If you were to go back in time; back to 2001, when Microsoft readying to enter the videogame market, a quick look at some of the games planned for the system might lead you to wonder exactly how they managed to stay in this industry long enough to even release the Xbox 360. Back then it seemed Microsoft was so desperate for games; they took the shotgun approach to development and publishing – throw enough crap at the wall and something’s gotta stick. Fuzion Frenzy; Nightcaster; Azurik – all notorious examples of this.

Thank god those days are over.

The Wayback Machine

Welcome to six years ago. In a baffling turn of events, Microsoft seems to have regained their past insanity and greenlit a sequel to one of the worst Xbox games in history. Fuzion Frenzy was a completely forgettable mini-game-a-thon that represented just about every stereotype of horrible western game design – bad games; generic characters; poor production values; and so on.

Fuzion Frenzy 2 is a totally forgettable mini-game-a-thon that represents all the old western game stereotypes – bad games; generic characters…you get the idea.

Right from the first setup screen, you get an idea of what you’re in for with Fuzion Frenzy 2. The hilariously over-acted announcer of this “hip” space game show (his voice doesn’t come close to matching his lips, by the way) with his neon tie and cuff-links leads the charge of characters that look like something you’d see on one of those videogame design college ads on late night television.

C-

In fact, that’s the best way to describe the game – it feels more like some sort of group project at a career college than a professional project with a real budget behind it. Almost every single minigame is embarrassingly lame and short on any sort of engaging play mechanics. Half the time you barely feel like you’re even doing anything to affect the on-screen action. And this is in both single and on- or offline multiplayer.

And the tournament setup is ridiculous. Rather than a game board or some other remotely interesting navigation setup, everything’s run through a simple text menu that tallies up scores at the end of each contest. And thanks to somewhat random multiplier and special-event cards, the standings can get so screwed up by the end of a tourney you’ll wonder if it was even worth trying to win any of the events.

Limited Value

The best thing about Fuzion Frenzy 2 is that it’s an easy 1,000 achievement points (there are only 16 different tasks, and most of those are to play through a tournament with each player). Of course, it’s up to you to decide whether that’s worth $50. Especially when you could use that money to buy five really great Xbox Live Arcade games instead.

Article by: Greg Sewart