FUEL Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)FUEL quick Review (progress: 2nd base unlocked)

VEHICLES: 8/10 The handling is good, but the motorcycles are the most responsive. The emergency brake is effective and useful. When the stats show a vehicle is meant for offroad or asphalt, it's true. A road vehicle will struggle offroad, but as soon as it hits the road, acceleration kicks in as well as better handling. As you continue to unlock and buy more vehicles with Fuel points, you'll notice faster, better handling vehicles start showing up compared to the slow ones at the start. Overall, responsive controls, nice enough physics and plenty of interaction with the environment with varying terrain and jumps. You start the game with a free ride choice of a buggie or a dirtbike, and can quickly earn an ATV and car on the first zone. Finish the first zone, and 21 vehicles or so will be available to buy with your Fuel dollars, including Monster trucks, new motorcycles, buggies, ATV's and cars. Very nice.

GAMEPLAY: 7/10 For the fastest progress, use the MENU and win the 3 races on Rookie, then jump into the Challenges and complete them. Each time you win first, you get Fuel Credits (and Fuel dollars). The credits offer access to the next Shack Base on the giant map. Unlocking new rides is a highlight of the game.

RACES: 8/10 So far, they're the most enjoyable part of the game. The competition does seem to get a fast start, but you'll catch up fairly quickly, where after that, you can take the lead. Rookie mode is very forgiving, Expert is average difficulty and Pro is tough. The guide arrows are a big help. The biggest complaint? You can't pick your ride (so far anyway).

CHALLENGES: 7/10 Chase the Helicopter is fun, along with a few others, except for the Blitz/CHECKPOINT race, which for whatever reason, they barely give you enough time to work with on the clock. Took plenty of retries to win. No option to change difficulty in Challenges.

GAMEWORLD MAP: 9/10 Enormous. If you're just going to explore, it will take a long time as the reviewer said it would. You can go anywhere in the entire game right from the start in free ride, but you won't be able to unlock any checkpoints or rewards really until you win races and challenges.
You can pick a dirtbike or Dune Buggie from the start of the game and just explore. The terrain to cover gradually changes as you progress, offering new visuals from deserts, waterfronts, mountains, snow, thick forests, wastelands, winding roads, plains and more. The game is seriously massive in scale.

REWARDS: 9/10 Winning races/challenges and reaching new checkpoints in your local zone that you've already unlocked will earn you Fuel points which are needed to unlock new base/shack zones with new races and challenges, Fuel Dollars, to buy new rides that are unlocked by winning enough times, and gear for your rider. The rider gear and paint for your rides is a nice touch that could've been overlooked, but wasn't. It's not very in-depth in customization like Midnight Club, but it's welcome nonetheless. The new rides are affordable and a noticeable improvement on the first set of rides.

CAMERAS: 7/10 Three cameras to click through while riding, the default being the most advantageous during racing, since it gives you a better view of the action. But for exploration, the up close 2nd camera is very nice, really showcasing the detail of your rider and vehicle, bringing you closer to the action. The third view is first person, which is solid and looks even better when you see your vehicle shadow, giving you the sense you're almost in the vehicle, but really, this game should have also included an INTERIOR DASH VIEW, to really get the sense you're inside a vehicle instead of looking at a remote control toy. Overall, good camera views to experience the game world with.

OPTIONS: 4/10 There needs to be more options. You can't map the layout of your controls, there's no way to adjust the day/night cycle or set the time of day in free ride, but thankfully, you can adjust the sound, HUD displays, and a few other minor options for the game.

DAY/NIGHT CYCLE: 5/10 Count 12 minutes of daytime, then realize the entire world takes well over 3 hours or so just to reach the other end. That means every 12 minutes you're riding in moonlight darkness, missing all the scenery during exploration. During races, it's automatically set, which is fine. There seriously needs to be a way to set Constant DAY TIME, Constant Night time, or DUSK/DAWN at the very least to really enjoy what scenery this game is offering. At night, all the details are neglected but for your headlight view.

MULTIPLAYER ONLINE: Unfortunately, I haven't played it online yet, but hear it's good.

GRAPHICS: 7/10 The first time I plugged the game in, the gritty look to the graphics, which appear a bit sharp with very high contrast, didn't appeal to me right away. Night time reminded me of a PS2 game at times, a bit oversaturated and flat looking, but the daytime graphics, once you get used to the high sharpness level, are pretty good for such a giant game world. Just don't expect the detail and realism of DIRT or GRID, which are really refined graphically. Good graphics during the daytime overall. The vehicles look nice, with mud building up if you hit the wet dirt. Characters really can be seen best when riding the motorcycle.

SOUND: 7/10 The vehicles each have a unique engine sound, but once you hit top speed, the constant tone seems a bit dull after awhile. Overall though, the engines sound realistic. Some wind can be heard, with crickets at night. Impacting the ground uses the same thud each time it seems, but I still have much more to discover.

OVERALL: 8/10 The racing isn't revolutionary, but it's fun in an ATV OFFROAD FURY kind of way and is enjoyable. The scale of the map world delivers and offers plenty of variety if you have the patience to explore it, but I suggest playing the races first to see what the game can offer in terms of gameplay and fun. I still have to find a city to explore, as the game is enormous. It was a bit dull before starting the races, but now that I'm finally making progress unlocking new rides, outfits and reaching new checkpoints to new races, the game is fun. Give it enough play time to unlock new rides and you may enjoy it despite the harsh reviews.

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Product Description:
In FUEL players race across andexplore the world's largest racing environment – over 5,000 square milesof spectacular wilderness. Set to revolutionize multi-terrain, multi-vehicleracing, FUEL is a fiercely competitive, open-world game without boundaries.On and off-road, two and four-wheeled vehicles race a massively diverseenvironment, from scaling the highest snowcapped mountain to racing thedeepest arid canyon.

Expansive open-world environments.
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Dramatic weather effects
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In-game mixing of vehicle classes.
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Extreme off-road action.
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Smoking road racing.
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In an alternate present, vast stretches of America have become no-go areas as the devastating effects of global warming ravage the continent. Floods, storms, brush fires, tornadoes and hurricanes have driven people from towns and cities into safe zones as extreme weather wreaks havoc, creating thousands of square miles of dangerous uninhabitable areas. People turn to renewable energy in the face of the destruction caused by this catastrophe. But these danger zones have also become a playground for a new breed of racer. With a stockpile of fuel to be burned, adrenaline junkies head into the wilderness to compete against each other in spectacular races against themselves and the elements.

Vehicles
FUEL features 70 different unlockable vehicles designed to supportpick up and play arcade style fun. Each of these feature aggressive styling,unique performance and surface specific handling and can compete witheach other no matter how or where they are united. The six different vehicleclasses include:

Bikes
Bikes are fast, quick and easy to handle, but what they have in speed they lack in durability, so ride around trees, not into them. ATVs
ATV's four wheels offer more stability than bikes and their size allows them to be able to sneak in very narrow spaces. Muscle Cars
Muscle cars have enough speed and strength to face extreme conditions, making them a good choice for any kind of racer. SUVs
Powerful, stout and durable, SUVs make up for their lack of speed with all the hit that they can take before breaking down. Buggies
The smallest of cars and the easiest to handle, buggies are definitely fast, but durability can be an issue with them. Trucks
The largest and strongest vehicles, trucks will not daze you with speed, but they'll knock you out for sure with power.
Race Types and Challenges
FUEL features a wealth of race types and challenges. Races include A2B Time Trials, Checkpoint Races, Circuit Races and Raid Races; while some of the additional challenges include 'Long Raids'--races that can last for hours--and 'Knock Out' events, which are checkpoint races where the last racer to cross the line is eliminated.

Never Get Lost With GPS
Each vehicle in the game comes equipped with a unique GPs system. Showingup on the game screen's heads-up display (HUD), arrows display a routethat will take advantage of the distinctive capabilities of that vehicle,always indicating that fastest, most appropriate route. Race well andplayers are alerted to an extra route--one that is riskier, more hazardous--butpotentially quicker. Of course, you can always choose to switch the GPsoff and forge your own way through the wilderness.

Key Features

Open-world racing - The largest open-world racing arena ever, with 14,000 square km of streaming game world and 100,000 miles of trails.
Vehicles Galore - Drive over 70 unique vehicles in six different classes including: bikes, ATVs, muscle cars, SUVs, buggies and trucks.
Weather Effects - Experience how extreme weather conditions affect the race from rain to snow to sandstorms and destructive tornadoes.
Race Types - Compete in multiple categories of race types including: time trials, checkpoint races, circuit races and raid races.
Multiplayer Support - FUEL features 2-16 player online support via Xbox LIVE.
Online Racing - Compete against friends online in all 70 career races as well as online free rides.
GPs Technology - Each vehicle in FUEL features onboardGPs functionality ensuring you will never be lost.

Online Support
FUEL is a seamlessly integrated offline and online gameworld featuring hundreds of challenges across countless locations. Players can compete against friends in all of the game's 70 career races, as well as online free rides via Xbox LIVE. In addition, to these pre-designed events players can use the powerful route editor to create their own challenges set anywhere in FUEL's world and share them online.

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Grid Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Realistic non-F1 or NASCAR racing for the PS3 currently consists of two titles, GT 5 Prologue and Grid. This is a brief review to address the pros and cons of both programs:

Graphics: GT 5P is a very limited version of the full program which will be out later this year or even in 2009. As such, we need to bear in mind we are comparing a limited scope product to a finished one. That said, graphic elements in each program are still a wash, which I guess is testimony to GT 5P considering its graphics will probably improve a bit before the final version. The cars in GT 5P have more polygons and so the models look better, but Grid features a full-fledged damage system so the lower poly count and smaller number of cars in Grid are fully deformable, hence damage and collisions are quite dramatic in Grid. As of yet, GT 5Ps cars are not at all deformable so to some extent we are comparing two different types of graphics. Background track visuals are roughly the same in both games, so what we have is nicer undamaged models versus fully deformable models.

Sound: GT 5P wins hands-down. Engines sound nicer and more realistic, and the in-music is diverse and licensed. Grid truly fumbled the ball here with similar sounding rather weak engines and generic butt rock bgm that has not a single memorable riff. Admittedly one doesn't buy a racing game for the music, but the licensed tracks add some aesthetic appeal to GT 5P.

Scope and Size: GT 5P offers 75 cars, many of which are pretty tedious to drive. Grid offers 45 cars, most of which are lots of fun to drive. However, the fly in the ointment is that GT 5P has more varied and realistic handling among its cars. The 911, the Viper, and the Lancetti all handle remarkably similar in Grid, which really should not be happening. GT 5P by comparison offers a more diverse driving experience. GT 5P however only has 6 tracks while Grid has 15, so Grid offers a bit more to see. However, as mentioned, GT 5P is a work in progress, so we can expect to see many more cars and tracks by the time the finished version appears. Same deal applies to game play - Grid offers many different race modes and championship types, while GT 5P has a limited set of events, 40 or so, so the game can be tapped out very quickly. (Assuming you can get past some of the annoyingly difficult races, more on this later). Grid at present has a lot more to do and experience, so at present it will keep the average gamer occupied and interested longer. When the final version of GT 5P appears, we may see a different picture.

Simulation Aspects: Damage is the issue. GT 5Ps car handling is far superior in terms of realism, but when you see the cars bouncing off each other and walls at 150 mph undamaged, the realistic handling seems to take a backseat in consideration of simulation accuracy. The damage system in Grid is superior simply because it exists. However, the lads at Codemasters have retreated a bit from the more realistic damage system in their TOCA games, and your Grid vehicle can take quite a bit of damage before any in-game performance is affected, and the parameters for cataclysmic termination of the race have been raised considerably, so your car can be a veritable wreck on wheels and still win a race. The earlier TOCA games had far more realistic (i.e. harsh) damage modeling, and your vehicle was easy to either wreck altogether or to see it's performance degrade to the point where it could not compete against other racers after a few hard collisions. I guess the Codemaster gang had too many complaints about the high number of restarts needed to finish the average event, so the cars in Grid (as in Dirt) are more Hollywood style in their robust durability.

The current system in Grid is far superior to Forza inasmuch at least there is the possibility of complete elimination from the race for particularly severe collisions. Forza has the silliness of 170 mph head-on crashes that scar your car's skin and then make it pull to the left, a rather unlikely outcome that is only slightly superior to the Gran Turismo invulnerability. Grid is a good compromise in terms of damage modeling, and the added tension of the risk of crashing and the extra graphics pizzazz as you see bumpers fly off and windows shatter make Grid more entertaining and realistic. However, if you hope to see the handling differences between a Skyline and a WRX, Grid is not going to be of any use, so simulation fans have to make a hard choice here, between semi-realistic damage and simplified generic arcade style handling in Grid, or no damage at all and meticulous handing details in GT 5P.

Finally, the GT 5P developers promise there will be a damage system and deformable graphics added to the final build and perhaps even added to the 5P version as downloadable content as soon as this August. I personally am skeptical as to how this will be implemented, as I resemble the Forza-esque "damage" system from GT 2, and have my doubts that the GT 5P programmers are going to be able to give us several hundred deformable graphically detailed and realistically handling cars by the time of the final build, but we will wait and see. Polyphony has gone the extra mile in the past, so a fait accompli in this case would not be impossible.

Gameplay: Grid gets the nod here. The races in Grid are more thrilling due both to the damage system, the superior AI of the other drivers, and the campaign style racing career that is part of the game. Many of the individual races in GT 5P are fun, but the AI of other drivers is still robot-like, and they almost never screw up, never seem to interact with the player or other drivers, and respond little if at all to the player's movement on the track. They will at least avoid you if you park stationary in the middle of the racing line (unlike GT 4 where they would crash into you like cruise missiles repeatedly during the course of each lap) but that is about it. The other drivers in Grid are smarter, more "human" (failable), and at higher difficulty levels will be both aggressive and also willing to retaliate if you clip them. This programming plus the damage makes Grid races more white-knuckle affairs, full of drama and tension. The invulnerable cars racing against robot clones in GT 5P in comparison make that game seem more like you against your own best rather than you against other drivers, and therefore less intense and involving. It is a source for joy and entertainment in Grid to see a rival spin out due to a judgment error or crash into another driver in overtaking gone bad, and this is pretty much absent in GT 5P.

The annoying campaign structure (or lack thereof) of GT 5P should also be mentioned, as your progress in the game can be quite effectively stalled if you cannot finish one of the 10 events in each tier. The Ferrari "pass them all" event in the A level races in particular can literally bring your enjoyment of the game to a halt as you struggle again and again to meet the unpleasantly tough challenge of trying to pass 13 other cars in only one lap on a tough narrow and twisting course. Grid deals better with failure and there is always something else to do to progress in the game if you screw up a particular event. The diversity of Grid events is also appealing, with top speed challenges, touge races, even demolition derbies. The one mis-step in Grid's events are the idiotic drift races, where you compete on a closed course against an opponent whose score is unknown to you and who you never even see on the track. This is not only unfair, but also a bit dull. But you can mainly ignore drift races for most of the game and still have a lot of fun with it.

The lack of a fully developed campaign in GT 5P may well be due to the incremental nature of the game. The final GT 5 will presumably have the same wide range of events that GT 4 did. We may also see improved other driver AI and a damage system added to the final build, but at present, Grid is far more entertaining. The addition of the excellent "flashback" feature in Grid makes a strong package better, and this is a truly revolutionary feature that is very welcome in racing games.

Interface: Grid has many limits in its interface and structure. There is no learning mode, no racing line "cheat", no tutorials. The instant replays are very limited and you cannot change which car the camera focuses on, or save the replay. Stat tracking is limited to some basic numbers that pop up only in the loading screens. GT 5P lacks many of these features too, but the replay system is far better, the racing line feature is invaluable for the less skilled, and the finished build will presumably have the same full feature set of GT 4. Grid could have used a bit more polish here, though to be fair the more arcade like handling makes education of new players a bit less imperative. Still, a tutorial on drifting technique for instance could have made Grid more accessible and friendly to new players. The personalized commentary by name in Grid is cute at first, but the voices say the same thing at the same time over and over again, and you soon find yourself wishing these guys who know your name would just shut up for a bit.

Overall: A tough call - the damage system in Grid is a bit deceptive in its leniency, and the game markets itself as more of a simulation than it is. The 45 cars are already exceeded by GT 5P and the final GT 5 will probably have close to 10 times as many cars in it. However, as in GT 4, many of the hundreds of cars will be uninteresting to most players. The limited number of tracks in Grid is more troubling, but the various types of racing make the most of the small number of tracks. The interface in Grid is also a bit rough, and Forza still sets the standard in this area, with Gran Turismo running a close second...Read more›

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Product Description:
GRID is all about 40 of the most incredible race cars ever created with the finest AI. GRID is about revolutionary damage to vehicles and environments that affect your race and blow your mind. GRID is about the most complete replay packages, letting you relive the moments of your glory or destruction in jaw-dropping hi-res slow-motion.

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