
	Platform PlayStation Portable (PSP) Genre Vehicular Combat Publisher SCEA Developer SCEE ETA TBA
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Fired Up

Vehicular combat games have been taking a bit of a nap lately. During the 32-bit era, and in the early days of the Dreamcast these games were everywhere, with Twisted Metal establishing the genre, Vigilante 8 and Rogue Trip cementing it, then a million and one copycat games coming along and saturating the market. Since that time we haven’t really seen much from the genre with the exception of Twisted Metal Black, and a select few other games. Now this appears to be turning around, especially on the PSP, with a new Twisted Metal already available, and, now, another game on the way with Fired Up, which is being handled by Sony Computer Entertainment’s London studio.

One of the first things players will notice when playing Fired Up will be just how large the world is for them to drive around in. Previously in vehicular combat games, each level was actually quite small, not leaving much room for exploration, resulting in confined, high-powered jousting matches. Now players will be able to wander around a fair bit, check out the sites, and blow up all sorts of obstacles along the way, like turrets, and whatnot.

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Despite the large areas to drive around in, the game’s developers are aiming to make the game accommodating to a variety of people so that someone can hop in for a quick five minute game, or write off an afternoon with Fired Up.

In terms of story, there isn’t a lot to go on, but it looks like the game is going for a fairly simple, straightforward approach where players are put in an archaic world where they have to join a group of rebels in taking down some evil empire ruling the land with an iron fist. There could be more to

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it, or the developers are making sure the game has more of a “less story, more explosions” sort of vibe. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Just like a good deal of the PSP games available and in the works, Fired Up will also be taking advantage of the handheld’s WiFi capabilities. With this 2-8 players will be able to face off against one another in a variety of modes ranging from deathmatch, to capture the flag, to bomb the base. Also, players can unlock a number of extra vehicles in the single-player game that can then be used for multiplayer mode.

It’s been a while since vehicular combat games have ruled the roost. From what is known thus far about Fired Up, it looks like Sony is working very hard on rekindling gamers’ interest in the genre.

Mr. Nash

(April 1, 2005)