Lets face it -- everyone who is consistently reading my blog posts and reviews knows I was looking forward to reviewing Fuse. I expected it to be as fun as the demo was, which I gave a standing ovation and even suggested people pre-order it. Now I've easily sunk nearly twenty-eight hours into the game, having maxed all the agents, played offline, split-screen, and online in both Campaign and Echelon modes. I've beaten all the in-game challenges and have 80% of the trophies. So why is it I can't think of anything to say about it in nearly as coherent a review as I've done for lesser games, let alone even give it a score?
"You'll never take me alive! Wait, you're seriously taking me alive? Um... this is awkward..."
Well, because it's just so up and down in terms of quality and enjoyment that one day I might be bored with it and the next I'll be clicking my heels with glee and a week later be rolling my eyes at a tepid oversight. It ranges anywhere between a 6.5 to an 8.5 or even so far as a 9.0 at best. With the wave of additional games I have to review, I just can't keep beating around the bush, so instead, here are the ups and downs of Fuse for you to decide for yourselves.
1. A Promising Start -- Even at its worst points, I won't argue that the idea itself is bad. As four person shooters go, this one has the chance to break from the pack. It's not a grindfest like Borderlands, it's not a sticky experience while, and it's not the ultra-fast, insane reflexes advised sort of shooting like in Syndicate. It's far more like a standard TPS in all the right ways, while polishing a number of aspects and keeping only what works.
2. Unique strategies -- This is one of the few games where I felt like I could think on the fly while still compensate for error by raw reflex. The variability the classes offer, especially in singleplayer when you can swap between all of them, really become clear once you've maxed out the characters. You can deploy a shield as Dalton, then have Izzy drop a med beacon and use her to snipe the opposition, then when they break formation, swap to Naya, stealth your way through a number of them, or use Jacob's AoE secondary fire to burn all uncovered soldiers. During offline mode, I often felt strongly encouraged to swap around as it often proved more successful than sticking to a single character, although Naya's stealth is so OP by the end that you might be able to just get by in most sections by being invisible and grabbing every free ammo crate.
An amazing level of coordination you'll never see in the game's AI or even most online allies.
3. Likeable if Blandly Undeveloped Protagonists -- Dalton, Izzy, Naya, and Jacob aren't given a lot of time to grow in interesting ways, but despite this I have to say I like them. Dalton is like Nathan Drake... if Drake accepted he was a sociopathic murderer and spent some time working for the bad guys, which somehow makes him tons more likeable. Naya is a less pain in the ass version of Bastila from KotOR, Izzy is a likeable Lightning, and Jacob... well you can't win them all, can you? The brief bits we see them grow offer a prospect, like everything else, of some really likeable personalities. The key thing is that in the already hinted sequel, Insomniac NEEDS to let them grow, let them develop, and focus on more than two of them in a single campaign.
4. Precise Controls -- It's rare in a game that I have basically no complaints for controls, but outside of maybe exactly two instances involving the linear platforming, I can think of no real control issues. Not script every action to a single button was a big win, as was finally using triangle for more than weapon swapping. Aiming is snappy and smooth, and feedback is very satisfying.
5. Good When It Gets There -- I've already stated before that it's not a defense for a game if it gets good after a certain amount of hours, but unfortunately, that really is the case with this game. It only really gets good around the time you're past level fifteen, which is well into the campaign unless you spend time grinding in Echelon mode before playing through. Once you have Fusion unlocked and most of the upgrades, you finally start to get a sense of balance and even challenge that initially is lacking. Also, it may just be me, but it seems actually more fair and fast paced on Hard than Easy. Perhaps both ally and enemy health bars are decreased, like in the Stalker series?
6. Echelon is Worth Playing -- It's the only real way to earn Fuse credits at a decent rate, but it's also just fun on its own. It's essentially the regular combat encounters on rapid fire mode, although the lack of maps (six in total at this time) leave me suspecting DLC is probably on the way.
7. Same Enemies, All The Time -- Seekers, grunts, jetpacks with sniper rifles, jetpacks with shotguns, invisible infiltrators, and Fuse shielded captains will appear in almost every level, especially the first two. Expect them to be mainly differentiated by what weapons they wield, less by their stats or behaviors. If you don't mind grinding through thousands of goons in Dynasty Warriors, then you won't see any problem here, but if you expect every enemy to be a tactical challenge like in Max Payne 3, you'll be disappointed.
Stop! Jetpack time!
8. Mini-bosses Are More Creative Than The Main Bosses -- This isn't an exaggeration either. Rocket firing, rapid moving mechs with a shield like Dalton has, teleporting mini-gun mechs, energy shielded mini-gun mechs, flamethrower mechs, and airborne drones with weak spots. In comparison to the regular boss fights (essentially beefed up rip offs of one of each miniboss variant with an insta-kill ray added and/or mortar launch), these are far more varied, and far better balanced. You'll start out having trouble just fighting one, but eventually be capable of taking on three at once without dying. I'd say that's an effective learning curve.
9. The Plot is Awful -- I'm actually working on a project where, before now, they didn't even have trained writers writing for their demo, and it is better than this. I've met an eight year old with a more authentic accent than Meilin will ever have. The level transitions are nonsensically casual and quick, and the very hint of any good starting points for a story arc are dropped per level as if Insomniac couldn't decide.
10. I Swear I've Seen That Object Before -- Lots of assets look to have been loaned from another EA game -- specifically Dead Space 2-3. That's not hard to believe, but as a result certain assets contrast with higher poly models from Insomniac. This doesn't look good, especially in Triton Station.
11. Don't Blink -- Seriously, you animate them talking with their space helmets on, but you forgot to make the player characters blink outside of a cutscene?
12. Only Six Guns? -- Outside of your main gun per character, there are literally only six guns. Dark Void's excuse was that third person shooting was the -last- part of its focus. This means that while each gun is well tuned, each one is the only variant in that field of shooting. Insomniac got away with only one of each type in Resistance because each gun had a twist. One shotgun is fine when it sets enemies on fire and is a grenade launcher. A shotgun that's just a shotgun is not something new -- even Deadlight has a shotgun.
Not even the most high-tech space suits are that agile or thin.
13. Cliffhanger Ending -- Sequel-bait in one of the most contrived "but wait, there's more!" moments I've ever seen. Just don't be too worried because as already stated, there's no reason to care about the plot.
14. Rinse, Repeat -- As with any co-op game, expect more than one run through the game. I've easily completed it over five times now.
15. Split Screen, Split Levels -- Seriously, who was the idiot who said "lets make the second player in split screen start at beginning of the progression system no matter what level the main player is"? Don't ask them for their opinions from here on out when it comes to split screen games.
Must... escape...
16. No Water Cooler Moments -- There's not that much to talk about... which is the biggest problem. It's a perfectly decent game that's overall done well enough, but in the end, it may only be remembered as the first Fuse game, if there are sequels to be made and played. The title could easily be forgotten and even though I got my sixty dollars worth... my favorite moments were purely dialogue based when the companions were being snarky, not because of crazy experiments with gameplay. It's just a solid game, as most reviewers say, and it needs a lot more to be substantial. It's still a far better TPS on PS3 than a certain other franchise we all know I hate but unless you really need a fluid co-op shooter with experimental weapons, or know someone who's already has a copy and you want to play with them... it's up to you, but know what you're getting into.
There, that's all I'm gonna say about it before my opinions shift again. Now I'm gonna get to Alan Wake: American Nightmare.
Cheers,
Paradigm the Fallen
Sometimes the only way is through
Trivia: Fuse 2 may not be published by EA depending on what their expectations were
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