemed too limited. At first, I thought I understood the goal of the track, and immediately began driving off road. Dodged a few trees, made a few short stops, and found myself back on track, ignoring a rough turn completely, and gaining a few seconds on the competition. A little later, I hit a wall at a strange angle and crashed. Spun around, the game respawned me back at said turn, because apparently there was a checkpoint that I missed.

I understand the value of trying to avoid shortcuts that might break the game, but when there are other obstacles to think about (say, for instance, a forest) it would make sense to ignore the archaic checkpoint system in favor of something a little more…evolved. This was only one mode, however, and it was explained that the entire game might not follow this same mechanic. 

However, racing isn’t the only game mode, and the others are what make Fuel really look unique. Being able to chase a helicopter, for instance, sounds fantastic. Hell, being able to just simply chase the horizon, and race friends across the map without worry of harsh checkpoints, sounds far more appealing than simply hitting a few checkpoints on a narrow road. Hopefully presentation is bumped up a bit as well, as the graphics were a bit clunky, the physics were a tad off, and the game definitely didn’t feel totally finished. But none of these are huge issues... yet. There are likely going to be a few more passes on the engine before the game is released, and hopefully all of the loose ends are tidied up between now and then.

All in all, I didn’t get what I expected, but I wasn’t disappointed by what I saw, and hope that Fuel ends up being as interesting and deep of a game as it looks like it has the potential to be. 

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