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This thread has been linked to the game 'Fusion Frenzy 2'.
Fuzion Frenzy 2
Fuzion Frenzy 2 is a great party game and, unlike it’s predecessor, suited to single player at a console play thanks to it’s online options allowing you to play with others any time of the day. It’s difficult to recommend if you don’t have Xbox Live and/or friends into gaming though.
It’s odd that Microsoft own the licence and aren't publishing this as they do Live Arcade titles. Although the games are fun, if they were split up and made into Live Arcade packs with leaderboards and achievements specific to each grouping of games then the longevity of the mini-games would be increased for the hardcore gamer and those looking for challenging achievements. No doubt in the future Hudson will become the leading force on XBLA but at the moment Microsoft’s outdone Hudson’s efforts on it's own licence with it’s very own Live Arcade setup.
Frenzy's mini-games are simple and fun. Some hark back to the original Fuzion Frenzy on the Xbox such as the Tron/Laserbikes clone and an arena battle where the players are placed in ‘Gladiators’ style balls and asked to knock each other of a shrinking platform in a ‘last man standing’ battle-royale. There’s also a return to the dance games of the original although this time round they’re presented in the style of a Mario Party mini-game (also created by Hudson) and have lost the fun and charm of the original games on the Xbox.
There’s a lot here that’s crying out to be fleshed out into fully fledged Live Arcade titles. There’s a Wipeout/Extreme G clone that, with a few more levels, could easily become a standalone XBLA title. There’s a ‘last man standing’ top-down Tank game that, if given more levels, would be a great Live Arcade title. The previously mentioned Tron-style game would also sell bucket-loads over XBLA with a few more options and levels/arenas.
Within Fuzion Frenzy 2 you get 40 mini-games including:
(Games marked with a * are 'last man standing' games)
Loader Madness –
Players control robots around an arena in an attempt to pick up more coins than their rivals. Coins drop in from above and are worth differing amounts depending on their colour.
Amoeba Hunting –
Players have to grab bombs and throw them at amoebas to destroy them. Players get different points depending on the colour of the amoebas they destroy.
Electric Rumble* –
Players have to beat-up their opponents whilst avoiding the electric streams.
Magma Escape* –
Players must steer their boats away from the oncoming magma wave whilst avoiding the obstacles.
Thermal Detonator* –
Players destroy each other and the arena by throwing bombs.
Cool Your Jets –
Players stand on moving platforms and aim jets of water at fireballs to extinguish them for points.
Magma Rumble* –
A knockout battle in a volcanic area.
Hopping No Stopping –
Players try to hop on as many swimming creatures as possible for points.
Over The Falls*-
Players try to match the button displayed in-order to keep from going over a waterfall.
Don’t Sink The Boat* –
Players try to flood each others boats with water jets.
Underwater Rumble* –
Players battle underwater whilst attempting to keep their oxygen levels up (by chasing after air bubbles like in Sonic on the Megadrive).
Hot Shot-
Like Hungry Hungry Hippos but in reverse. Each player controls one side of a square arena. Players must reflect balls past their opponents for points.
Pinball Battle*-
Players must avoid the pinballs ricocheting around the arena to survive.
Kaleidoscope Survival-
An F-Zero/Extreme G/Wipeout clone. Players race down a tunnel crossing over speed-up points and avoiding electrical barriers in an attempt to cross the finish line first.
Cash Clash-
Unashamedly ripped from the Mario Party titles. One player is randomly assigned a large hammer every 12 seconds or so. They have to knock coins out of the other players. Freed coins can be collected by anyone and the one with the most coins at the end of the time limit wins.
Super Slam Dunk-
Players attempt to grab a ball, launch themselves into the air via a jump-pad and then dunk the ball into a hovering basketball net.
Cargo Chaos-
Players attempt to collect coins whilst avoiding being sucked into a hole in the middle of the arena.
Debris Field Derby*-
Like any game where you have to avoid oncoming asteroids coming at your screen.
Mystery Laser Rumble*-
An arena battle where players can slow the other players down by stepping on lit pads as they appear.
Turret Termination*-
A 2D top-down tank game.
Turbine Coin Collector-
Players collect coins whilst avoiding the barriers or falling off the turbine.
Turbine Jumper*-
Players attempt to jump/duck oncoming laserbeams to avoid damage.
Conveyor Smash*- Players beat each other up with hammers grabbed from boxes on 2 conveyors. There are standard hammers, blue hammers, which are quick but can be blocked and red hammers that are slow but unblockable. Boxes can also give health or blow up.
Ice Sculpture-
Another Mario Party rip-off. Players compete to be the first to spray all the ice of a 3D rotatable statue.
Ice Treasure Hunt-
Players race to melt ice blocks and collect the coins frozen within.
Ice Billiards-
A bit like Hungry Hungry Hippos: Players attempt to knock frozen coins into their goals for points.
Ice Rumble*-
Players fight each other whilst avoiding being blown into the spiked sides of the arena.
Add to these games the rather odd card system that Hudson have implemented and skill takes a backseat to random tactics and luck. Players gain cards that they can use to double their post-mini-game score so 2nd place (6 points) can overtake 1st place's 10 points for the round win by having chosen to play a doubling card. Even worse these cards go up to 6x so rather huge and lucky leads can be obtained in next to no time.
Thankfully there are also cards that steal multipliers or turn them into minus points for the players trying to use them.
All things considered it would have been better if Hudson has left out the card system, especially as the player stealing the lead is sometimes rewarded with an extra card for 'winning' as opposed to the player who legitimately won the round through skilful play!
Online and offline there are options to play individual mini-games, a chosen run of mini-games (with or without a predetermined win-limit) or a full blown player/ranked tournament where players attempt to reach a set number of area wins.
As a collection of mini-games Frenzy succeeds, but it’s too shallow next to many of the offerings on Live Arcade and this hurts it with it’s pricetag of around 25 pounds. The achievements aren’t challenging and can be completed in an afternoon and the lasting appeal of the multiplayer next to the Live Arcade offerings, and combined with the awful card system, is certainly questionable.
In the short term it’s still really good fun, but I’d recommend you rent before you buy.
8/10 Rental
4.5/10 Full purchase
Fuzion Frenzy 2 is a great party game and, unlike it’s predecessor, suited to single player at a console play thanks to it’s online options allowing you to play with others any time of the day. It’s difficult to recommend if you don’t have Xbox Live and/or friends into gaming though.
It’s odd that Microsoft own the licence and aren't publishing this as they do Live Arcade titles. Although the games are fun, if they were split up and made into Live Arcade packs with leaderboards and achievements specific to each grouping of games then the longevity of the mini-games would be increased for the hardcore gamer and those looking for challenging achievements. No doubt in the future Hudson will become the leading force on XBLA but at the moment Microsoft’s outdone Hudson’s efforts on it's own licence with it’s very own Live Arcade setup.
Frenzy's mini-games are simple and fun. Some hark back to the original Fuzion Frenzy on the Xbox such as the Tron/Laserbikes clone and an arena battle where the players are placed in ‘Gladiators’ style balls and asked to knock each other of a shrinking platform in a ‘last man standing’ battle-royale. There’s also a return to the dance games of the original although this time round they’re presented in the style of a Mario Party mini-game (also created by Hudson) and have lost the fun and charm of the original games on the Xbox.
There’s a lot here that’s crying out to be fleshed out into fully fledged Live Arcade titles. There’s a Wipeout/Extreme G clone that, with a few more levels, could easily become a standalone XBLA title. There’s a ‘last man standing’ top-down Tank game that, if given more levels, would be a great Live Arcade title. The previously mentioned Tron-style game would also sell bucket-loads over XBLA with a few more options and levels/arenas.
Within Fuzion Frenzy 2 you get 40 mini-games including:
(Games marked with a * are 'last man standing' games)
Loader Madness –
Players control robots around an arena in an attempt to pick up more coins than their rivals. Coins drop in from above and are worth differing amounts depending on their colour.
Amoeba Hunting –
Players have to grab bombs and throw them at amoebas to destroy them. Players get different points depending on the colour of the amoebas they destroy.
Electric Rumble* –
Players have to beat-up their opponents whilst avoiding the electric streams.
Magma Escape* –
Players must steer their boats away from the oncoming magma wave whilst avoiding the obstacles.
Thermal Detonator* –
Players destroy each other and the arena by throwing bombs.
Cool Your Jets –
Players stand on moving platforms and aim jets of water at fireballs to extinguish them for points.
Magma Rumble* –
A knockout battle in a volcanic area.
Hopping No Stopping –
Players try to hop on as many swimming creatures as possible for points.
Over The Falls*-
Players try to match the button displayed in-order to keep from going over a waterfall.
Don’t Sink The Boat* –
Players try to flood each others boats with water jets.
Underwater Rumble* –
Players battle underwater whilst attempting to keep their oxygen levels up (by chasing after air bubbles like in Sonic on the Megadrive).
Hot Shot-
Like Hungry Hungry Hippos but in reverse. Each player controls one side of a square arena. Players must reflect balls past their opponents for points.
Pinball Battle*-
Players must avoid the pinballs ricocheting around the arena to survive.
Kaleidoscope Survival-
An F-Zero/Extreme G/Wipeout clone. Players race down a tunnel crossing over speed-up points and avoiding electrical barriers in an attempt to cross the finish line first.
Cash Clash-
Unashamedly ripped from the Mario Party titles. One player is randomly assigned a large hammer every 12 seconds or so. They have to knock coins out of the other players. Freed coins can be collected by anyone and the one with the most coins at the end of the time limit wins.
Super Slam Dunk-
Players attempt to grab a ball, launch themselves into the air via a jump-pad and then dunk the ball into a hovering basketball net.
Cargo Chaos-
Players attempt to collect coins whilst avoiding being sucked into a hole in the middle of the arena.
Debris Field Derby*-
Like any game where you have to avoid oncoming asteroids coming at your screen.
Mystery Laser Rumble*-
An arena battle where players can slow the other players down by stepping on lit pads as they appear.
Turret Termination*-
A 2D top-down tank game.
Turbine Coin Collector-
Players collect coins whilst avoiding the barriers or falling off the turbine.
Turbine Jumper*-
Players attempt to jump/duck oncoming laserbeams to avoid damage.
Conveyor Smash*- Players beat each other up with hammers grabbed from boxes on 2 conveyors. There are standard hammers, blue hammers, which are quick but can be blocked and red hammers that are slow but unblockable. Boxes can also give health or blow up.
Ice Sculpture-
Another Mario Party rip-off. Players compete to be the first to spray all the ice of a 3D rotatable statue.
Ice Treasure Hunt-
Players race to melt ice blocks and collect the coins frozen within.
Ice Billiards-
A bit like Hungry Hungry Hippos: Players attempt to knock frozen coins into their goals for points.
Ice Rumble*-
Players fight each other whilst avoiding being blown into the spiked sides of the arena.
Add to these games the rather odd card system that Hudson have implemented and skill takes a backseat to random tactics and luck. Players gain cards that they can use to double their post-mini-game score so 2nd place (6 points) can overtake 1st place's 10 points for the round win by having chosen to play a doubling card. Even worse these cards go up to 6x so rather huge and lucky leads can be obtained in next to no time.
Thankfully there are also cards that steal multipliers or turn them into minus points for the players trying to use them.
All things considered it would have been better if Hudson has left out the card system, especially as the player stealing the lead is sometimes rewarded with an extra card for 'winning' as opposed to the player who legitimately won the round through skilful play!
Online and offline there are options to play individual mini-games, a chosen run of mini-games (with or without a predetermined win-limit) or a full blown player/ranked tournament where players attempt to reach a set number of area wins.
As a collection of mini-games Frenzy succeeds, but it’s too shallow next to many of the offerings on Live Arcade and this hurts it with it’s pricetag of around 25 pounds. The achievements aren’t challenging and can be completed in an afternoon and the lasting appeal of the multiplayer next to the Live Arcade offerings, and combined with the awful card system, is certainly questionable.
In the short term it’s still really good fun, but I’d recommend you rent before you buy.
8/10 Rental
4.5/10 Full purchase
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Fuzion Frenzy 2
Fuzion Frenzy 2 is a great party game and, unlike it’s predecessor, suited to single player at a console play thanks to it’s online options allowing you to play with others any time of the day. It’s difficult to recommend if you don’t have Xbox Live and/or friends into gaming though.
It’s odd that Microsoft own the licence and aren't publishing this as they do Live Arcade titles. Although the games are fun, if they were split up and made into Live Arcade packs with leaderboards and achievements specific to each grouping of games then the longevity of the mini-games would be increased for the hardcore gamer and those looking for challenging achievements. No doubt in the future Hudson will become the leading force on XBLA but at the moment Microsoft’s outdone Hudson’s efforts on it's own licence with it’s very own Live Arcade setup.
Frenzy's mini-games are simple and fun. Some hark back to the original Fuzion Frenzy on the Xbox such as the Tron/Laserbikes clone and an arena battle where the players are placed in ‘Gladiators’ style balls and asked to knock each other of a shrinking platform in a ‘last man standing’ battle-royale. There’s also a return to the dance games of the original although this time round they’re presented in the style of a Mario Party mini-game (also created by Hudson) and have lost the fun and charm of the original games on the Xbox.
There’s a lot here that’s crying out to be fleshed out into fully fledged Live Arcade titles. There’s a Wipeout/Extreme G clone that, with a few more levels, could easily become a standalone XBLA title. There’s a ‘last man standing’ top-down Tank game that, if given more levels, would be a great Live Arcade title. The previously mentioned Tron-style game would also sell bucket-loads over XBLA with a few more options and levels/arenas.
Within Fuzion Frenzy 2 you get 40 mini-games including:
(Games marked with a * are 'last man standing' games)
Loader Madness –
Players control robots around an arena in an attempt to pick up more coins than their rivals. Coins drop in from above and are worth differing amounts depending on their colour.
Amoeba Hunting –
Players have to grab bombs and throw them at amoebas to destroy them. Players get different points depending on the colour of the amoebas they destroy.
Electric Rumble* –
Players have to beat-up their opponents whilst avoiding the electric streams.
Magma Escape* –
Players must steer their boats away from the oncoming magma wave whilst avoiding the obstacles.
Thermal Detonator* –
Players destroy each other and the arena by throwing bombs.
Cool Your Jets –
Players stand on moving platforms and aim jets of water at fireballs to extinguish them for points.
Magma Rumble* –
A knockout battle in a volcanic area.
Hopping No Stopping –
Players try to hop on as many swimming creatures as possible for points.
Over The Falls*-
Players try to match the button displayed in-order to keep from going over a waterfall.
Don’t Sink The Boat* –
Players try to flood each others boats with water jets.
Underwater Rumble* –
Players battle underwater whilst attempting to keep their oxygen levels up (by chasing after air bubbles like in Sonic on the Megadrive).
Hot Shot-
Like Hungry Hungry Hippos but in reverse. Each player controls one side of a square arena. Players must reflect balls past their opponents for points.
Pinball Battle*-
Players must avoid the pinballs ricocheting around the arena to survive.
Kaleidoscope Survival-
An F-Zero/Extreme G/Wipeout clone. Players race down a tunnel crossing over speed-up points and avoiding electrical barriers in an attempt to cross the finish line first.
Cash Clash-
Unashamedly ripped from the Mario Party titles. One player is randomly assigned a large hammer every 12 seconds or so. They have to knock coins out of the other players. Freed coins can be collected by anyone and the one with the most coins at the end of the time limit wins.
Super Slam Dunk-
Players attempt to grab a ball, launch themselves into the air via a jump-pad and then dunk the ball into a hovering basketball net.
Cargo Chaos-
Players attempt to collect coins whilst avoiding being sucked into a hole in the middle of the arena.
Debris Field Derby*-
Like any game where you have to avoid oncoming asteroids coming at your screen.
Mystery Laser Rumble*-
An arena battle where players can slow the other players down by stepping on lit pads as they appear.
Turret Termination*-
A 2D top-down tank game.
Turbine Coin Collector-
Players collect coins whilst avoiding the barriers or falling off the turbine.
Turbine Jumper*-
Players attempt to jump/duck oncoming laserbeams to avoid damage.
Conveyor Smash*- Players beat each other up with hammers grabbed from boxes on 2 conveyors. There are standard hammers, blue hammers, which are quick but can be blocked and red hammers that are slow but unblockable. Boxes can also give health or blow up.
Ice Sculpture-
Another Mario Party rip-off. Players compete to be the first to spray all the ice of a 3D rotatable statue.
Ice Treasure Hunt-
Players race to melt ice blocks and collect the coins frozen within.
Ice Billiards-
A bit like Hungry Hungry Hippos: Players attempt to knock frozen coins into their goals for points.
Ice Rumble*-
Players fight each other whilst avoiding being blown into the spiked sides of the arena.
Add to these games the rather odd card system that Hudson have implemented and skill takes a backseat to random tactics and luck. Players gain cards that they can use to double their post-mini-game score so 2nd place (6 points) can overtake 1st place's 10 points for the round win by having chosen to play a doubling card. Even worse these cards go up to 6x so rather huge and lucky leads can be obtained in next to no time.
Thankfully there are also cards that steal multipliers or turn them into minus points for the players trying to use them.
All things considered it would have been better if Hudson has left out the card system, especially as the player stealing the lead is sometimes rewarded with an extra card for 'winning' as opposed to the player who legitimately won the round through skilful play!
Online and offline there are options to play individual mini-games, a chosen run of mini-games (with or without a predetermined win-limit) or a full blown player/ranked tournament where players attempt to reach a set number of area wins.
As a collection of mini-games Frenzy succeeds, but it’s too shallow next to many of the offerings on Live Arcade and this hurts it with it’s pricetag of around 25 pounds. The achievements aren’t challenging and can be completed in an afternoon and the lasting appeal of the multiplayer next to the Live Arcade offerings, and combined with the awful card system, is certainly questionable.
In the short term it’s still really good fun, but I’d recommend you rent before you buy.
8/10 Rental
4.5/10 Full purchase
Fuzion Frenzy 2 is a great party game and, unlike it’s predecessor, suited to single player at a console play thanks to it’s online options allowing you to play with others any time of the day. It’s difficult to recommend if you don’t have Xbox Live and/or friends into gaming though.
It’s odd that Microsoft own the licence and aren't publishing this as they do Live Arcade titles. Although the games are fun, if they were split up and made into Live Arcade packs with leaderboards and achievements specific to each grouping of games then the longevity of the mini-games would be increased for the hardcore gamer and those looking for challenging achievements. No doubt in the future Hudson will become the leading force on XBLA but at the moment Microsoft’s outdone Hudson’s efforts on it's own licence with it’s very own Live Arcade setup.
Frenzy's mini-games are simple and fun. Some hark back to the original Fuzion Frenzy on the Xbox such as the Tron/Laserbikes clone and an arena battle where the players are placed in ‘Gladiators’ style balls and asked to knock each other of a shrinking platform in a ‘last man standing’ battle-royale. There’s also a return to the dance games of the original although this time round they’re presented in the style of a Mario Party mini-game (also created by Hudson) and have lost the fun and charm of the original games on the Xbox.
There’s a lot here that’s crying out to be fleshed out into fully fledged Live Arcade titles. There’s a Wipeout/Extreme G clone that, with a few more levels, could easily become a standalone XBLA title. There’s a ‘last man standing’ top-down Tank game that, if given more levels, would be a great Live Arcade title. The previously mentioned Tron-style game would also sell bucket-loads over XBLA with a few more options and levels/arenas.
Within Fuzion Frenzy 2 you get 40 mini-games including:
(Games marked with a * are 'last man standing' games)
Loader Madness –
Players control robots around an arena in an attempt to pick up more coins than their rivals. Coins drop in from above and are worth differing amounts depending on their colour.
Amoeba Hunting –
Players have to grab bombs and throw them at amoebas to destroy them. Players get different points depending on the colour of the amoebas they destroy.
Electric Rumble* –
Players have to beat-up their opponents whilst avoiding the electric streams.
Magma Escape* –
Players must steer their boats away from the oncoming magma wave whilst avoiding the obstacles.
Thermal Detonator* –
Players destroy each other and the arena by throwing bombs.
Cool Your Jets –
Players stand on moving platforms and aim jets of water at fireballs to extinguish them for points.
Magma Rumble* –
A knockout battle in a volcanic area.
Hopping No Stopping –
Players try to hop on as many swimming creatures as possible for points.
Over The Falls*-
Players try to match the button displayed in-order to keep from going over a waterfall.
Don’t Sink The Boat* –
Players try to flood each others boats with water jets.
Underwater Rumble* –
Players battle underwater whilst attempting to keep their oxygen levels up (by chasing after air bubbles like in Sonic on the Megadrive).
Hot Shot-
Like Hungry Hungry Hippos but in reverse. Each player controls one side of a square arena. Players must reflect balls past their opponents for points.
Pinball Battle*-
Players must avoid the pinballs ricocheting around the arena to survive.
Kaleidoscope Survival-
An F-Zero/Extreme G/Wipeout clone. Players race down a tunnel crossing over speed-up points and avoiding electrical barriers in an attempt to cross the finish line first.
Cash Clash-
Unashamedly ripped from the Mario Party titles. One player is randomly assigned a large hammer every 12 seconds or so. They have to knock coins out of the other players. Freed coins can be collected by anyone and the one with the most coins at the end of the time limit wins.
Super Slam Dunk-
Players attempt to grab a ball, launch themselves into the air via a jump-pad and then dunk the ball into a hovering basketball net.
Cargo Chaos-
Players attempt to collect coins whilst avoiding being sucked into a hole in the middle of the arena.
Debris Field Derby*-
Like any game where you have to avoid oncoming asteroids coming at your screen.
Mystery Laser Rumble*-
An arena battle where players can slow the other players down by stepping on lit pads as they appear.
Turret Termination*-
A 2D top-down tank game.
Turbine Coin Collector-
Players collect coins whilst avoiding the barriers or falling off the turbine.
Turbine Jumper*-
Players attempt to jump/duck oncoming laserbeams to avoid damage.
Conveyor Smash*- Players beat each other up with hammers grabbed from boxes on 2 conveyors. There are standard hammers, blue hammers, which are quick but can be blocked and red hammers that are slow but unblockable. Boxes can also give health or blow up.
Ice Sculpture-
Another Mario Party rip-off. Players compete to be the first to spray all the ice of a 3D rotatable statue.
Ice Treasure Hunt-
Players race to melt ice blocks and collect the coins frozen within.
Ice Billiards-
A bit like Hungry Hungry Hippos: Players attempt to knock frozen coins into their goals for points.
Ice Rumble*-
Players fight each other whilst avoiding being blown into the spiked sides of the arena.
Add to these games the rather odd card system that Hudson have implemented and skill takes a backseat to random tactics and luck. Players gain cards that they can use to double their post-mini-game score so 2nd place (6 points) can overtake 1st place's 10 points for the round win by having chosen to play a doubling card. Even worse these cards go up to 6x so rather huge and lucky leads can be obtained in next to no time.
Thankfully there are also cards that steal multipliers or turn them into minus points for the players trying to use them.
All things considered it would have been better if Hudson has left out the card system, especially as the player stealing the lead is sometimes rewarded with an extra card for 'winning' as opposed to the player who legitimately won the round through skilful play!
Online and offline there are options to play individual mini-games, a chosen run of mini-games (with or without a predetermined win-limit) or a full blown player/ranked tournament where players attempt to reach a set number of area wins.
As a collection of mini-games Frenzy succeeds, but it’s too shallow next to many of the offerings on Live Arcade and this hurts it with it’s pricetag of around 25 pounds. The achievements aren’t challenging and can be completed in an afternoon and the lasting appeal of the multiplayer next to the Live Arcade offerings, and combined with the awful card system, is certainly questionable.
In the short term it’s still really good fun, but I’d recommend you rent before you buy.
8/10 Rental
4.5/10 Full purchase