N writes: By proxy, making games in space is really boring. Even the most hardcore of PC gaming houses gave up on it fifteen years ago because the options are really quite limited despite the literal universe of possibilities. As time has marched on and hardware has allowed for greater, better looking universes, few have sought to actually render them. Again, boring. So it was a breath of fresh air when a few ex-Rare guys (Donkey Kong Country, Banjo Kazooie) tasked themselves with a rags-to-riches space adventure. Unfortunately, Starfire Studios bit off a bit more than they could chew and for all its ambitions, Fusion: Genesis just can’t reproduce the simple joy of being a ship in a massive, opportunistic galaxy.
Kirsty Fraser casts a critical eye over Starfire Studios first release on the XBLA, Fusion Genesis
A handful of Indie Games kick off the show with Beep Brrp Bing Bang Bosh, Chompy Chomp Chomp, 5MinRPG, Mambo, and Rocket Narwhal. Craig rocks out with JAM: Live Music Arcade, everyone is unmoved by Dragon’s Lair, and Craig revisits some past looks with Haunt and Fusion: Genesis. Craig whips the troops into shape with the Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor demo, Jeremy gets sidetracked from Game of Thrones, Sean and Jeremy get sucked into the world of Dragon’s Dogma, and Craig and Jeremy shoot a lot of folks in Max Payne 3.
Is Fusion Genesis the start of something great?
Here is a snippet:
"With a bevy of ex-Rare devs at the helm, is "Fusion Genesis" the start of a new space opera? Part dual-joystick shooter, part Elite, part RPG, Fusion Genesis immediately struck me as being fantastically ambitious, but yet with a mostly simple core gameplay mechanic. Do all these elements stack up?"
