Throughout a console’s lifespan it sees its share of bad games, games that are bland, uninspired or just plain boring. Well, Fuzion Frenzy 2 is an unfortunate combination of all three. One begins to wonder who bought enough copies of the original (which is much better in comparison) to warrant this sequel. It’s a shame that this game didn’t build upon the foundations its predecessor built because it could’ve perhaps competed with the legendary Mario Party series for the party game crown.
The presentation itself isn’t that great to begin with, featuring a bland and unattractive front end menu. There are some green lasers dancing about in the background but besides that, the translucent panels do nothing to spur you onward. Maybe this is a good thing, because things don’t improve much from there.
The tournament mode, in which up to four players compete for the control of two to five planets by winning minigames sports a highly counterintuitive interface compared to the rest of the game which is rather streamlined and well executed. You start by choosing one of six generic, color-coded characters. There is an option for up to three additional players to play alongside you throughout the tournament, and this is highly favorable. If human players aren’t available, CPU players will fill in what spots remain. After choosing the number of planets that have to be won before a winner is declared. Anywhere from two to five planets can be chosen, but be warned, anything longer than three can stretch on far longer than you’d want them to.
Once the tournament begins, one of the most annoying aspects of the game rears its ugly head in the form of the announcer who gives the tournaments a game show style vibe but as you play the game, you will likely grow to hate the obnoxious, repetitive and frequently annoying announcer. Obnoxious because of his laughably bad and wildly overdone voiceovers. Repetitive because of his habit of repeating the same lines of commentary over and over. For example I’ve heard him say “I’ve never seen a battle this crazy!” five times. Keep in mind that this was just during one minigame. Frequently annoying because of the inability to skip his long, drawn out, not to mention poorly dubbed comments in between minigames during online tournaments. Thankfully, some salvation comes in the ability to skip these scenes in local tournaments. Outside of the announcer, a few bland techno/rock tunes play in the background.
Visually, the game doesn’t impress in a technical or artistic way at any point. The backgrounds and character models are decent (save for the fashion challenged announcer) but are generally uninspired and lack significant detail. While unimpressive, they do their job decently enough. The lighting is one of the better aspects of the game, but in some spots it’s a bit overdone.
Before beginning your first minigame, the announcer instructs you to choose the first of seven planets you’d like to attempt to control. These planets all feature rather generic themes and uninspired names (Amuseth, Icicle, Machina, Moisture, Blazer, Eternite and Earth) corresponding with the planet’s theme. These different planets serve their purpose of expanding the game’s universe and providing a backdrop for the minigames but don’t have the spark of creativity this game desperately needs.
One of the new features, billed as an “improvement” over its predecessor is the card system, which is introduced here. These modifier cards dramatically change the scoring system to a point that things like balance and fair play are thrown right out the window. Before each minigame, you’ll be able to use a card from the cards in your hand, which are obtained through short card collecting game thrown in between minigames games and the effects of the card you’ve chosen are applied after the upcoming minigame is played. The most common type of card you’ll encounter is the multiplier card. These cards come in 2X, 4X and 6X varieties, and multiply your score accordingly. Scores are doled out after minigames based on placing awarding 10 points for first place, 6 for second, 4 for third, and 2 for a fourth place finish. The obvious problem with this is that players can score a first place win without actually winning the game. If you place third and use a 4x multiplier then boom, you’ve got a first place win. This is especially frustrating when you win a minigame and someone uses a multiplier or, worse yet, steals the multiplier you’ve just used for themselves and knocks you off the podium.
Finally, we reach the focal point of the game…the minigames. There are more than 40 minigames to be found here and it’s a shame that, in a game centered on these games, most of those forty are rather boring and repetitive. Many minigames are un-fun exercises in button mashing. Hand cramps galore await you in the “Power Surge” minigame. Others are nothing but slight variations on the same themes such as the mindless beat em ups. To its credit, all the minigames featured here are accessible and easy to pick up and play. A few of the better minigames from the original return, such as the American Gladiator-esque Sumo Clash, which has you rolling around in a giant ball, attempting to knock other players off the platform. There are a few standout games such as the snake-esque Tail Blazer and Tower of Judgment, which has you inputting button combinations as fast as you can to beat the other players. There are a few other standout games, but they are few and far between, making the whole package suffer.
Outside of the tournament mode, there exist the minigame frenzy and custom modes, the latter allows you to choose specifically which games you’d like to play and play to a set number of wins. The absence of the almost broken card system here makes this mode competitive and encourages skill. The minigame frenzy mode allows you to play all of the game’s minigames in any order you like. Both these modes, as well as the tournament mode, are playable online, which can be fun and competitive if you’re playing the right minigames.
One of the (slightly) redeeming factors in Fuzion Frenzy 2 is in its achievement points. There are only 14 of them, and comprise 1000 of the easiest achievement points you’ll ever get. Collaborate with a friend for a few hours and you’ll have an extra 1000 points added to your gamerscore lickety-split…though you may not like yourself for it.
The biggest reason I’m so disappointed in this game is that it hails from Hudson, developer of the famed Mario Party series. This series has long been known for its fun and original minigames and has been considered the originator of the party game genre. Considering the developer’s pedigree, there is no excuse for Fuzion Frenzy 2 to be as bad as it is. That is, unless just they weren’t trying.
Fuzion Frenzy 2 is just one of those games you’ll want to avoid. If you’re a rabid fan of achievements, rent it. Even then you should be wary. $50 is simply too much to pay for a game like this. If you see it in a bargain bin sometime in the future, skip it. The few truly entertaining minigames just can’t balance the scales against its below average and at times, just plain bad overtones. This is definitely the worst game I’ve played on the Xbox 360 to date and at the end of the day, it just makes me wonder why they even bothered.
Graphics - 5
Gameplay - 5
Sound - 3
Value - 5
Tilt - 4
Overall Score: 4.5
The presentation itself isn’t that great to begin with, featuring a bland and unattractive front end menu. There are some green lasers dancing about in the background but besides that, the translucent panels do nothing to spur you onward. Maybe this is a good thing, because things don’t improve much from there.
The tournament mode, in which up to four players compete for the control of two to five planets by winning minigames sports a highly counterintuitive interface compared to the rest of the game which is rather streamlined and well executed. You start by choosing one of six generic, color-coded characters. There is an option for up to three additional players to play alongside you throughout the tournament, and this is highly favorable. If human players aren’t available, CPU players will fill in what spots remain. After choosing the number of planets that have to be won before a winner is declared. Anywhere from two to five planets can be chosen, but be warned, anything longer than three can stretch on far longer than you’d want them to.
Once the tournament begins, one of the most annoying aspects of the game rears its ugly head in the form of the announcer who gives the tournaments a game show style vibe but as you play the game, you will likely grow to hate the obnoxious, repetitive and frequently annoying announcer. Obnoxious because of his laughably bad and wildly overdone voiceovers. Repetitive because of his habit of repeating the same lines of commentary over and over. For example I’ve heard him say “I’ve never seen a battle this crazy!” five times. Keep in mind that this was just during one minigame. Frequently annoying because of the inability to skip his long, drawn out, not to mention poorly dubbed comments in between minigames during online tournaments. Thankfully, some salvation comes in the ability to skip these scenes in local tournaments. Outside of the announcer, a few bland techno/rock tunes play in the background.
Visually, the game doesn’t impress in a technical or artistic way at any point. The backgrounds and character models are decent (save for the fashion challenged announcer) but are generally uninspired and lack significant detail. While unimpressive, they do their job decently enough. The lighting is one of the better aspects of the game, but in some spots it’s a bit overdone.
Before beginning your first minigame, the announcer instructs you to choose the first of seven planets you’d like to attempt to control. These planets all feature rather generic themes and uninspired names (Amuseth, Icicle, Machina, Moisture, Blazer, Eternite and Earth) corresponding with the planet’s theme. These different planets serve their purpose of expanding the game’s universe and providing a backdrop for the minigames but don’t have the spark of creativity this game desperately needs.
One of the new features, billed as an “improvement” over its predecessor is the card system, which is introduced here. These modifier cards dramatically change the scoring system to a point that things like balance and fair play are thrown right out the window. Before each minigame, you’ll be able to use a card from the cards in your hand, which are obtained through short card collecting game thrown in between minigames games and the effects of the card you’ve chosen are applied after the upcoming minigame is played. The most common type of card you’ll encounter is the multiplier card. These cards come in 2X, 4X and 6X varieties, and multiply your score accordingly. Scores are doled out after minigames based on placing awarding 10 points for first place, 6 for second, 4 for third, and 2 for a fourth place finish. The obvious problem with this is that players can score a first place win without actually winning the game. If you place third and use a 4x multiplier then boom, you’ve got a first place win. This is especially frustrating when you win a minigame and someone uses a multiplier or, worse yet, steals the multiplier you’ve just used for themselves and knocks you off the podium.
Finally, we reach the focal point of the game…the minigames. There are more than 40 minigames to be found here and it’s a shame that, in a game centered on these games, most of those forty are rather boring and repetitive. Many minigames are un-fun exercises in button mashing. Hand cramps galore await you in the “Power Surge” minigame. Others are nothing but slight variations on the same themes such as the mindless beat em ups. To its credit, all the minigames featured here are accessible and easy to pick up and play. A few of the better minigames from the original return, such as the American Gladiator-esque Sumo Clash, which has you rolling around in a giant ball, attempting to knock other players off the platform. There are a few standout games such as the snake-esque Tail Blazer and Tower of Judgment, which has you inputting button combinations as fast as you can to beat the other players. There are a few other standout games, but they are few and far between, making the whole package suffer.
Outside of the tournament mode, there exist the minigame frenzy and custom modes, the latter allows you to choose specifically which games you’d like to play and play to a set number of wins. The absence of the almost broken card system here makes this mode competitive and encourages skill. The minigame frenzy mode allows you to play all of the game’s minigames in any order you like. Both these modes, as well as the tournament mode, are playable online, which can be fun and competitive if you’re playing the right minigames.
One of the (slightly) redeeming factors in Fuzion Frenzy 2 is in its achievement points. There are only 14 of them, and comprise 1000 of the easiest achievement points you’ll ever get. Collaborate with a friend for a few hours and you’ll have an extra 1000 points added to your gamerscore lickety-split…though you may not like yourself for it.
The biggest reason I’m so disappointed in this game is that it hails from Hudson, developer of the famed Mario Party series. This series has long been known for its fun and original minigames and has been considered the originator of the party game genre. Considering the developer’s pedigree, there is no excuse for Fuzion Frenzy 2 to be as bad as it is. That is, unless just they weren’t trying.
Fuzion Frenzy 2 is just one of those games you’ll want to avoid. If you’re a rabid fan of achievements, rent it. Even then you should be wary. $50 is simply too much to pay for a game like this. If you see it in a bargain bin sometime in the future, skip it. The few truly entertaining minigames just can’t balance the scales against its below average and at times, just plain bad overtones. This is definitely the worst game I’ve played on the Xbox 360 to date and at the end of the day, it just makes me wonder why they even bothered.
Graphics - 5
Gameplay - 5
Sound - 3
Value - 5
Tilt - 4
Overall Score: 4.5
No comments:
Post a Comment