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FUEL - Openworld racer from Codemasters

NecroMorrius

By NecroMorrius
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linkster

linkster

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Lots of long dull mileage though. I must have put a few hundreds miles in and there wasn't an exciting moment to speak of. Just lifeless physics and bland environments.

Each to their own, after my experience making this I find somethling like Motorstorm or Dirt hard to go back to, it's just another cicuit racer. There is tons to do in Fuel, but it's extremely poorly paced and the online implementation was just rushed. Too ambitious for the time and budget but I still find lots in it to love. The physics (by whin you actually mean the car setup since the physics engine is as good as anything I've played) also is hard to keep patience with since 70 vehicles was just too fucking many and the better ones come too late.

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SnoopZakaDaVe

SnoopZakaDaVe

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i really had no love for this game at all, regretting the £6 to rent it. probably would have had more fun setting fire to a fiver and watching it burn, and buying a pack of mccoys and getting a can of KA black grape from the shop. that would have been a good day. ;D

it's ok i guess though if you got it dirt cheap, gives you something new to have a go on and lucas something to piss about with!

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linkster

linkster

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i really had no love for this game at all, regretting the £6 to rent it. probably would have had more fun setting fire to a fiver and watching it burn, and buying a pack of mccoys and getting a can of KA black grape from the shop. that would have been a good day. ;D

it's ok i guess though if you got it dirt cheap, gives you something new to have a go on and lucas something to piss about with!

Don't the kids drink Sunny D any more?

Am so out of touch.

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Rushy

Rushy

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The physics (by whin you actually mean the car setup since the physics engine is as good as anything I've played)

If the core handling of the any racing game is solid, then there is always some fun to be had irrespective of the type or track or terrain. And this for me is the primary failing of Fuel, as the physics (handling) model was very basic, relying on artificial pitch and roll damping just to keep the vehicles the right way up. More time should have been dedicated to this rather than making a massive environment.

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bradigor

bradigor

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You'd need a new category for Test Drive. It's the most enjoyable racing game I've ever played. Arcade just isn't appropriate since it scarcely would work as a coin op 5 min experience. Mind it's nice when games defy easy categories.

Oh man, I did like Test Drive, just a shame that when I got round to buying it the online was a ghost town. Hopefully the sequel will show its face at some point.

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FuntimeDave

FuntimeDave

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extra marks for ambition, technically it's a fucking marvel. I couldn't argue with the ones who couldn't see past the lack of polish, there isn't really any excuse for that.

Well the multiplayer was a right old con which was never fixed and I remember you saying there was a patch due. What happened - why didn't the company bother to fix it for the customers. I bought the game due to potential of multiplayer and felt severly let down. If they had patched this then I might still be playing it now such was the potential - as it was, the game died.

Single player was as you said ambitious and with impressive vistas even if the same assests were used time and time again.

I still have my copy waiting for that patch :-(

(obviously I appreciate you were not single handedly responsible for the patch as the above might infer)

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mr_woo

mr_woo

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You'd need a new category for Test Drive. It's the most enjoyable racing game I've ever played. Arcade just isn't appropriate since it scarcely would work as a coin op 5 min experience. Mind it's nice when games defy easy categories.

That's another game that really splits people. It has a lot of love yet for me it's one of the worst driving games I've ever played, it's up there with the Gran Turismo in how dull I found it. Just didn't get on with it at all and even after being told it gets better the longer you play. After trying to spend some hours with it I couldn't take it anymore and had to get rid of it. Yet I love FUEL and find it really fun, different strokes for different folks :lol:

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linkster

linkster

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If the core handling of the any racing game is solid, then there is always some fun to be had irrespective of the type or track or terrain. And this for me is the primary failing of Fuel, as the physics (handling) model was very basic, relying on artificial pitch and roll damping just to keep the vehicles the right way up. More time should have been dedicated to this rather than making a massive environment.

as I said earlier, the game had many fun vehicles but they were far too late in the game. not a fault of the physics at all, but of set up. tried to do too much, and in the end when they got it right there wasn't time to restructure the career.

you're also specatularly missing the point in that the game would never have been commissioned had it not been for the massive world. in many ways the project could have been a collosal clusterfuck, as it is I am personally very excited to see what the team does next.

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linkster

linkster

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Well the multiplayer was a right old con which was never fixed and I remember you saying there was a patch due. What happened - why didn't the company bother to fix it for the customers. I bought the game due to potential of multiplayer and felt severly let down. If they had patched this then I might still be playing it now such was the potential - as it was, the game died.

Single player was as you said ambitious and with impressive vistas even if the same assests were used time and time again.

I still have my copy waiting for that patch :-(

(obviously I appreciate you were not single handedly responsible for the patch as the above might infer)

See earlier post, the patch exists and is available to Japanese customers, if you want to know why it's not available elsewhere then that's a question only Codemasters can answer.

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mr_woo

mr_woo

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See earlier post, the patch exists and is available to Japanese customers, if you want to know why it's not available elsewhere then that's a question only Codemasters can answer.

Would you need to own the japanese copy of the game to get that ? I assume being connected the japanese 360 XBL wouldn't help.

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linkster

linkster

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Would you need to own the japanese copy of the game to get that ? I assume being connected the japanese 360 XBL wouldn't help.

it wouldnt work, the point of online patches is they are mandatory so it stands to reason that if you patch your UK copy and then try connecting to other UK users who don't have it you'll run into problems

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dam_aks

dam_aks

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statistically you are probably right, the game sold for shit because no money, I mean literally none, was spent promoting it

More should have been spent developing it too!

Seriously though, I get what you mean, the potential was there it just fell short. I just feel that if you are going to develop something fairly unique and different then you may as well ensure it's playable before releasing it. If there was an unwillingness to let that happen... Why bother making something different in the first place?!

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linkster

linkster

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More should have been spent developing it too!

Seriously though, I get what you mean, the potential was there it just fell short. I just feel that if you are going to develop something fairly unique and different then you may as well ensure it's playable before releasing it. If there was an unwillingness to let that happen... Why bother making something different in the first place?!

It got an 8 in Edge. I don't really know what else to say in response to that. I felt very strongly the game wasn't ready for release but in hindsight that figure proves me wrong. It has to. What's harder to understand is why Codemasters didn't promote the title.

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Rushy

Rushy

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It got an 8 in Edge.

As much as I like EDGE, and respect their reviews more than most others, they don't provide the 'definitive' review. I decided to play the game as much based upon EDGE's review as I did the need to research it, but I disagreed with their opinion. Metacritic whilst not a perfect system does give a much better representative of the consensus towards a game.

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linkster

linkster

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As much as I like EDGE, and respect their reviews more than most others, they don't provide the 'definitive' review. I decided to play the game as much based upon EDGE's review as I did the need to research it, but I disagreed with their opinion. Metacritic whilst not a perfect system does give a much better representative of the consensus towards a game.

Hell I never even read it any more :) I'm simply using it as a way of illustrating how anyone who says it's not ready for release could take that as a counter argument.

Metacritic is getting much worse IMO, since there are too many sites handing out comedy 2 or 3 out of 10 scores for mediocre rather than truly appalling or broken games since it generates them more traffic. Even though in FUEL's case (high 60s I think) on balance it's fairly reflective of the lack of polish issues in the game. But then those who scored it higher did so very deliberately - as someone who gave Bioshock a 10 said to me, "it's the kind of game I want to see more of".

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Rushy

Rushy

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Metacritic is getting much worse IMO, since there are too many sites handing out comedy 2 or 3 out of 10 scores for mediocre rather than truly appalling or broken games since it generates them more traffic. Even though in FUEL's case (high 60s I think) on balance it's fairly reflective of the lack of polish issues in the game. But then those who scored it higher did so very deliberately - as someone who gave Bioshock a 10 said to me, "it's the kind of game I want to see more of".

It is most certainly flawed, and very much open to abuse, but there isn't really any decent alternative to it either. Which I guess is one of the reasons for the likes of Rllmuk, for gamers to discuss and share their opinions on games, so to aid each others purchasing decisions.

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linkster

linkster

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It is most certainly flawed, and very much open to abuse, but there isn't really any decent alternative to it either. Which I guess is one of the reasons for the likes of Rllmuk, for gamers to discuss and share their opinions on games, so to aid each others purchasing decisions.

No doubt, for years I've based my purchases on it.

Er.. what point were we making again?

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linkster

linkster

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That Dirt 2 provides a better off-road racing experience, albeit linear?

Well better is entirely a matter of opinion of course - there's no question it's more polished in every respect but I don't necessarily want a polished version of something I'm utterly bored to death of.

I think the point more was 'should this game have been released?' and playing devil's advocate instead of my honest opinion the answer is, arguably, it was good enough but then they didn't bother selling it so what really did Codemasters gain?

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bradigor

bradigor

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That Dirt 2 provides a better off-road racing experience, albeit linear?

DIRT and FUEL are like comparing Football and Hockey. Yes they are both sports, but they don't aim for the same market.

FUEL is accessible to the likes of my son and Lo, yet DIRT isn't. They are both sitting here now just driving around for no reason at all, yet having loads of fun while I carry on with my work. In DIRT they'd be asking me to do the menus every few minutes.

Makes me want Test Drive again.

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