Fuel

An open-world racing game with a post-apocalyptic setting, where Global warming and scarcity of fuel has left civilization teetering on the brink of collapse; it's every man for himself - as you can see Fuel has a setting ripe for something new and innovative, which could have quite possibly been a cut above the vast pickings of arcade racers released in recent times. Imagine the sheer amount of opportunities for a great game to be based around such a universe, where everything from its art-style to gameplay mechanics could have echoed of a world where there is no greater prize than fuel.

Any semblance of depth and all the innovative ideas have been marred by bad execution here, unfortunately, and Fuel barely manages to scrape through as a racer that offers just about the basics to keep the arcade racing fan glued for a short while.__STARTQUOTE__In spite of a unique setting which has heaps of potential, Fuel offers a very generic experience with nothing extraordinary to keep you glued. All the innovative features (dynamic weather and freeroaming, namely) feel tacked on and unnecessary__ENDQUOTE__
The backbone of any arcade racer - car control and unique gameplay mechanics, is depressingly basic here. You're restricted to basic controls such as acceleration, breaking and a handbrake, with no engaging boosting system or anything at all to add that additional gameplay element that beckons you play another race. Look at other successful racers - Burnout Revenge (and others in the series) had a highly evolved boosting system, GRID had a plethora of race types and a flashback system, and Pure had an innovatively meshed stunt and boosting system - all of which set them apart.

What Fuel has that sets it apart is a dynamic weather system and an open world to explore. While it sounds good on paper, in practice, the open-world is shallow and has little to offer other than hours of roaming through an apocalized landscape aimlessly. If there is no real reason to compel or urge you to explore, a free-roaming world is pretty much the most unnecessarily tacked on feature any game could have, and that's why it fails to do anything for you in Fuel. The dynamic weather system on the other hand provides some eyecandy in the form of storms and tornadoes, but they offer nothing substantial enough to woo the racing fan who's grown accustomed to unique mechanics that tie into gameplay directly.