There are many types of 360 games out there these days but there is one genre that is easily the shortest of them all, party games. It is true that party games may not sell millions and millions of copies, but they do fill an important section of the gaming list. There is nothing that compares to sitting down with 3 of your close friends (men or women) and playing a good party game. Nintendo has Mario Party and Microsoft has Fuzion Frenzy. Coming soon to a store near you is the next addition to that franchise with Fuzion Frenzy 2 for the Xbox 360. Well it was supposed to be soon, now delayed to the first quarter of next year, FF2 is still shaping up to be one hell of a next-gen party game. We recently got a preview copy of an almost, but not totally finished version of Fuzion Frenzy 2 and thought a good old fashion hands-on preview would be in order. With over 40 mini-games, a very fun single player campaign, and great online support this game will quickly be crowned as the party game to own for next-gen systems once it is released.
The build we got our hands on is not finished but it does have almost all of the mini-games and a near completed single player game, no online play just yet. First up is the single player game that consists of a tournament that spans eight planets and multiple storylines. The general storyline is that the original Fuzion Frenzy tournament was banned on earth due to extreme competition. However the world’s leaders now are pushing immigration into space and need a launching tool for their campaign. Here enters the Fuzion Frenzy tournament in all its glory. There are “game zones” set up all over the universe in various planets and they have also reinstated the six famous competitors from the original game.
To start up a tournament with yourself or with some friends, simply choose characters and then you are off to the first round. Basically you pick a planet to battle the first round on and the announcer/DJ chooses a mini-game. Throughout the tournament there is a little bit of talking and storyline taking place which helps guide you through the game. Because this is just a preview build I am not going to jump all over the computer AI too much. I will say that it is something that needs to be polished before the final version ships, and it undoubtedly will be by the developers. The single-player mode is something that I am looking forward to playing through in its entirety come early next year when this title ships. The point of party games is not to play by yourself though so lets dive into the meat of this title, the multiplayer mini-games. Sporting an impressive list of over 40 diverse and unique games, Fuzion Frenzy 2 is something that will have a long lifetime for sure. There are a few games that fans of the series will recognize instantly and plenty of new types to keep you busy. Each planet has it’s own unique look and effect on the mini-games, for example playing on ice is not the same as battling it out on a metal surface. The planets are: Earth (dirt), Blazer (fire), Moisture (water), Amuseth (casino), Eternite (gravity), Machina (metal), and Icicle (ice). This takes the strategy angle to an all-new level.
