This year, Codemasters will release Fuel — an open-terrain racer — for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC. Because it’s not the first (bike’s? car’s? dirt? old!), it would be easy to write it off. But after seeing this new CG trailer (found after the jump) and these new screens, we’re not so sure that’s a good idea.
In fact, Fuel may very well be the most dramatic racing game ever. The trailer’s voice over is hilariously over-the-top, like God of War‘s Kratos woke up one morning and decided to be a meteorologist.
“These were once fertile lands,” says the ominous voice, “until weather waged war on man. The seas rose, the sun scorched the earth, and the people fled.”
First instinct to say this guy needs to relax, and then you see what’s going on — rain, tornadoes, dust … Fuel‘s weather system is not joking around. Well, at least in the CG trailer, and what’s hinted in the screenshots. The game’s set in an alternate present reality where global warming has caused catastrophic weather conditions — harsh snow, rain, sandstorms, and more — ravaged the 5,000 square miles of Fuel‘s playable terrain.
If the game’s developer Asobo Studios can pull this stuff off in real time, and have it impact gameplay in a significant way, Fuel could be a blast. Or it could be a generic racer with fancy weather effects; we’ll just have to wait and see.
