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Fuzion Frenzy 2 has arrived on the Xbox360 for
reportedly two reasons. Firstly, of course, it’s an attempt to
attract the casual market along with the likes of
Viva Piñata: Party Animals and Scene It?: Lights, Camera,
 Action!, but also Bill Gates has stated that the first was his
favourite game on the Xbox. It seems that the man providing the
money doesn’t necessarily have the same taste as his target
audience; but did you really expect him to?
Fuzion Frenzy 2 is a Mini-Game compilation, and
no more. Featuring the options of both online and offline
Tournaments for up to four players (when faced with insufficient human players
adjustable Artificial Intelligence make-up the remaining numbers),
Custom Matches and simply playing the unlocked Mini-Games, depth is
not one of Fuzion Frenzy 2’s strong points.
The Tournament Mode features a series of three
Mini-Games through which points and Power-Ups are gathered, followed
by a final bout – in which the Power-Ups are used – in order to win
a Planet. Matches are decided by winning a set number of Planets,
typically two. A tactical manoeuvre is the inclusion of Cards. Cards
have a variety of uses – such as two, four, or six times score
multiplier and multiplier steal – and must be used before the
Mini-Game is played. While often adding a sense of tension to
Tournaments, due to their rather extreme nature and frequency, they
often adjust the balance of the game ridiculously
 so that Planets
become more a case of using the right Cards than winning the
Mini-Games.
The Mini-Games themselves aren’t exactly remarkable.
Consisting of a handful of types and varying the basic play, most
are artificially extended by way of introductory Cut-Scenes and many
are mind-numbingly bad. Even if the original design spelled-out
“fun”, it would be thought that the developers could see the end
result and would have scrapped many of the Mini-games, replacing
them with other efforts; but in the case of Fuzion Frenzy 2,
something appears to have gone drastically wrong. Whether it be
budget or time constraints or simply a lack of any real caring on
the developers’ behalf, we’ll probably never know, but with only a
handful of Mini-Game compilations available for the Xbox360, it
doesn’t take too long for Fuzion Frenzy 2 to stand-out as the
worst.
The Artificial Intelligence of the human-counterparts is
beyond belief too. While able to dominate in many games, the simpler
games provide a struggle even on a higher Difficulty Setting. When
playing on Easy, there’s often just as much chance you’ll lose as
when playing on Normal – and that’s not just because of the
convoluted rules.
Fuzion Frenzy 2 certainly doesn’t redeem itself
with its’ graphical or sound capabilities, either. Having played the
vast majority of titles released on the Xbox360, and indeed , the
vast majority of titles released across all seven of the major
formats since its’ arrival, I can honestly say that, although
graphical flaws are practically non-existent, Fuzion Frenzy 2
is one of the most aesthetically boring games I’ve been unfortunate
enough to play. The Character Models are well designed for attitude,
but are all so cheery and laughable that any gritty Sci-Fi context
is immediately disposed with – in the same way as the soundtrack
probably should be.
Saying Fuzion Frenzy 2 is all bad would be wrong;
there are a handful of entertaining Mini-Games and it features one
of those most necessary qualities of videogames in modern society;
the ability to spend a Sunday morning catching-up with a friend,
albeit only while Boosting for Achievements. Fuzion Frenzy 2
will not win any awards for originality or charm, and stating that
the title’s host makes
BUZZ!’s Buzz look like the kind of guy
you could really relate to is really not to be taken as a rewarding
feature.
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