greatness diminished by developer's cheating AI
- unimpressive sound
- severe under-steering on most vehicles (which would be OK if also the AI is affected by it ... however, the AI is *glued* to the road at any speed and in any vehicle)
- towards the end of the level 2 and especially from the level 3 on, the developer deployed, so far, an unmatched cheating system that strongley favors its AI. The cheating AI in FUEL is a child's game compared to the Flatout-type racing AI cheats. You can pretty much expect anything from the AI to pull:
1. you always start in the back and the AI will make sure you don't leave others behind -- your vehicle will be attacked by a coordinated effort of other drivers by crashing into you or sidelining you. It's almost like playing you by yourself against a team of 11.
2. If you are in the lead, or close to it, you can expect that the game AI will sideline you or suddenly you die from a minor impact which will reset your car and you'll lose 5 or 6 places. If you succeed avoiding those disasters at the very end you can also expect that the road debris that you usually can drive through suddenly becomes a major obstacle that will spin your car or simply sideline it to the spot where you need to press on *car reset* and of course lose the race.
3. The AI not bound by the driving physics that you need to follow. Being *glued* to the road during sharp cornering at very high speeds is obvious. The AI vehicles often exceed the speed specs for the specific car.
Positive:
- perfectly done arcade racer (except for the above) with attractive events and sets.
- very good to excellent and smooth running graphics
- racing is intense most of the time
- two major modes: Flatout (includes *derby*, *race* and *street racing* submodalities) and Carnage
- ability to improve different aspects (handling, speed, etc.) of the cars by buying parts
- very high fun factor
It's unfortunate that the developer in the flatout mode crossed the line from *challenging* to *frustrating* by empowering the AI far beyond of what's reasonable. Masochists can find this getting whopped by the AI all the way to the 3rd or 4th place exciting, but most will find it exceedingly frustrating at first and then of course repetitive -- how many time you need to re-run the same race and not get bored while trying to get rewarded for, say, your perfect driving during that race. Fortunately, there is the carnage mode that is more about carnage of course rather than typical racing.
Overall, this game is lots of fun, especially if you can live with the obvious AI cheats or are more into the carnage part. The developer did a great job on many aspects of the game, but failed to deliver the feeling of *fairness* and about being rewarded after a perfect racing event by frequently spoiling it in the last moment -- do this a few times and it's fun and challenge for the player, do it all the time and the player will start questioning the developer's sanity. Overall score: 7.9/10.