Review: Fired Up (PSP)

Amidst all the racing and sports titles of the PSP's European launch window, Fired Up seemed to spring from nowhere, with its hands waving around in the air and shouting "look at me!". The UK-based developers have basically blended vehicular combat with a little splash of Grand Theft Auto and a plotline straight from Mercenaries. It's your job, as one of five freedom fighters, to fight off the Republic and its stronghold on your country; this is done by zooming around large landscapes in a variety of vehicles, firing missiles and rockets at the bad guys, completing missions for local freedom fighters and collecting stuff.

Let's get one thing straight, though: Fired Up is not a big game. The one-player story campaign will be over in an afternoon (at most, consisting as it does of just three main levels plus a boss) and the UMD only ships with a handful of multiplayer maps. It's not particularly original, either - essentially the European sweetener for the lack of Twisted Metal in the launch line-up over here, except Fired Up isn't online and is less than half the size. So why the decent score? In short, it's because Sony London have created the epitome of what a well crafted PSP game should be - allow us to explain.

Firstly, and this is something most developers have failed to realise, we want quick loading games. The DS has no problems here - everything loads in an instant, but more often than not, PSP gamers can be left hanging for over a minute between courses, tracks and jungle environments. Thankfully, Fired Up is not only blindingly quick to get to the main menu from boot, but levels take around 5 seconds to stream from the UMD in both single and multiplayer modes, and from there it's no more loading unless you decide to change level. Great stuff.

Secondly, the game is aware that it's a portable title. This might sound slightly odd, but at least it's bright enough to prompt a save when you quit the game, recording everything you've picked up, missions you've completed and any ranks obtained automatically. It's also perfectly playable in tiny chunks of your precious time - be that a quick two-minute tube ride or the remainder of a lunch hour - and if you're playing the story mode, you can progress a few missions or there's always time for a quick multiplayer blast of your favourite level. Game progress is clearly displayed in-game too, so you know at a glance how many pickups you still need to find, for example.

Finally, whilst the on-disk content is pretty limited, SCEE offer free downloads for the game from the yourpsp.com site. These are mainly maps, which you can install onto your Memory Stick ready for use straight away in the game. Indeed, the multiplayer aspects of Fired Up are commendable: only one copy of the game is required for WLAN play as the game generously offers a Game Sharing service. The host activates the mode and, one by one, any PSP owners in the vicinity can download enough of the game to be able to take part in whatever mode and level is in play; with some levels offering up to eight players, this really is a great inclusion. Multiplayer modes include the standard deathmatch and capture the flag types, but there are also some neat new ideas in there, such as races and various team games if there are enough players available.

Visually, it's worth noting the very smooth (and high) framerate here, especially given the sharp textures and high-poly vehicle models. Even with plenty of missile trails, explosions and tyre marks all flying around, the game engine still manages to keep well up with the action, and if there's any slowdown during hectic moments, it's never enough to bother you and certainly doesn't drop below 30fps at any point. The levels might be fairly obvious stylisticly (ruined city, arctic waste, etc.) and the characters might be your usual affair, but the art direction on the menus and the in-game HUD is very hip and well presented.

The music is also cool, well fitting with the action in game (but can be switched down or off if required) and through a decent set of headphones (or an amplifier) the sound effects are great: explosions are punchy and engine noises meaty enough, and the onboard chain gun (left trigger) gives off a tremendous roar when you're out of missiles. It's just a shame there's no voice acting from any of the characters in-game, but at the expense of longer load times (or bigger downloads) we'll let it slide this time.

So, despite not really offering anything new and shipping with a criminally short (and far too easy) single-player campaign, Fired Up warrants a recommendation for its superb multiplayer options. There are no bots, so you'll need PSP-owning friends, but at least they don't all have to own the game to play along with you. Were this game on a main console, it wouldn't fare nearly as well, but as an example of how to offer PSP features, it's good enough to garner a cult following - and we're at the front of the line.

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Alex Carroll