From the day Microsoft launched the Xbox they have always catered towards the more mature gamer, it has always been quite evident when looking at the types of games most prominent on the system. First-person shooters, RPG’s, fighting and racing games; all of these genres have been, and always will be in the future, well represented on our beloved Xbox game console. If you are looking for Nintendo style kiddy games (or not kiddy games, depending on your view) the black (and now white) box should not be your console of choice. Personally this is not a decision that ever bothered me much, but a few shining gems that cause me to relive my childhood would never hurt. A game by the name of Fuzion Frenzy launched with the original Xbox and since has been one of the (if not the only) scarce Nintendo type games to grace the presence of the Xbox. Party type games are one of the genres that are perfect for those late night beer-induced friendly gatherings that only years of experience would give you cause to understand the need for. Now, many years later, we finally have a successor to Microsoft’s version of Mario Party, Fuzion Frenzy 2.
Developer Hudson Soft, the minds behind Mario Party and Bomberman, decided that we gamers had waited long enough for a sequel to the much loved Fuzion Frenzy that launched with the Xbox 1. When first hearing about this game I can honestly say that I was not overly excited, it took me a few minutes just to remember what game they were creating a sequel to. Once I dug up the fond memories I began to get excited and have since been hoping that Hudson Soft would be able to recreate that fun party game only with better graphics, more mini-games, and online play. Did they achieve this with Fuzion Frenzy 2? The simple and correct answer is definitely a yes. The more drawn out answer would still be yes, but with an asterisk next to the final score (the kind of asterisk that you will find next to the home run record or any Best Buy advertisement).
First off Fuzion Frenzy 2 is published by Microsoft, meaning that it is priced at $49.99, ten dollars less than all other Xbox 360 new releases. This is important because no matter how small that $10.00 is, it makes a huge difference in my final recommendation for this game. I have always found it hard to recommend gamers to purchase a video game filled with nothing other than mini-games, no matter whether they are new or old (think Midway Collection) mini-games. For some of our readers whether or not to buy Fuzion Frenzy 2 will be an easy decision, for the rest of you read on to find out why it may not be so straight forward.
From a presentation and features point of view this title is exactly what the name of the game would suggest, an updated version of the classic Xbox game. Everything from the menus, to the audio, to the controls (and even some of the exact mini-games) is a replica of its younger brother Fuzion Frenzy. The largest, and simply put the best, reason to purchase this sequel is its online functionality, but more on that later. The game modes available are pretty scarce, and the developers decided to go with a pretty basic formula that features Tournament, Mini-game frenzy (free play) and custom (something you will never play). Obviously the main gaming mode is tournament and thus is where you will spend most of your time playing. As the title suggests this mode features a tournament style mode that tries it’s hardest to succeed as a complete single player experience. The good news for Fuzion Frenzy fans is that it does quite a good job at it. Party games have never been known for their deep story line and FF2 is no different. Basically you travel the universe (some 5 different planets) and compete in each and every mini-game in an attempt to become the greatest mini-game champion out there.
