Fired Up

Fired Up, a vehicle combat action game in a similar vein to Twisted Metal. The order of the day is big guns and big explosions in a big cityscape. So you would expect Fired Up to be a BIG game, not really, its fairly limited and secondly it doesn't last very long.

Fired Up is all about an oil rich state which is being over run by the Republic. You are part of the resistance. Fired Up features three main cities which you drive around in a range of weapon wielding buggies and trucks. The cities are a decent size with a fairly simplistic layout and there are lots of ramps and roof tops to jump off which makes blowing up enemy tanks and trucks all the more fun.

Your job is to destroy the enemy tanks and trucks for the man whether you are attacking or defending, but the game does offer some other alternative missions such as taking photographs and others where you will be manning a gun turret. It doesn't sound that exciting but it does break up the action nicely.

A vehicle is given to you at the beginning of each level, for each new level you get a different vehicle. Later on when you reach the second and third cities you will be able to choose from two vehicles. Each vehicle has a standard weapon which has unlimited ammo. As you progress through the levels you can pick up additional weapons, you can only use the most recently picked up weapon though. So don't go wasting weapons by collecting new ones before your old one has run out.

The vehicles generally drive well. You can spend an excessive amount of time in the air if you take off a ramp and hit a building. Once you hit the building the whole sequence will slow down and the vehicle will probably land on its roof and will soon be placed back on its wheels. Shooting the enemies is made easy because your vehicles are usually very manoeuvrable. So you can drive around an enemy vehicle while pelting it with gun fire. All the additional weapons you will pick up have some degree of lock on or targeting system so once you get into the swing of things you should not have any trouble making each shot count.

To get more weapon pick ups from around the levels you must find scavenger icons. For each set of seven scavenger icons you collect more weapon and shield pick ups will become available. The scavenger icons are also there to encourage you to scour the whole of each city. Some of the scavenger icons are placed in pretty creative places, in mid air for example, so you have to find where you can launch yourself from to collect it.

Graphically Fired Up isn't bad the explosions are the main attraction here. Too many explosions and vehicles on the screen at the same time can cause the game to slow down, but in a game of this type you expect that to some extent. The slow down is definitely tolerable and it shouldn't effect the game-play.

Fired Up is a great game while it lasts and it's the kind of game that works really well on the PSP, you can pick it up have a quick blast have your fun and put it back down again. The best scenario for Fired Up is the multiplayer aspect of the game. If your mates are also going to buy a copy you should all get decent satisfaction from the quick pick up and playability of death matches and king of the hill. Other wise Fired Up just won't last long enough and you could feel like you're wanting more when the game is finished.


6.5 out of 10