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Fired Up! Mini Review
Jon Wilcox
01/09/2005
Set in a fictitious Eastern European country that's just been invaded by a neighbouring superpower ominously called the Republic, Fired Up! sees players take control of a range of weapon mounted vehicles from buggies to trucks and beyond as they fight in a resistance group headed by a mysterious Ghanaian called Addo. The sad thing is that this current affairs style narrative only serves as an excuse for what amounts to limited and repetitive gameplay in the single-player mode, with slightly more fun multi-player modes.
Although the levels in the game are large, and to use SCEE's description 'expansive', with plenty of enemy vehicles to destroy and a whole host of weapons and munitions to accomplish that goal, the Single Player mode doesn't quite live up to the Mad Max expectations that perhaps some had. The gameplay in Fired Up! is rather limited; aside from exploring an almost regimentally designed environment and destroying enemy vehicles, the side-missions include collecting items (such as food) andâ¦destroying enemy vehicles. It feels a rather insipid and weak experience that just fails to live up to the expectations that perhaps we all had when it came to approaching a PSP title. Although beginning with triple-launching missiles, the range of weapons available to the player is expanded by the collection of star shaped tokens, which then updates the munitions for every ten collected. Grenades, light and missiles, and futuristic EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) bursts are just some of the weapons picked up throughout the large levels - although the player will never be founding wanting for armaments thanks to a permanent machine-gun with infinite ammo found on every vehicle.
The various main missions are begun when players driving into towers of green light, which shine up like beacons and can be seen from quite an impressive 'distance'. Objectives are then relayed to the player's character, although more often than not the mission requires the collection or distribution of various packages sent to aid the rebellion. One neat little variant requires gamers to find a number of crates and 'photograph' the UK flag depicted on the site of them as evidence of international 'support' for the invasionâ¦
Aside from the main level missions the game also includes side-missions called "Fired Up!" missions, which are launched by destroying one of several enemy trucks found scattered across the expansive environments. Whilst they should increase the level of depth in the otherwise shallow gameplay experience, these Fired Up! missions amount to a series of "Destroy 'X' amount of enemies in 'X' seconds" and therefore retain the gamer's attention for about as long as a documentary discussing the chemical composition of toothpaste. Apologies if we've just offended any dentists.
Controlling the vehicles is very straightforward, much like the gameplay. Aside from using the classic buttons to accelerate and brake, the right shoulder fires the special weapon and the left shoulder fires the mounted machine gun - it's that simple. It also appears that the vehicles in the game have shock absorbers made of rubber with buggies bouncing around the game's terrain. Even though the vehicles land on their backs like a beetle, they all have the ability to self-right, meaning that one potentially frustrating aspect of the gravity defying driving is averted.
Aside from the Single Player Story Mode, Fired Up! does offer gamers the chance to play in several Multiplayer gametypes across landscapes including 'Arctic', 'Quarry' and 'Mayan'. Whilst the range of gametypes are fairly substantial, the fact is that none of them are original in the slightest and wouldn't be out of place in an FPS game (Deathmatch, King of the Hill, and Capture the Flag all make their appearance) At this point we'll have to hold our hands up and say that the Multiplayer options do offer a higher quality of gameplay than the Story Mode - but considering the rather mediocre experience of that option, it isn't saying much. Gamers certainly won't be crowding around to play this game via ad hoc Wi-Fi.
The fact of the matter is that away from the multiplayer Wi-Fi modes, Fired Up! just isn't much fun to play. Repetitive missions, repetitive side missions, and repetitive gameplay in general make this an extraordinarily mediocre title, and certainly not one to showcase the features of the PSP. It's not the worst looking game on the platform, and some may enjoy the wanton destruction that it offers in the short-term -just don't expect to be playing it in a few weeks time.
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Date Added:Tue 2nd Oct 2007 09:59
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Date Added:Fri 7th Sep 2007 15:16
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Date Added:Mon 12th Mar 2007 18:12