It’s late and my head is a scribble of thought, all go go go. I browse the list of games already installed from Steam. I click FUEL, a game that takes too long to start up but can be difficult to put down.
Seems I last stopped in Drownington Cove so I go from there. FUEL doesn’t really care that much, I could start from any helipad or challenge I’ve found on the world map. But this would require thought.
Twenty-five minutes have elapsed and the short experience has been enough to quieten my mind and encourage me to go to bed.
When I purchased FUEL, I had imagined myself an explorer. I would never have bought a game that was just an aimless driving simulation set in a vast but empty post-apocalyptic world. So why is it I spend more time in free ride mode and ignore the races and challenges and inane collectibles? Maybe what I really wanted, but didn’t know it at the time, was what Five Players discussed just this week.
For now, driving across a dead world with nothing on my mind except direction, is the perfect meditation for the late-night soul.
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So wonderfully written. I didn’t like Fuel myself, but I love the way that sometimes the mere existence of an imaginary world behind a game can transport you, like staring at a tiny path you never noticed before in a landscape painting and wondering where it leads.
Then other times you wish those goddamn trucks would occasionally do something interesting.
I absolutely agree with it being “the perfect mediation for the late-night soul.” I’ve spent many late nights driving around the wonderful world of FUEL. I love switching the HUD off, and driving on and on across the landscape, meandering off the path onto desire lines. This might just be me, but my greatest niggle with it is that I wish the headlights didn’t switch on automatically but toggled to a key press.
@Switchbreak: Thanks! I bought the game for cheap pennies over 6 months ago because of the RPS’ write-up of an eight hour explorathon. I’m not much of a racing game fanatic but always loved driving around the cities of GTA. Saints Row is pretty nice too but on the PC the performance is abysmal and you have to turn off all the shinies. I’d love for there to be more in the FUEL world but I think it’s sheer epictude means you’d probably still end up with masses of “dead space” unless they came up with something cleverly procedural, more than just the occasional truck and jet.
@Sam: I often use the liveries and vista points as an excuse to drive around but would end up forcing myself through races and challenges (you need the career stars to get proper access to other zones) but it really wasn’t what I was enjoying about the game. Only writing this piece made me admit what I enjoyed about FUEL.
Now there’s something I hadn’t thought of – being able to turn off the headlights would certainly something extra to the night-time drive. That reminds me, I really need to check whether the REFUELLED mod is going to make any notable changes to the experience. Thanks for quoting me, it highlighted a typo in “meditation”. Fixed!
It sounds lovely, but I only enjoy driving around in games as a time-saving measure. Some hidden bitterness about never getting a license due to a bullheaded driver’s ed instructor probably figures into that, but who knows?
Poetic write-up. I like it.
That was great. It reminds me of my time in the world of Oblivion. I pretty much didn’t bother doing anything but wandering around for about 40 hours until I realised I hadn’t done anything but wander around for 40 hours. I subsequently turned the game off and never played it again.
I saw this game for about 14 dollars in a bargain bin the other day, your write up makes me almost tempted to buy it… But I don’t need another game I haven’t finished.
Thanks for positive feedback, all.
@BC: There’s no big prize for finishing everything, so to me FUEL is just about having a bit of a lark. Playing around. I doubt I will ever finish all of the challenges in the game. I think I bought it for under five British pounds and I really got my money’s worth. I’m getting over beating up myself for not “finishing” games. I just don’t have time to play stuff which stops being fun – especially in the absence of a carrot. I have Oblivion waiting on my hard drive, like everything else.
@Sid: I dropped my first driving instructor after a few lessons and got someone who suited me better: Jill. I always liked Jill – little eccentricities like winding down the window and shouting “you twat” at cyclists who jumped out in front of us without looking – and she always gave me a telling off when I didn’t seem to be paying enough attention to the mirror or being aware that traffic lights could actually change. It took me four attempts to pass but the lessons were always a fun time. But the weird thing was, after I got my life back and was no longer stuck in lessons every weekend, I missed those lessons. The best teachers are the ones you get on with yet still smack you upside the head when you deserve it.
A year later, maybe two, it was an absolute gut-punch to find out on the local TV news that Jill had died. While she was out on foot not far from home with her two children, the driver of a nearby car had a heart attack. As the driver slumped, the car accelerated and mounted the pavement, ploughing into Jill and children. She was killed instantly, carried on the bonnet until the car crashed into a van further down the road. Her toddler daughter was physically unharmed but her baby son was rushed to hospital with brain injuries.
And typing this still upsets me, almost 15 years on.
Well I just popped over here to look at the pictures and say how I ought to get FUEL now I have a PC that will run it, but just noticed your last comment. What a sad, sad story. Sorry to hear it.
“The best teachers are the ones you get on with yet still smack you upside the head when you deserve it.”
That was very much the case with my instructor. He was a lovely guy but wasn’t afraid to grill me if I had a ‘bad lesson’. The days after those lessons I’d roll over the things I’d done wrong in my head and make sure I didn’t do them again on my next one. Eventually I stopped making silly mistakes and went on to pass first time. His temper paid off!
Did you ever watch Happy Go Lucky HM? You should watch it just for Eddie Marsen’s amazing performance as an erratic driving instructor. It’s a good film though otherwise.
Thanks, Gregg.
I haven’t fired up FUEL for a long time now, there’s always so much to do and new things to I have to play. Damn, even FUEL has been edged out…
Wait a second, what happened to Mass Effect!?
I’ve not watched Happy Go Lucky (Mike Leigh film if I recall?) but I’ll try to make a point of watching it next time it’s on the tellybox.