The Frenzy Is Back

Fuzion Frenzy® may be best known for launching alongside original Xbox®, but its easy to master and addictive mini-games quickly transformed this little-title-that-could from a launch novelty to party staple. Fuzion Frenzy 2 picks up where the first left off and is the first next-gen entry in the series.

Jump! Duck! Jump! Duck!

The Concept
In this multiplayer party game, you participate in a contest versus friends, family, or A.I.-controlled opponents as you do battle in a series of mini-games, accruing points as you go. The obvious goal is to have the most overall points after the last mini-game is played.

The Art of the Mini-Game
The purpose of the "mini-game" is twofold. First, the sheer volume of individual games adds incredible variety to the proceedings, as you're never sure what challenge waits around the corner. Secondly, each mini-game is designed to be understood within seconds of viewing an introductory screen explaining the game's mechanics. From your grandfather to your five-year-old nephew, anybody can pick up a controller and feel like they have a chance. Here are a few examples.

• Ice Billiards: This mini-game has you slipping and sliding along a frozen surface attempting to push blocks of ice back down a chute in your corner of the rink. The control may be easy to understand, but navigating the ice, lining up the push, and avoiding your enemies add a very real challenge.
• Judgment Press: This stationary mini-game puts each player in a tower and requires you to recognize and push a series of buttons faster than any other character. Whichever player inputs the buttons the slowest is booted from the contest. Last man standing wins.
• Turbine Jumper: Each player starts lined up in a row, sprinting around a rotating disk—however, a turbine in the middle spits out lasers that must be either jumped over or ducked under. The longer you last, the faster the disc spins.

Knocking coins out with a hammer.

While each of the above examples is challenging, it's a challenge that any person can understand. The difficulty isn't in memorized game mechanics, but in instant recognition and environmental awareness instead. These are skills that anyone—gamer or not—can use, appreciate, and feel comfortable with.

Tournament Mode
While you can certainly cue up any number of mini-games to be played in any order you wish, the heart of Fusion Frenzy 2 is found in its Tournament Mode. Played with four people, battle to take control over a set number of planets (you decide how many before you begin play). Whichever player takes control of the predetermined number of planets wins the tournament.

Of course it's not quite as simple as it sounds …

• Planet Themes: Each planet hosts its own unique set of mini-games. For example, look for Ice Billiards on Planet Icicle and Volcanic Panic on Planet Blazer.
• Cards of Fate: Each contestant earns cards throughout the tournament, and can strategically play their cards before each round. For example, you might play a 4x card in a mini-game you know you're not great at in order to ensure a fighting chance at winning. Likewise, you might play a card allowing you to pick the next mini-game, offering you a chance to play to your strengths.
• Battle Royale: The last mini-game played on each planet is a no-holds-barred last-man-standing fight in an arena specific to each planet. The twist is that winners of previous mini-games will have earned refills to their energy bar, giving them the edge they've earned by winning previous rounds.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Online At Last
One downside to launching with the original Xbox console is that the first Fusion Frenzy existed before Xbox Live® did, and if ever there was a genre destined to find success on Xbox Live, it's the party game. For those of us living more than a few miles from most our friends and family, it's tough to get a crowd together on the couch, but easy to send an invite over Xbox Live for a slate of fast-paced Fusion Frenzy mini-game mayhem.

Fusion Frenzy 2 brings the party game genre into the next generation on Xbox 360™, and with over forty unique mini-games and Xbox Live support, the lasting appeal stretches on and on.

Article by Ryan Treit