Should You Buy Fusion_ Genesis_ No.
By Alex Chen | January 01, 0001
Fusion: Genesis is a top-down, twin-stick sci-fi shooter meets old-school role-playing game. It’s developed by a handful of ex-Rare designers, one of which was the lead designer for Perfect Dark It sounds like an interesting concept. And the concept, and central game mechanic is interesting. But is it interesting enough to merit a purchase?(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c&cid=872d12ce-453b-4870-845f-955919887e1b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c" }).render("79703296e5134c75a2db6e1b64762017"); }); Brian Ashcraft, who spent the week playing the game and joined four factions: Fusion: Genesis starts out with a bang. There’s a wise-cracking professor, shouting orders at you. Stuff’s blowing up, you’re trying to figure out what the hell’s going on, how to [[link]] manage your ship, and then, the game settles in, like sand in the bottom of the ocean. You fly around, go on main story missions, and go on side-missions, such as escort missions or missions to blow stuff up. Controlling some of the ships was difficult, like moving a puck on ice. As a twin-stick shooter, it didn’t quite scratch my shooter itch. Neither did the role-playing game element. Neither were exceptional. The sticking point became that the game’s art style looks so vanilla. It’s stuff I feel like I’ve seen before—on iPhone games, even. Nothing really stood out, nothing popped.There were characters and spaceships that seemed to have been recycled from elsewhere. That became symptomatic of Fusion: Genesis. The title itself seems pedestrian, which is really the problem here. Even while writing this Gut Check, I keep having to check if the title is Fusion: Genesis or Genesis: Fusion. [[link]] Ditto for all the missions, side and main, I did nothing really stood out. This is a forty hour plus game, but I didn’t experience anything that made me want to stick it out for the full forty plus. Fusion: Genesis is going up against a slew of big titles this season—all the more reason to stand out and do something dramatic. I really, really want to cheer for the little guy. The basic mechanic here, shooters-plus-RPG, [[link]] is interesting. The packaging, unfortunately, leaves so much more to be desired. I do look forward to this studio’s next game. There is 40 plus hours for 800 Microsoft Points here, which is a good deal on paper. I, however, cannot recommend its debut title. No. Luke Plunkett, who should have liked this game, but didn’t: I love space. I love games about flying through space. But I didn’t love Fusion: Genesis. It starts with the name. Fusion: Genesis. God it’s forgettable. It goes in one ear and out the other. And that’s how much of the rest of the game went for me. I appreciate that it’s trying to do surprisingly complex things for an XBLA game, and the fact it’s almost an MMO is commendable for the scale of the platform, but it was all just so boring. Boring designs, boring writing, and topping it all off, woeful attempts at humour that for me just grated. Great idea, and points for trying, but