It's a shame that reviews of FUEL are somewhat negative around the net at the time of writing. A lot of overworked reviewers are taking the game purely at face value and not being terribly impressed with what they see. The main criticism seems to be that they want FUEL to have amazing vehicle control because it's a racing game. Fair comment, perhaps, but look what Serious Sam did to the FPS genre; in a world of refined gunplay, recoil, missions, storylines and tactics, Serious Sam burst onto the scene sporting just firepower and cannon fodder in vast quantities, an arcade take on a genre that was not used to such streamlined simplicity since the genre's originator, Doom. Likewise, FUEL roars into sight with a simplified arcade racing ethos and draws tuttings of disapproval from grouchy cretins who think it's a step backwards for the genre because they can't adjust the tyre pressure, gear ratios, or cupholder location. They couldn't be more wrong!

Simplified handling in no way makes FUEL an inferior racing game. You only have to look at recently released statistics to see that the majority of people never even manage to complete most of the games they own, and there is an absolutely enormous market of casual gamers out there who crave something a bit more basic - something they don't have to spend countless hours working away on, trying to master a steep learning curve; and the multiple difficulty levels ensure that anyone will get a tough challenge, from complete novice to seasoned veteran.

My first gaming session on FUEL was utter bliss. I was dropped by helicopter into a deserted wasteland for my first race, just a fairly simple off-road challenge where you have to make your way to the target checkpoint by any means necessary. My buggy bounced and slithered up a vast mountainside as I frantically veered between mud and tarmac to find the quickest route. Having achieved my goal, I was left at the finishing line in free roam mode. With countryside stretching out in all directions as far as the eye could see, I set off in a downhill direction. My buggy was soon pelting along at a fair turn of pace until I came to the edge of a clifftop and soared into the sky like a giant mechanical albatross.

I soon landed again like a giant mechanical hippopotamus and continued picking up speed on my downhill trek. A burnt down forest loomed into view and tree stumps began whizzing past, narrowly skimming past my bodywork as I slid sideways between them. All of a sudden I was back on tarmac and staring into the face of a lumbering great truck, which was rumbling towards me. I pulled a hard handbrake and skidded around, missing the truck by inches and coming to a halt by the roadside. I watched, slightly breathless, as the truck continued trundling along the country road and celebrated the fact that games can make you feel this good.

It's true that FUEL's handling is nowhere near realistic - not even close - but that's exactly what the was intended, a ceaseless wheel-spinning, sideways sliding, white-knuckle ride from start to finish. You never flip in mid-air, no matter how crazy your take-off angle; you never damage your vehicle, even when falling hundreds of feet from a clifftop or ramming it into a truck; you never lose control of your vehicle; and you never feel that the game is too advanced for you - but you do get lost...

Imagine how big London is. Quite a hefty area, I'm sure you'll agree: one thousand, five hundred and seventy square kilometres, to be precise. Do you think that's a big enough area to set a free roaming racing game within? Well FUEL doesn't, because it offers you fourteen thousand square kilometres to explore every inch of, and that is simply incredible. You start off in one area of the game and expand your way into other areas by winning races and challenges. Just in the very first starting area I tried driving from one end to the other and it took me over twenty minutes. Then you zoom your map outwards to find that the starting area is just one tiny jigsaw piece of the overall map. It really is jaw-droppingly huge.

You'd be forgiven for imagining that the scale of the game world has caused the quality and detail of the environment to suffer, but that's simply not the case. FUEL is set in a post-apocalyptic future - Mad Max style - where only a few hardcore remain and the primary currency is the gradually diminishing fuel reserves. Charred forests lie nestled between mountain peaks. Burnt-out cars lie abandoned by the roadside. Overturned petrol tankers sprawl clumsily across the motorway. Demolished buildings sit amongst a tangible aura of decay and abandonment. There are plenty of added jumps and ramps to make your racing and free roaming a little spicier, too. It really is a remarkably well-designed and meticulously generated environment within which to race and a really nice touch is the addition of Vista points, which you are supposed to visit on every area, the reason being just to admire a particularly beautiful part of the landscape. Delightful!

If you stay in free-roam for a while, you'll notice the continual day/night cycle in action too, a beautiful reminder of FUEL's graphical prowess. It is an eminently believable world, with dynamic and organic visuals. There are seventy-five vehicles to unlock and buy as you progress through the game, and they are all unique and very well modelled. The soundtrack is enjoyable for a while, but it does get a little repetitive.

FUEL does have a few failings, though - not huge issues, just minor elements that could have been improved. Firstly are the collisions; when you hit something at high speed, you don't get to see a spectacular crash, the screen just goes black and you get reset onto the track, which does damage the immersion somewhat. Also, the vehicle specs are just a bit too literal; for instance, when seeing that a buggy car has 1/10 ability on off-road terrain, this literally means that your car's speed is restricted to a set figure - even when that means a high speed car can only do thirty miles per hour along a flat, dry mud track, yet can speed up to over one hundred if the dry mud turns to an almost identical dust. This is a little annoying at times, but nothing too serious.

Ignore the bigots who shun FUEL's raw arcade appeal; it's a damn fine game with absolutely loads of replay value. You'll get a hundred hours from the game with ease if you aim to complete all the career races and objectives in all the difficulties, as well as collect all the bonus cars and liveries and visit all the Vista spots. There's even a very basic multiplayer service and as well as using all the career races in multiplayer, you can create your own racetracks using the editor and submit them for others to race online, giving you limitless potential for fun. There's more than enough racing to keep you entertained for months - and possibly even years. FUEL is bold, imaginative, and fun, a refreshingly straightforward slice of arcade racing ecstasy that's a much-needed antidote to the hardcore simulations that are usually offered.

Reviewed by Adam Shirley for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).