Mario did for party games with Mario Party what he did for mascot racers with Mario Kart. Basically, he popularized the concept and it went on to be copied by everyone and their mother. Microsoft saw this and decided that a party game might help out their new Xbox console. Enter Fusion Frenzy. Microsoft didn’t exactly have a stable of mascot based franchises under their belt so they went with something entirely original. It’s sort of extreme sports-esque which is a turn off, but let’s jump in and see what it has to offer.
I’m surprised they actually bothered to throw in a story. Fusion Frenzy takes place in the future where there’s a citywide tournament. I think people represent different sections of the metropolis based on color. At least that’s what I was able to gather. I guess it does it’s job. You can select from one of six different ‘extreme’ characters to play as throughout the various mini-games, and then you’re off. They correspond with their own color in each event which is nice.
What’s nice is that there are two different modes to choose from. Tournament is sort of a story mode where you move to different events automatically and an overall winner is determined by the combined result at the end. Mini-game frenzy is how I always choose to play. This lets you choose which mini-game you want to participate in. This is nice because while there are some really good events the package also includes some duds.
Now we get to the mini-games themselves. These are all single screen and enclosed within an arena. While there are some events in which your characters on on-foot most of them throw you into various vehicles with a variety of different controls. You compete with the other combatants for points and the winner of each match, quite obviously, is whomever gains the most of these. Vehicles include hovercrafts, balls that resemble hamster wheels, cars, air hockey pucks, etc. Sometimes you can only move one way, and other times you can move in all directions. The controls vary quite a bit but the game does show you which buttons do what before you start out.
Let’s start out detailing the mini-games on a high note. The games wherein you knock an opponent out of a ring, down a waterfall, etc. Are a load of fun. This is the highlight of the game. These events are fast and frantic, and will no doubt cause you to curse out the other players. I sort of wish that all of the mini-games were based around this concept. Next up are the racing events. These vary in the vehicles you command. There’s a hovercraft, hamster ball sort of thing, and bumper cars. Controls vary and the handling is what sets these apart from one another. They’re generally pretty fun, and some (such as the hovercraft mode) really remind me of Super Off-Road.
The on-foot mini-games are a mixed bag. On one hand the event where you have to duck or jump is pretty limited and frustrating. It isn’t a lot of fun, but it does feel like the original Temple Run. There’s another mode wherein each player has a hamburger that they must protect from incoming insects as they eat away at it. It’s fun, but at the same time it feels like you have too much to pay attention to with so many enemies on-screen at once. My favorite of all the mini-games is an on-foot one; it’s an event wherein you have spray paint and must color incoming bugs. These insects run to your side of the screen and you get points when they disappear. If another player colors a bug you can steal it by painting it. This leads to a lot of frantic moment especially with four humans.
As with any party game your mileage will vary in Fusion Frenzy. What I mean is that the game can be an absolute blast when playing with a few friends. Going it alone though? Forget about it. When you don’t have enough friends to play with the game throws AI bots into the mix. You can choose the difficulty level for them, and that’s fine and dandy, but the highlight is playing with friends. Fusion Frenzy is only mildly entertaining by yourself. None of the mini-games are particularly fun when playing against the CPU (you can’t trash talk an AI). My big complaint here is that the game supports only four participants. I would have preferred the option to have six; four human players and the last two with computer controlled foes. Alas it wasn’t meant to be.
In terms of graphics Fusion Frenzy wasn’t exactly a showcase for the system. The Xbox was the most powerful console at the time, and this looks like it could have been done on the Dreamcast to be honest. The water effects and lighting are kind of unimpressive even as a launch game for the platform. The character models are blocky, and the environments are pretty simple. Sometimes there’s a lot of animation going on and it looks decent, but it’s a far cry from being a showcase of what the Xbox can do. The extreme sports theme is annoying to be honest. The soundtrack is okay, but the hip hop tracks don’t really fit in my opinion. I guess it fits the action pretty well at least.
The whole time I was playing Fusion Frenzy I was secretly wishing that I was instead in a bout of Mario Party. It falls short of the best mini-game compilations, but if the Xbox was all you had it could fill the niche. At least temporarily. Fusion Frenzy is entertaining if you have a full roster of human players, but otherwise it falls kind of short to be honest. I’m glad that it eventually saw a sequel, but the mini-games failed to keep my interest. It’s available via backwards compatibility but in this day and age you have far better options at your disposal.
