Fueled Up is a delightfully easy game to provide a synopsis for; this is Overcooked! in space. Simple explanation, right? However, that is the only delightfully easy thing about it.
Fueled Up then, is a four-player co-op party game thing. Rather than take on the role of chaotic chefs, players are instead members of a deep space recovery team; one that is tasked with repairing and rescuing damaged spaceships. Viewed from a top-down perspective, four players, over local or online play, need to work together to solve a furious time-based puzzle. Each busted-up, broken-down spaceship must be kept refuelled, repaired, and fire-free until it safely returns to its base. Oh, and it must avoid the deadly giant space octopus.
First off, before I get all critical, let me just say that Fueled Up is a decent attempt at an Overcooked! style experience. It has a core puzzle concept that, whilst a little complicated, works well. The character design is charming, the visuals are fun, and escaping that giant pesky space octopus can be thrilling. It is a game that requires dedicated teamwork and exceptional communication and, as such, when the players succeed in their tasks, it can be a very rewarding experience.
Okay, let’s get critical. Fueled Up is a tough game. Not to blow my own bugle, but I am really good at Overcooked! 2. Thanks to lockdown, my partner and I four-starred every level, DLC and all. So, when I say that Fueled Up is too difficult, I really really mean it. A reason for this is a lack of smart pacing. Fueled Up throws so many mechanics at the player that it is frankly exhausting. Reversing wormholes must be overcome, fires extinguished, hulls repaired, pipes fixed, asteroids crushed, buckets filled, engines repaired, fuel pumped, switches switched, and on and on.
This breadth of mechanics isn’t a problem in and of itself, rather it is how rapidly the mechanics are introduced and then soon forgotten about that causes frustration. Each level sees new mechanics, occasionally intriguing ones, introduced, and then promptly ignored. Rather than providing the players with a series of well-designed levels to explore each addition, understand them, and figure out innovative solutions, Fireline Games instead simply throws more stuff at the player and hopes that they’ll be entertained. It’s the MCU Phase 4 approach, keep on lobbing more and more content at the audience and hope that they don’t realise most of it just isn’t very good.
The issues with mechanics don’t stop there, unfortunately. As Fueled Up seems to take great delight in not explaining anything about itself clearly or concisely. Tutorials are muddled and its attempts at Overcooked!’s chalkboard tutorials are a pale imitation, ensuring the player is left none the wiser about what to do once the level begins.
Controls, on console at least, are fussy. Too often you’ll pick up the wrong thing or interact with the wrong object, causing frustration, particularly in the demanding later stages. The screen is too small and overly packed with stuff. Unlike the clear, bold visuals of Overcooked!, it is all too easy to lose track of what is going on. These issues take an already demanding game and make it despicably tricky. As such, this is not a party game. Nor is it a game for the faint of heart. If your team wants to survive, you’re really going to have to work at it. In short, if you don’t have a group of skilled gamer friends that you can play with on a regular basis, then Fueled Up is not for you. This might look like an experience for casual gamers, but only the hardcore need apply.