Interview: Codemasters Talk FUEL

Codemasters are the masters of the racing game genre, having created a string of consistent and critically acclaimed titles that perfectly capture the speed and intensity of professional racing. From Colin McRae to TOCA Race Driver and GRID, each title has taken realistic racing simulation, removed the dull parts and added a welcome jolt of adrenaline. However, the next title in the Codemasters racing series is by far the most abstract and more interestingly, is not being developed in-house.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by natural disasters, FUEL sees racers screaming across a destroyed open-world environment on a wide range of vehicles including ATVS, motocross bikes and other extreme sport craft. It certainly is far removed from existing Codemasters racing titles meaning French developer ASOBO has a massive legacy to live up to. We caught up with producer at Codemasters Phil Wright to talk about what race fans can expect from FUEL when it launches May 29.

While games like Burnout Paradise and Midnight Club have embraced the idea of open-world gameplay, letting racers explore massive environments and participating in races at their leisure, FUEL adds several neat twists to the mix. Phil explains: "With FUEL the technology really drives the experience. A racing environment with almost no boundaries on a scale never seen before, players will experience a huge diversity in terrain and weather, from snowy mountains, dense forest, desert, salt-plains and so on."

While the game's environment certainly looks stunning, players will really need resist looking at it and keep their eyes on the road as weather affects can hit you at any moment, drastically altering gameplay. Phil said: "The weather effects in free ride mode are dynamic, but appropriate to the area at the same time. This means you're more likely to get snow at the top of a mountain which thins out as you descend, turning to rain, then disappearing as you go further down. In the career races, we set the weather deliberately for effect. Tornados scour the landscape, unpredictably wreaking havoc across the course while rain builds up to turn the tarmac into an ice-rink and dust storms create near zero visibility."

Phil is keen to stress that the game is built around the idea of ‘risk-reward'. Because the game is set in an open world, racers don't have to compete on the beaten track and can use hidden shortcuts they come across. However, many shortcuts are also perilous, meaning if you are good enough, you may get the edge you need to win, if not, you may find yourself face first into a tree or boulder. It's a neat system that mixes up each race nicely.

Phil explains: "We are very conscious to encourage players to explore the world and reward them for doing so with plenty of unlockables, from race events, to vista points with breath-taking views, to vehicle liveries, all of which are revealed on the map as the player travels the game world. It's a completist's dream. However, we've also taken care to make it easy for the player to quickly access different parts of the world, via heliport drop points dotted all over the landscape. Also, for those players that prefer to race and not explore, races and challenges for the zone they are currently in can be selected from the menu without having to drive to the race start point in free ride. All tastes are catered for in FUEL."

The game certainly is massive, featuring an impressive roster of vehicles and expansive online modes. Phil reveals: "The range of vehicles is huge. You will come across more than 70 vehicles to suit all conditions and terrain in the game including, road-going bikes and cars, trucks, buggies, quads and SUVs. There's certainly a vehicle for every occasion.  As for online, this is integral to the FUEL experience. Free Ride allows up to 16 players to explore and race online together and tackle some of the main offline challenges together. Quick Race options are also available for those who want to just dive in and race and last but by no means least, FUEL has an intuitive and flexible Race Editor, enabling players to create their own custom races anywhere in the 14,000km² game world before them taking online to challenge other players."

The game looks set to shake up the racing genre in new ways, giving players more explorative freedom than other driving games before it. If hurtling through a hurricane at 150mph doesn't get your appetite for FUEL revved up, we don't know what will. One thing is for sure, we can't wait to get stuck in.