Who- Microsoft Game Studios & Hudson Soft
What- ACTION Party game When- Since early 2007 Where- Only on Xbox360 Huh?- Genuinely fun mini-games clogged with unneeded extra rubbish Did you know that the (ancient) Xbox classic Fuzion Frenzy was the first Xbox game to come off the assembly line way back in 2001? Microsoft seems to have taken notice the game’s popularity and ran off not to Blitz Games, the makers of the original as well as those infamous Burger King games, but Hudson Soft, the makers of the Mario Party series. It’s clear as crystal that Hudson Soft knows how to make fun minigames, notably the kind of which are fair and not either unforgivably cheap or complicated to the point that veteran gamers have a large advantage. Did HS make Fuzion Frenzy 2 to be the casual game that anyone and everyone who tries it can fall in love with the game instantly? Well… The good news- Fuzion Frenzy 2 is chock-full of visually stimulating, audibly pleasing and most importantly entertaining minigames to enjoy. Hudson Soft pushed their artists to a point I have never seen them go, as the lighting, fire, water and other visual effects are stunning. Colorful, shiny and all-over pretty, but not pretty enough to pull your attention from the action. Just about all of the 40+ minigames have an upbeat techno soundtrack that keeps the games at a high tempo, or should I say frenzy? Erm, FF2 takes place in outer space over a course of seven pretty themed planets. These exotic locals include Blazer, the volcanic planet, Amuseth, the casino planet, and good ’ol Earth. The games are always simple, and all can be practiced before the real trial begins. Controls are fairly precise and limited to the thumbsticks and the colorful face buttons we are all familiar with. The games support a wide variety such as racing over lava flows, slam dunking competitions , amoeba hunting, and my personal favorite; flamethrower fighting! For you Achievement apes out there: yep, Fuzion Frenzy 2 has some fairly easy, if time-consuming Achievements. Example Achievements include: winning a “Battle Tournament” (Single Player Mode) as one of the six playable characters, winning games over Xbox Live, and unlocking all of the minigames. Probably the best part is how you can take the race for minigame out of the living room, and over Xbox Live to trash complete strangers all over the globe in instant classics “Hopping No Stopping” and “Don’t Sink The Boat”. So, you’d be convinced that this game’s the perfect ACTION/party game for your Xbox 360, eh? There’s the downside I’ve not even touched on yet… This is one of those uncommon instances where a game’s faults are forced onto a game that is better off without certain unneeded bits. One of my pet peeves was that the six characters, no matter how lovingly designed, are as boring as a party game’s avatars can get. Sure, they’ve all got cute, little three sentence bios in the manual, but when you get your mitts on the game, it’s a matter of choosing your preferred color and gender. No matter how “cool” Zak looks with his yellow jumpsuit and spiral goggles, he as well as the five other characters have no personality at all. The only thing that defines each character is their voice, which is usually muffled to the point of vague “Swedish Chef” grumbles. While we’re on the topic of shallow characters, let’s see why FF2 looses its first whole letter grade: The Announcer. This green haired loudmouth WILL cheapen your experience with the game. Not only does this guy get way too many cut scenes to explain elementary concepts such as “ pick a planet” and “choose a minigame”, but his obnoxious voice hits you often and he repeats the same one-liners constantly. Think you’re safe once you’re rolling in your giant hamster ball, trying to knock your competitors off the arena? WRONG. Mr. Announcer (I don’t know his real name and I‘m trying to keep this review family friendly) chimes in during your entire match with “helpful” phrases like “WAS THAT A LOT OF DAMAGE, PLAYER 4?” and “PLAYER 1 HAS TAKEN THE LEAD!” Needless to say, this takes much of the fun from the game, as “GO, GO, GOOO!” Sorry, but that proves my point that no one wants to be randomly interrupted with lame catchphrases by some twit who WON’T SHUT UP. The other equally hurtful unneeded feature forced upon the player is the “Frenzy Card” scoring system. Cards aside for a moment, when playing with three others, points will be awarded with 10 for the winner, 8 points for 2nd place, and so on. Cards, which can be obtained though meaningless “challenges” greatly change the scoring system for the worst. The challenge is in reality a 10 second minigame where you walk three feet to walk to a card on the floor. Seriously. It’s a huge waste of time, when you could just be rewarded with a card by the game anyway. The card you use, if you choose to use one, is picked before the minigame begins and is activated once points are given. Effects include: 2, 4, and 6 x point multipliers, steal effect cards, and reverse multipliers. If you do well in a minigame, you should reap the benefits, right? Not in this game, as if the last place player had a “X6” card up her sleeve and you won the minigame, you lost. If you were lucky enough to get a “X4” card, you risk the chance of losing one quarter of your points if someone else uses a reverse multiplier card. No one can appreciate such a gimmicky scoring system, especially in the party setting it was created for. It ruins the effect of trying to win, if the CPU, uncoordinated human play ers, or my cat can use a randomly generated card that can eclipse my skill for the entire match. Yep, cards can’t be turned off either. There are however modes that are card free, though. Those modes are the better ones anyway. As for the verdict? Fuzion Frenzy 2 is not a bad game, nor is it a good game. It’s squarely in the realm of OK. As wacky as it sounds in this overly critical game-reviewer’s circle, the good and bad parts of FF2 just about cancel each other out. Definitely worth a spin, especially if you’re entertaining some friends, have a buddy over Live with a copy, or need a decent ACTION-party game for your Xbox 360. Be sure to try the demo downloadable over Xbox Live to see for yourself. It doesn’t seem as though Microsoft will ask for another installment of the Fuzion Frenzy series anytime soon, and MGS had the right idea to go to the Mario Party people for the sequel, but this wasn’t the perfect party that we Xbox fans had hoped for. Fuzion Frenzy 2 is definitely worth checking out though; you didn’t forget the flamethrower fights, eh? I give Fuzion Frenzy 2 a respectable C
+Pretty, Excellent minigames, Xbox Live support is flawless. -Lame card/scoring system, the Announcer needs to be shot out of the closest airlock and into the sun, Characters lack character.
But Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn Ya… |
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