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Fuel

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7.1 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 45 critic reviews
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Based on 28 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 2, 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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XGN

Despite some flaws, FUEL is so much fun to play you'll keep coming back to it.

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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]

Cynamite

Quotation forthcoming.

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Game Informer

Some gamers may appreciate the freedom Fuel gives you, but I feel like the lack of payoff and context blunts any adventurous feelings I have. [July 2009, p.84]

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TeamXbox

While it’s clear that Asobo spent ample time in perfecting the tech that’s needed to enable a speedy racing game to run smoothly for hundreds of (no-load) miles on end, more attention needed to be paid to the fleshing out the Career objectives and tightening up the overall presentation package.

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Vandal Online

This Asobo Studios game is a good entry in the racing genre, although some aspects, specially the audiovisual part, could have been better.

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GameFocus

Fuel might not appeal to everyone because it fails to live up to the hype about the land mass size and open world racing, but if you are a patient gamer who is willing to just race and play the game for what it is you will find plenty of racing game to enjoy.

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Cheat Code Central

If you were expecting lightning in a bottle, Fuel keeps the electricity in the environmental elements and out of the gameplay.

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MS Xbox World

The first open-world FUELled outing however will certainly be worth trying out for those that look to master every racing game, for other gamers, there's certain enjoyment to be had here, though it's not all adrenaline-fuelled, perhaps taking a test drive before purchasing would prove a wise decision.

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XboxAddict

FUEL is a very cool world that’s been designed nicely with some great weather effects although lacks some depth in the gameplay to really draw you in like I really wanted.

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MondoXbox

Fuel isn't lacking in defects, like not-so-great graphics, high difficulty spikes and some random bugs, but the game is surely enjoyable. The career mode gives us a very varied experience, and the online modes contribute to keep the longevity high: suggested to the offroad racing fans.

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WonderwallWeb

A decent racer, though not in the same class as others such as Codemasters own Race Driver: Grid.

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GamingXP

The game world of Fuel is very large, … but sadly nothing more. The scenery becomes boring after a short time. There are some pros like the assortment of many different vehicles, but on the whole the game lacks soul.

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ZTGameDomain

FUEL has a ton of potential, and moments of brilliance stashed under its rough exterior. The problems are hard to ignore though, and unless you have a ton of time to dedicate to it, the races will likely grow boring long before you uncover half of this massive world.

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GamesNation

FUEL didn’t meet its goal. Actually it went quite far from what Codemasters had promised. Although it is evident that the dev team has put a lot of effort in creating an innovative and fresh concept, and has produced a vast free-roamable terrain of proven technical quality, some unfortunate gameplay solutions and a improvable AI have mined the overall experience.

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Meristation

Quotation forthcoming.

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Destructoid

It's simple to get into, it looks good and at the end of the day it provides some incredibly good racing action. Purists will hate it, but those who just want to have a laugh without worrying about hardcore racing simulation will enjoy Fuel for what it is.

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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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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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X360 Magazine UK

Fuel scores marks for its awesome, appropriately used open world but loses them for the lamely executed driving mechanics and offensively common load screens.

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Official Xbox Magazine UK

The complete lack of boundaries means it's a totally unique challenge, in which standard racing skills often need to be thrown out of the window. Despite this, with such exciting technology at its core, we can't help but hope that Asobo gets another roll of the dice to create something truly, and consistently astonishing. [June 2009, p.84]

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SpazioGames

Fuel is without a doubt a complete game, that thanks to the numerous unlockable areas, cars, challenges and so on, reaches an enviable longevity. Unfortunately the gameplay lacks all the functionality typical of the competition, and there are some techincal issues that ruin the overall score. Fuel is a game for all arcade-off-road racing games, but beware as you won't find the dynamism of Motorstorm nor the attention to detail of Pure, but a different game, with good free-roaming gameplay.

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RealGamer

FUEL is a very good addition to open world and off-road racing genres. But despite the overall enjoyment I got from the game, I can’t help but feel that it lacks the competitive elements that have enabled so many racing games to succeed.

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AceGamez

FUEL is a huge game in every sense of the word, but all too often the quality just can't match the quantity.

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Xbox360Achievements

Every fibre in every single bone of my body wanted to love FUEL. I’m a bit of a sandbox junkie truth be told, but even the huge open-world with diverse environments wasn’t enough to divert my attention from the game’s nagging design faults. With a pretty poor GPS, unbalanced difficulty scale, terrible opponent AI and average visuals, FUEL is left on a par with mediocrity.

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Game Chronicles

Most people will probably wade through the list of career races and challenges but only the most dedicated (or bored) gamers will ever have the desire to fully explore this enormous game world to unlock the secrets it contains.

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Xbox World 360 Magazine UK

A waste of a wonderful idea. It's vast - but inferior to most other racers. [Aug 2009, p.78]

Gameplayer Sweden

Motorstorm who has gone post-apocalyptic, thats the best way to describe Fuel. It´s not quite as good as the first Motorstorm and it has some really annoying flying arrows, but it´s still a good game. At least while we´re waiting for Motorstorm 3.

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games(TM)

Only frantic devotees of racing games/loading screens could justify this over the competition. [July 2009, p.115]

GameSpot

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

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GameZone

A cool-looking racing game that ultimately crumbles under the weight of its own slow pace.

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Gamervision

Everything else about the game is completely lackluster, and even driving around the open map, the high point of the game, gets tedious after a while.

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Talk Xbox

Again, Fuel is just a poor game no matter how you try and look at it. There's a fair amount of content here, but it's not good.

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Play.tm

When that ambition fails to live up to its promise by delivering a hollow and disappointing experience, you can't help but feel somewhat nonplussed by the final product. This should have been incredible, but having tried our very best to like Codemasters' latest racing IP, we can't help but feel like we've been taken for a ride. Fuel-ed, if you will.

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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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HellBored

If the massive game world and plethora of races and things to do were housed in something with proper physics and some reference to the real world, we would have loved it. Unfortunately, Codemasters have published a shambles of a game, so we’ll spend our time playing GRiD and waiting for Dirt 2.

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Gamer.nl

Fuel is a race game with two faces. On one hand you've got a huge and open world in which the impressive weather effects and the sheer size alone are a new milestone in it's genre. But on the other hand the game feels a little lost and lacks decent gameplay mechanics. In the end the flaws take the upper hand and giving us the feeling that Fuel could have been so much more.

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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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1UP

Is it a mediocre racer with some fancy tech, or does it want to be a mediocre racer with some fancy tech? All signs point to the latter: Beautiful visuals and interesting vehicles that look like they were stolen from the set of Mad Max -- but on the flip-side, the game offers nothing in terms of customization aside from a few minor cosmetic changes to your driver and vehicle.

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Gameplanet

FUEL is Codemasters’ and Asobo Studio’s post-apocalyptic sandbox racer. The immense game world, replete with a dynamic weather engine, is a stunning achievement. But FUEL appears to forget it’s a racer and consequently loses sight of what counts.

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GameShark

Like a spiny armband of black ink needled in at the end of a bender, Fuel is the tragic result of spontaneity without foresight, and design without inspiration.

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Console Monster

Fuel had the makings of a great game but just falls over too many hurdles. It is fun in free mode but that isn't enough to nearly warrant a purchase.

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Boomtown

Along the way decisions were made to cheat the player and in doing so this is one racer robbed of most of its fun. That really is a crying shame.

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Teletext GameCentral

Flawed racer which finds little of interest in its massive open world - least of all the race cars.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 28 User Votes

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

Marcus L gave it a7:
Codemasters have been very successful with their Colin McRae Rally series, and ever since his tragic passing in 2007, we have seen some new additions to Codemasters's garage such as Grid and Fuel. Fuel is a post-apocalyptic sandbox racing game with the biggest environment in any game, with 5,000 square miles of land to do whatever you want. But, it isn't all available for you straight away. You start off in one area of the map (which considering it's only about one twelfth of the map, it's still very huge) and have to complete races in order to collect stars which unlocks extra areas. The races, are very Midnight Club, with the fact that it's all checkpoint based, and you can take your own route, as long as you hit the checkpoints. However, the AI can be very aggressive at the start of a race, on ANY difficulty. Also, the 5,000 square mile landscape, isn't the best thing to look at. Sure, it's post-apocalyptic, but maybe we could have some worn down cities, like in Fallout 3? The multiplayer is pretty limited too, with only standard races, or online free ride, allowing you to go around the 5,000 square mile landscape with 7 other people. However, at the time I played, there was nobody on online free ride. Overall, if you really enjoy Midnight Club and Burnout Paradise, but want more of an area to cruise around, this is the game for you. But, if you get bored very easily, I'd recommend you avoid this at all costs.

Markalango P gave it a0:
A simple game for the simple minded folk. Lots to do ... but it is not fun. Oh and how they advertised storms affect races is pure BS. Avoid this game at all cost and don't even think about trying it.

Andrew L gave it a9:
This is a great games that does admittedly have some flaws.The handling is quite sludgey,the online options are a bit limited and the music is awful.BUT, if you put time into it,it's an engrossing experience which offers both relaxing exploration/collection and exciting racing.Definatly worth giving a chance.

legend Kid gave it a9:
I love this game i brought it three days ago, and i love the free ride and the races. People may cry "its just boring waste land" well yeah but i have pulled off some serious freeking jumps free ride. Dont be arses and definitely don't underestimate this game, cause i rock at this game b*tches.

U4IASTRM gave it a3:
Decent for an Arcade game, but the game promised huge world with fun and entertaining things. They got vast right. From last to first(which is where you have to be to win) is a mean feat. Drive off the beaten path once, and your in for a real challenge to get the win, even if you drive a perfect line. Do not be fooled by the back cover of the box. As one of the loading messages will tell you, "This game is not going anywhere". Rent it first. OR wait til it hits the bargain bin here pretty soon.

Chris D gave it a10:
8/10 -- I too was disappointed to find the controller couldn't be configured to match my GRID setup, (reminded me of Speed Devils from my Dreamcast days) and I'm still not sure if there's such a thing as mixed class racing (I saw none online or in single player). Outside of that, I'm impressed with the scope and think it has good potential. It's funny that people would trash this game as mediocre though, when this generation has produced pure lamefests like PGR3.

Peter G gave it an8:
It amuses me that such low scores were given to this game by the larger websites and kind of goes to prove reviewers don't always put enough time into things before passing judgement. Fuel is an excellent game, with very minor flaws. Plenty to do and plenty to see.

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