Fumes has starred in a few Screenshot Saturday round-ups but this is the first time, to my knowledge, that somebody from the Treehouse has slipped behind the wheel and taken this crusty old banger for a spin. I am glad to have done so. Created by a team of four, Fumes is the Mad Max X Vigilante 8 adaptation somebody really should have made in the 90s, when the very thought of such a thing would have had me flipping tables and then sheepishly righting them again, before being sent to bed with no dinner.
It’s an open world combat racer with boisterous arcade handling, pop-out guns that wiggle about like hood ornaments, some kaiju-wannabe boss vehicles, a delightfully crunchy, sooty artstyle and a passably earwormy metal soundtrack. I’m not entirely convinced it has longevity beyond its impeccably scorched and dented PS1 vibes, but I definitely think you should try the demo, now that the early access version is out.
