By Jim Rossignol on February 10th, 2009 at 1:08 pm.
This rather puts Burnout Paradise’s sprawling cityscape into perspective. FUEL, Codemasters’ new open world racing game, features 5000km of open terrain. This new chunk of footage illustrates that to startling effect. We were already intrigued the massive space Codies were talking about, but this brings it home. Suddenly the idea that it really does have that much space in it seems real. Not only that, but it’s out in May. Oh my.
We’ll have an interview with the developers, Asobo Studio, very soon.
10/02/2009 at 13:16 Heliocentric says:
If this has the intensity of grid, but a massive scale they have my attention.
10/02/2009 at 13:16 lobsterjohnson says:
Yes please.
I used to play Motocross Madness on freeplay and pretend it was this.
10/02/2009 at 13:28 Raff says:
This game sounds and looks fantastic, unlike other recent Codemasters racing games.
I’m also wondering what the excellent former Sega Racing Studio are doing since Codemasters bought them.
10/02/2009 at 13:30 nabeel says:
Looks great.
10/02/2009 at 13:34 Raff says:
I can’t begin to describe how appealing just aimlessly buzzing about in a huge open wasteland/wilderness on a scrambler is. I hope that’s encouraged, I don’t really care about doing any races.
10/02/2009 at 13:39 Dolphan says:
A preview of this in Edge piqued my interest. Apparently it uses procedural generation to do all the (predetermined) terrain in a manageable amount of code. Looks fantastic.
10/02/2009 at 13:42 FatRat says:
5’000 miles!? Holy crap, isn’t that about the size of Europe?
10/02/2009 at 13:50 danielcardigan says:
Is this purely racing or is there a combat element to it?
10/02/2009 at 13:51 Matt Kemp says:
@FatRat: 5,000km. About 3100 miles – still not exactly small, though.
10/02/2009 at 13:57 Golden says:
Size is just the new rag doll physics/ emotion/ lip sync/ morality.
Its not really a matter of can they do it but rather how they do it. Miles and miles of space is only any good if the game & story use this.
Portal didnt have much space but was ace, that far cry clone had lots of space and was rubbish.
I will with hold judgement but lets hope they do this justice.
10/02/2009 at 14:02 Ben Abraham says:
Hey, they’re playing Unkle in that video. More bands in videogames please!
10/02/2009 at 14:03 Biggles says:
5,000 km ^2, presumably? That’s quite big. London in its entirety is around 600 k m ^ 2. You’d be looking at the whole south east of England for something to compare that to.
Crikey. Sounds like fun : )
10/02/2009 at 14:03 muscrat says:
Cannot wait to give this a go.
It reminds me so much of 1nsane…. which still is one of the best off road racers I have played (even alongside motorstorm and dirt…)
10/02/2009 at 14:03 Biggles says:
erp, that was 625 sq miles for London actually, or c. 1,600 sq km. Reduce estimates accordingly.
10/02/2009 at 14:03 muscrat says:
edit*
Dammit and Powersilde too…..
10/02/2009 at 14:04 Steve says:
Actually, last word from Codies is that the map is 14,000 square kilometres – not 5,000. Still, those are square kilometres, which makes the map itself about 120km wide.
That’s almost the width of England.
10/02/2009 at 14:07 monchberter says:
Sold. Jesus christ. This is what the driving in HL2 ep2 should have been!!!
10/02/2009 at 14:08 Schmung says:
Sounds interesting. It looks like a bit of a scaled up version of 1NSANE (what a stupid title) and is thus all good in my book. Will be interesting to see if it actually works as a game rather than a tech demo though.
10/02/2009 at 14:08 Ed says:
England is about 450-500km wide (at it’s widest point), and 244,000 square kilometers, so the Fuel world is about 5% of the area of England.
10/02/2009 at 14:10 Ian says:
I’m getting a real urge to try a racing game (that isn’t akin to Mario Kart) in years and all these ones you keep talking about are confusing me with their nice-looking-ness. :(
10/02/2009 at 14:14 Dreamhacker says:
To someone who loved Flatout and hated Flatout 2, this looks absolutely beautiful!
10/02/2009 at 14:17 AndrewC says:
And if they don’t have a race around the entire perimiter they are PUSSIES.
This size thing is silly – exactly what is the purpose of it? You know in the podcast how Jim mentioned that Far Cry 2 got into trouble by going open world – players suddenly expected a different type of game instead of just a straight shooter? Same thing here.
I hope it’s good, or at least better than PURE, which was rubbish. That judgement is based on scientific evidence.
10/02/2009 at 14:17 Scotch Mist says:
I think they mean 5000 /square/ kilometres.
Kilometres.
10/02/2009 at 14:19 Scotch Mist says:
Ahh fuck it, I made a booboo. :(
10/02/2009 at 14:34 Lollerskater says:
Colour me interested! I was kind of put off with some of the textures of the earlier screenshots. But procedural generation would explain that a bit. And if the scope and game play make up for it, I’m definitely sold on it!
10/02/2009 at 14:40 hydra9 says:
Wow. Much as I like Burnout Paradise, I think this is the one I’ll be dropping money on – If it’ll run on my senile old PC.
I’d say this even goes beyond Treasure Island Dizzy.
10/02/2009 at 14:41 Five says:
The first racing game to get my attention in ages.
If it is both completely free roaming and has lots of different vehicles, i’m sold.
10/02/2009 at 14:43 Hypocee says:
I was utterly unaware of this. Having played GRID: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
10/02/2009 at 14:45 Gap Gen says:
Talking about open-world games with bikes, I once tried driving the length of North Saharani in ArmA on a bike. I promptly fell off, crippled myself and had to drag my broken body to the nearest village, whereupon I was shot and killed seconds later.
10/02/2009 at 14:48 Ian says:
@ Gap Gen: That gamecdote r win! :D
10/02/2009 at 14:55 groovychainsaw says:
I’ve had my eye on this, but the trailer has me sold – look at the draw distance!! Plus the interview i read somewhere said they were going to keep the races interesting by adding in dynamic (xtreeme!!!) weather, such as tornadoes, lightning storms to mix things up. Sounds ace to me -if it can match something like motorstorm’s racing, but on a grander scale, then definite purchase, and with codies’ recent track record in racing games i wouldn’t want to bet against them.
10/02/2009 at 15:01 PHeMoX says:
I’m wondering if the system requirements will be as ridiculous as for D.I.R.T. though…. I’m hoping Codemaster knows we don’t upgrade our PCs every 3 months. o_0
10/02/2009 at 15:04 AndrewC says:
GRID runs about twice as smoothly as DIRT, Phemox. Compare the demos if you need proof.
10/02/2009 at 15:07 the affront says:
FarCry 2 got into trouble not because it was open world, but because if you disregarded the first few hours of “ooh, shiny!” it was simply a mediocre game with some really, really retarded design decisions. Anyway…
Thanks for posting this, RPS. I can now happily report possessing a huge erection after watching that video.
And yes, Motocross Madness was AWESOME.
One can only hope that someone will make an RPG/racing game hybrid with a world like this. This seems like a good starting point already, it would just need a good story, some bars/gas stations, maybe a faction system to have rivaling racer gangs populating the world and preferably very little shooting, if at all.
10/02/2009 at 15:15 shinygerbil says:
Hmmmmmm. Looks interesting. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
One of my favourite things about Burnout Paradise is the, uh – I don’t know how to put this, but I guess “lack of personality” covers it. I like the fact there are no drivers, nobody to be “badass” or “with attitude”. It makes it somehow more timeless, more of a canvas upon which one can paste one’s own face/personality. So, I really hope it will be possible to ignore things like the drivers ‘hilariously’ sticking two fingers up at each other all the time like idiots, and waving their legs in the air over every jump (provided they have the legroom). It only takes something minor to put me off a game, but that trailer definitely didn’t hit the spot. Apart from the impressive fly-by shot of all that sweet, sweet terrain…
Anyway, I’m probably overreacting. Then again, where better to do so than the RPS comments thread? ;)
10/02/2009 at 15:15 Tei says:
In the old 8 bits games used to exist a few “feel free to drive anywhere” games. Mostly attemps to make “Paris – Dakar” racing. If this game try something like that, …rally racing… it could be epic. A rally where you examine the map prior to the run, chose a route, and have something like a copilot helping you. But this thing looks like a arcade, and not a simulation, so I suppose the size here is eyecandy, just good old eyecandy. I could be wrong.
10/02/2009 at 15:21 Moonracer says:
A big question I have is whether the tracks are at the scale of the map or if there a just multiple normal tracks scattered about and you have a tedious drive to each one. One thing that always turned me off of racing games is that they mimic real life racing too much. Why a 500 mile race on a 1.5 mile length track? Why not a Cannonball run type race across Europe or the US? This game could be interesting.
10/02/2009 at 15:35 Culprititus says:
@ the affront
Open World RPG/racing Full Throttle sequel … what happened to this Lucas Arts?!?!
10/02/2009 at 15:41 bhlaab says:
I’m really wary of anything made by codemasters and doesnt star dizzy
10/02/2009 at 15:53 Y3k-Bug says:
A question for the group: why exactly does this make the game more desirable? As someone who’s only passively into racing games, I can’t imagine what a huge game world would add to the experience.
Although I’m a huge fan of Burnout Paradise since the recent PC release, so maybe I’m just an ass.
Bu toutside of looney arcade setting I really don’t see what this adds to the game any.
10/02/2009 at 16:00 TeeJay says:
@Ed: “England is about 450-500km wide (at it’s widest point), and 244,000 square kilometers, so the Fuel world is about 5% of the area of England.
Apologies for being pedantic but that’s the area for the entire UK (England + Scotland + Wales + N.I.)
England 130,427 km²
Scotland 78,772 km²
Wales 20,778 km²
Northern Ireland 13,843 km²
United Kingdom 243,820 km²
10/02/2009 at 16:07 CatchThePidgeon says:
Looks interesting – my ears always prick-up for the word ‘procedural generation’ and ‘freedom to roam’. But I can’t help but think it’s wasted on a racing title. If we could only shoe-horn Stalker and a new Mechwarrior game into worlds of that size I could die a happy man.
10/02/2009 at 16:13 Jeremy says:
I think a huge game world makes more sense in things like a racing game or an RPG. Comparing this to Farcry 2 doesn’t necessarily make sense in my mind. People expected Farcry 2 to be more than an FPS because it WAS attempting to be more than just an FPS but it didn’t do so hot. Checkpoints were kind of a bust after the 20th time through one. It wasn’t the fault of the open world, it was the fact that Ubi couldn’t keep the game fresh, why go through yet another checkpoint? What’s the purpose? In a racing game, the open world IS the track, so I can’t imagine how this wouldn’t make the game more desirable.
10/02/2009 at 16:18 Sp4rkR4t says:
Superb, something to replace my Paradise addiction with.
10/02/2009 at 16:20 Resin says:
I’m very interested. I want more details. Is this a single or multiplayer game?
If they made this multiplayer and added some combat elements….
*shudders*
10/02/2009 at 16:21 Tworak says:
with huge areas to race on comes huge piles of shit to crash into. sounds like a dumb gimmick to confuse game reviewers making them give high scores and feature dumbass comments like “I didn’t even finish 0.000001% of the races!”.
pre-emptive 6.8 score from me
10/02/2009 at 16:23 Jeremy says:
I don’t think lack of skill is a valid reason to hate a game.
10/02/2009 at 16:30 Dodomaster says:
@tworak
Just go in open minded, you might be surprised.
10/02/2009 at 16:34 Ian says:
@Dodomaster: Strap on your Helmet of Cynicism and stop being so sickeningly reasonable!
10/02/2009 at 16:41 Scandalon says:
That music was crap.
There, since it’s a trailer (and a low-image quality one at that) and I know nothing else about it, had to criticize/complain about something…
10/02/2009 at 16:53 Kaizer says:
If I can use mouse for steering on PC it’s a buy. If not, fuck it.
10/02/2009 at 16:54 tWB says:
There should be more environmental disaster-themed peak oil open-world racing games. It’s such an obvious category, really.
10/02/2009 at 16:59 Heliocentric says:
“Wales 20,778 km²”
“Fuel 14,000 km²”
If i wanted to go to ~67% of Wales I’d bloody well go to Wales, then ignore a third of it!
Fuel review score 67%(of wales)
10/02/2009 at 17:23 schac5 says:
Yeah that is cool
This is even cooler
Call Of Duty Comedy Sketch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhufrnT4818
From The Whitest Kids You Know
10/02/2009 at 17:25 Tei says:
Game videos are a art at itself, and this one is a sucess at making people *Dream* about different cool games could in theory exist.
I can even dream about a “Hunt the wampus” game, where you have to hunt ONE wampus on hostile forest, hills and mountains all across the wild america. Gamevideos are stronger than LSD, man.
10/02/2009 at 17:33 Helios_CM says:
@ Resin
The game has 16 player online multiplayer.
The game also allows you to create your own races using a flexible in-game race editor in which any combination of co-ordinates, barring those submerged in water, can be assigned as a checkpoint, and up to 30 may be placed either in a point-to-point or closed-circuit configuration.
10/02/2009 at 17:35 motherpuncher says:
I like it!
10/02/2009 at 17:43 Ian says:
I like the idea of just putting down a start and end spot with nasty terrain in the middle and letting people find their own way in the race creator/editor.
10/02/2009 at 17:45 Marcin says:
Test Drive Unlimited did this with Oahu, and it’s still one of my favorite racing games. Looks like there’s a metric tonne of variety here (unlike Oahu which tended to be samey), so … bring it on.
First day buy if it supports the 360 PC controller (or IS on the 360).
10/02/2009 at 17:46 Pags says:
Heliocentric already won this comments page, everyone else can give up now.
10/02/2009 at 17:54 Dan says:
They could use this game engine to good effect by making Desert Bus 2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_&_Teller%27s_Smoke_and_Mirrors#Desert_Bus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RsYxIDNjHo
10/02/2009 at 18:04 Simon says:
With all the terrain types, this actually put me in mind of San Andreas. I wonder if Fuel will also have just traffic or if it’ll be only other racers since it’s sorta Mad Max like setting.
10/02/2009 at 18:12 Theoban says:
Bli-mey. This looks ace. Hopefully there’ll be an intuitive way between races, and it won’t just be endless rolling around hoping to bump into a race.
Mind you if there’s a big pointer going ‘THIS WAY TO RACE’ then there’s not much point it being open world.
On the other hand, IT LOOKS GREAT.
10/02/2009 at 20:07 espy says:
It’s like Fallout met Flatout. Brilliant.
10/02/2009 at 20:37 Nervous Little Tit says:
Give it guns, a resource shortage and a persistent server plx… let’s see who can keep rolling the longest.
10/02/2009 at 20:49 bmfof says:
some preview in IGN states that you will perform “tricks” while jumping around. while this sucks, it says that those tricks will be performed by the AI too.
now.. why the hell would anyone do a game like that?
here’s the preview: http://pc.ign.com/articles/949/949379p1.html
10/02/2009 at 20:53 Ziv says:
looks like it has the same problem as GRiD, no sense of spped or real excitement, the same thing that is in the review of burnout (haven’t got to actually playing it yet) is just missing, grid also had really annoying controls, maybe it was just meant to be played w/ a wheel but I just don’t have the money for it now.
10/02/2009 at 21:03 Heliocentric says:
Grid has no sense of speed? What do you want motion blur?
10/02/2009 at 21:10 DeuceMojo says:
Anyone who believes this is a “gimmick” or otherwise thinks this doesn’t further the genre is too quick to dismiss real innovation.
The Forza-type model of 1) customize licensed cars, 2) race cars on finite set of circuits, allowing for -realistically- a finite number of ways to play and win — is dead. Burnout Paradise was the first breath of fresh air in racing since Motor Storm or RalliSport or Project Gotham.
Wherever Paradise falls short (with its claustrophobic steets and the sense that you really don’t see things until you’re about to hit them), the concept of massive, high-speed, open-sky environment could . FUEL looks like it could dominate the idea of an open world, especially when that area greater than the size of (by all accounts) all the Grand Theft Auto games put together.
This will be the racing title to beat for this generation of gaming.
10/02/2009 at 21:32 peter says:
I WANT THIS !
10/02/2009 at 21:48 Hajimete no Paso Kon says:
I can’t wait to cruise around the world on dirtbikes with my buddies on ventrilo and recap the daily events.
It will be beautiful.
10/02/2009 at 22:32 jsutcliffe says:
I had almost forgotten about this game. I think I got it confused with Pure (which explains why I felt so disappointed with Pure). I love procedurally-generated things. Games that make themselves are a great idea.
Anyone remember XJ220 on the Amiga? It had a great track editor, but I always wanted to just be able to give it parameters to build tracks for me with. In lieu of that, I’ll take FUEL.
10/02/2009 at 23:42 David says:
Damn, that looks nice. As a couple of people have pointed out already, this definitely has the same initial feel about it as 1nsane did. If it’s even remotely similar I’ll be snapping it up instantly. Hopefully on Steam.
In the meantime, I wonder if I still have that disc lying around somewhere…
11/02/2009 at 01:05 whitebrice says:
@CatchthePidgeon
If someone gave me Stalker with that much area to explore I would never, ever leave my computer. I kind of hope no one ever makes a game like that because right now i have hopes of leading a full and productive life.
11/02/2009 at 03:13 The Chicken says:
A Mad Max esque setting would be baller
11/02/2009 at 05:27 Backov says:
@DeuceMojo: I think you mean Test Drive: Unlimited changed the game. Paradise is an inferior imitation of TDUs open world, and TDU came first.
This game looks fricking sweet.
11/02/2009 at 05:32 Radiant says:
So what are you saying; size does matter?
Those lying bitches!
11/02/2009 at 08:28 WarpZone says:
I don’t get it.
Wouldn’t the race be decided once you started to get ahead of the other racers? Maintain your lead for a couple of miles, and there’s no way they can catch up with you.
Unless they limit the player’s ability to outdistance the other racers with, I don’t know, some artificial limit. A tornado that shoots Blue Shells or something.
You know what I’m saying? If everyone’s racing independently in a big open world, with no rules or starting line, after a few kilometers, it’s not a race any more, it’s just traffic.
Right?
11/02/2009 at 09:17 Evangel says:
Warpzone, there’d be a start and a finish. You’d then decide how you went from A to B.
11/02/2009 at 12:34 phuzz says:
The trailer is up in shiny shiny HD over here
11/02/2009 at 15:30 DeuceMojo says:
@ The Chicken:
I think most people will get the Mad Max feeling just watching the trailer. I know I did, especially when that rusted-out Baracuda w/ the spoiler appeared.
@ Warp Zone:
Good point. Some racers give a speed boost to those lagging behind, or at least offer that as an option. But yeah, you’re right — there are those races at Nurburgring that are settled by a few a car lengths, but most are settled by 1/2 a mile and a lot of swearing.
11/02/2009 at 23:09 malkav11 says:
Well, it looks pretty. And having tornados and thunderstorms and such affect racing could be cool. But that kind of scale seems utterly wasted on a racing game. Hell, I’m not even particularly convinced it’s an improvement in Burnout Paradise.
13/02/2009 at 18:51 Nutterguy says:
Wishes Fallout 3′s world was a little more like this, not that it’s in anyway bad but this looks so varied and actually has some colours in it…
14/02/2009 at 00:48 Thiefsie says:
This reminds me a lot of the great Australian game Powerslide from what seems eons ago.
26/02/2009 at 21:03 Hypocee says:
It is based pretty much on the same premise as Powerslide. We can only hope that the car physics are as wonderful as Ratbag’s stuff.
10/03/2009 at 00:49 Phasma Felis says:
For comparison, GTA San Andreas was 36 km^2…