[REVIEW] Fuse

Mat Paget
(PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 [REVIEWED])


Not as bad as the energy drink.

I really liked what I saw of Fuse when it was first announced — back when it was known as OverStrike. A co-op, third-person action game that had a heavy dose of humour, seemingly inspired by Pixar, seemed like a really great idea, not to mention one that I was instantly a fan of. But that game, aside from a CG trailer shown at E3, was never shown to the public. No, the game that was shown was Fuse. It didn’t seem to have any of the charm that the original trailer displayed; it looked like it had taken on an edgier, grittier tone. At this point, I had no idea what to expect. However, what Fuse ended up being is a game that needed to take itself less seriously, as it can be quite enjoyable, and funny, when it’s at its best.

The story follows Overstrike 9, a group of four agents with more than exceptional skills, who have been hired to… well, it’s not really that important. In fact, I can barely remember the finer details of it. It all revolves around this alien technology called Fuse, which makes for some pretty killer weaponry and gadgets. Several different people want it (some for reasons of a dastardly nature), and Overstrike 9 is there to prevent the use of it, hopefully saving humanity in the process. The characters aren’t explored much past the fact that one of them is scared of cats and has previously dated a psychopath. This is probably for the better, as the game is best when it’s not taking itself seriously.

Unfortunately, the game does straddle the line between taking itself too seriously, and being a comedic third-person shooter. If I had to put money down on what Insomniac Games intended, I’d say the latter. But that doesn’t change the fact that there are one too many times where I question whether my assumption is correct. Sure, this might seem like a relatively small issue for some, but by not committing either way, Fuse hurts itself. Insomniac Games can definitely deliver a funny videogame–they’ve proven that–and, at times, Fuse can totally make you laugh. But then it goes a long time without hinting at whether or not that was just a one time thing, and you’re left wondering if the characters are just a group of military-esque grunts, ribbing each other (a la Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel).

The combat starts slow. You start with a pistol, eventually getting something with a little more power; and then a short time later, a special Xenotech, Fuse-powered weapon. Each character gets their own unique firearm, which comes with its own unique power. Dalton Brooks gets a Magshield, which he can use to protect his teammates, as well as fire short-ranged bursts similar to a shotgun — its unique power lets him throw out shields around the map. Isabelle Sinclair is equipped with a Shattergun, which encases enemies in crystal — she can also throw out med beacons that heal and revive fallen teammates. Jacob Kimble, the ex-detective, has the Arcshot, which is pretty much a crossbow — the bolts can eventually be used to burn enemies. And last but not least, Naya Deveraux uses the Warp Rifle, which creates violent singularities, causing a chain effect if any other enemy is nearby — the gun also allows her to become invisible, which is really useful for sneaking by certain enemies and performing stealth kills.

If you’re still with me after that long-winded paragraph, these weapons work together in some pretty cool ways. You can simply kill enemies, which will net you experience for yourself, but if you work together, you’ll reap larger rewards. For example, if you use Isabelle’s Shattergun to crystallize enemies, then have Jacob burn them with his Arcshot, you’ll receive more experience, and it’ll be given to the entire team. So if two players are firing at the same character, no one’s kill is going to be stolen; instead, it’s actually going to reward the entire team. Another cool co-op tidbit you can perform utilizes Dalton’s Magshield — players stand behind it, shooting enemies at a greater distance, while Dalton blasts closer enemies. Of course, the complexity of what you can do depends on who you’re playing with, but even the most simple things are still pretty satisfying.

The game is definitely best played with a full team of real players, but if you’re playing with less than that, or even by yourself, than you’ll be able to utilize all of the characters by switching between them on the fly. This doesn’t exactly let you set up anything really complex when it comes to the co-op feats you can pull off, but it is really useful to be able to switch between characters when a situation suits one of them better than the others. This comes in handy most when you’re fighting one of the boss-type, mech enemies — they’re absolute bullet sponges and it’ll take a while to defeat them. But the grind of whittling down a Leadfoot’s health does reward you with a piece of heavy weaponry that, when used, is incredibly satisfying to mow down crowds of enemies with.

While the game feels short, it actually isn’t, as I clocked in at around nine hours. The game has six levels, each of them being about an hour and a half long, but when I completed the campaign, I was left wanting more — unfortunately, not in the good way. Fuse doesn’t give a good enough reason to play through it again, if you’re not already interested in doing so — I feel it would be a better experience if the levels were shorter, and there were more of them. Although the combat can be interesting and fun at times, it’s still primarily a shooter and can grow tiring — okay, there are Uncharted-like climbing sequences, but they pale in comparison to Naughty Dog’s flagship franchise. Thankfully, the environments aren’t all like they start out as — if they were all warehouse, facility-type areas, it would be hard to get through the game a first time.

The game’s environments range from a tropical Chinese island, to the snowy mountains of Pakistan. The change of scenery is greatly appreciated, and keeps things from feeling stale — although there is usually some kind of facility you’ll have to trek through, it’ll normally be themed to the location you’re visiting. When it comes to the visuals, the game looks absolutely stunning at times, and actually quite bad at others. I don’t want to spoil anything specific, but one of the levels is strikingly ugly. The faces also suffer from this. When they’re animating, they look fantastic — eyes moving around, blinking, and mouth moving like a real person. It’s when the faces are idle, lifeless, and laden with a thousand-yard stare, that they look absolutely dreadful.

If you’ve completed the campaign, or you’re just taking a break from it, there’s no competitive multiplayer to be found — which is a good thing, considering it’s replacement. Instead, there’s the Echelon mode, which assigns the players with missions to complete in waves. These missions are pretty basic: take out a wave of enemies, defend a weapons cache, and take out a high-value target are among the missions you’ll be assigned with. Remember those boss-type mechs I talked about earlier? Those are the high-value targets. The goal of the mode is to collect as many Fuse credits as possible before you fail a mission, or die. The high-value targets start off with… well, a high value, but that diminishes over time — the longer it takes to eliminate the target, the less money you get. This mode is actually a ton of fun, even surpassing what is experienced in the campaign. And just like the campaign, playing by yourself works, but a group of real players definitely makes the experience better.

Fuse can be summed up with a series of “buts,” both negative and positive. Fuse is comedic enough to elicit laughter, but it takes itself too seriously too much of the time. Fuse is a lot of fun to play, but there isn’t enough of it. The game looks spectacular, but it can also look pretty bad. It starts off feeling like a pretty generic third-person, cover-based shooter, but takes a turn for the interesting once the Xenotech weaponry and powers are introduced. The campaign may be disappointing looking back, but Echelon is a ton of fun. If you’re interested in playing Fuse, then play it. It’s not a bad game by any means… but I can’t recommend it at full price to everyone.