From racing cars to loading them up with weapons and blasting anything in sight. Tiny Teams this year is providing plenty of action, with this car combat game being FUMES. Created by a team of four people, I’ve had the chance to give this a go thanks to the code sent to me by Yogscast Games as part of the Tiny Teams Festival. So far, this one is shaping up to be a fantastic car combat game.

FUMES takes place in a wasteland consumed by toxic fumes. Hence the name. It seems as though these toxic fumes are sentient, able to inhabit the mind of people to control them. And it seems there’s a war being waged between two factions. Our fume is part of the scrappers, roaming the wastes for parts to build their weapons. Then there’s a more militant faction, who seems to want everything for themselves.

The first thing I did was get into the control options to remap them. Despite this being a combat game, I didn’t realise at first just how important constant access to both camera and weapon controls would be. So I set things up for a normal driving game and almost found myself decimated in the tutorial battle. A quick second remap had me sorted and flying through the rest of it.

Being a pre-alpha, and with FUMES to be released in Early Access, there is only the core gameplay to really talk about here. And that core certainly keeps things full of action. Driving to marked areas full of fumes begins a combat situation, calling the enemy to that position. Each combat situation involves a number of waves of enemies to destroy. With each wave destroyed, health is fully restored to the player vehicle. With all waves destroyed, the scrap is collected, providing new parts for the player vehicle.

With all markers complete, a boss marker appears. Upon beginning a boss fight, an initial wave needs to be completed before the boss appears. Bosses have plenty of health, and have many of their underlings fighting for them. They also have two bars of health. Or two separate bosses. These bosses are great fun, with weapons being employed not yet in the scrappers’ hands. It’s a frantic storm of chaos, especially when the boss unleashes their fumes to bring more underlings to the fight.

Upon beating the boss, their vehicles becomes available for use. Which brings me to the customisation. Around these wastes, the scrapper van roams. Driving into the open rear of the van brings up the customisation menu. From here, the car used, the weapons it has attached, and the colour of the vehicle can all be changed. There are a maximum of four slots that can be used for weapons, with each vehicle having a set number of slots.

With the boss defeated, that is the current loop complete. More enemy markers appear, waiting to be dealt with. More enemies appear in waves, with stronger weapons in use. When it comes to the handling of the vehicles, it is very loose. Suspension of the vehicles is very bouncy, providing subtle movements when driving across the varied terrain of these wastes. The speed of these vehicles feels good for both combat situations and travelling.

All of that makes the act of driving a joy. Plus the music, which fuels the combat with its heavy rock themes. Pause any time during gameplay, and there’s a photo mode. In its current form, it works great with simple positioning controls and a few extras such as changing the time of day. At present, there is no way to remap photo mode controls, meaning swapping over to the keyboard whenever I use it.

The developers of FUMES have plans for expanding the photo mode, as it is one of the things they state on the roadmap. That roadmap is full of expansion of this core, such as improving combat, exploration, and adding many more cars, weapons, and additional customisation options. The mission structure is to be overhauled, complete with a story to provide much needed context to this world.

FUMES provides a great core for a vehicle combat game. Already it has a good amount of varied vehicles and weapons, with numerous personalisation options. That combat is fast, easy to control, and explosive. It will be great to watch this one grow, as even in this early state, I can already give it an easy recommendation. With all that expansion soon to happen, such a recommendation just gets easier.

The Tiny Teams Festival is a celebration of games developed by small teams. This year running from 8-15/August, the festival once again is highlighting games both new and old, and even those yet to release. Check it out on Steam, and find yourself a great game from a tiny team.

Images Taken From:
FUMES | Steam