Enough About Fuse

[Arnoxthe1]

I finally reached the breaking point when I watched Jim's video on Coffee.

Fuse ISN'T a bad game. It's actually a good game. I bet you're saying 'How dare you!' at this point. Before you write your own rant though, try to listen for once.

Before Fuse came out and after the time Overstrike was redubbed Fuse, the developers sat down and talked about the game for the previews. And they emphasized one point in particular. Fuse is really not meant to be played as a single player game. After the game was released I've looked at the player reviews for this game and quite frankly, I was disgusted.

People bought the game and sat down, trying to play it as a single player game. And when it failed to hold their attention because they didn't play it the right way, they blamed Insomniac for selling out and generally crying all over themselves for their beloved Overstrike.

This is idiocy and I expected better from the community and from some reviewers as well. Would you try to play Halo as a Stealth game? No, you wouldn't. Because IT'S NOT A STEALTH GAME. Same thing with Fuse. When Borderlands came out, yeah, people also complained a little about the Single Player but not that much at all because they understood that Borderlands is MEANT TO BE PLAYED WITH OTHERS. Same thing with Fuse.

And this isn't just with Fuse. An alarming number of gamers do this to games. They try to play it the wrong way and then they cry afterwards about how terrible it was. Ladies and gentlemen. Don't be that gamer. Know what you're playing and judge it accordingly. Thanks for reading and good day.

 

[piinyouri]

Eeeeeeeggghhhhhh...
I first tried it offline co-op.
I didn't find much of anything better playing with a friend to be honest.

Also you can play BL2 single player just fine, well up to UVHM anyway.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I think that the Jim's major problem with FUSE is not that it's supposed to be multiplayer, but that they took Overstrike's funky, cartoonish style and morphed it into another generic, grizzled shooter.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Also you can play BL2 single player just fine, well up to UVHM anyway.

Actually I was talking about the first one. Ever tried the first BL by yourself? Pretty boring.

 

[thatonedude11]

I think that the Jim's major problem with FUSE is not that it's supposed to be multiplayer, but that they took Overstrike's funky, cartoonish style and morphed it into another generic, grizzled shooter.

Yeah, I don't think I heard him complain about the fact that it is co-op centric. If you like Fuse, that's fine. I personally was interested in Overstrike and immediately stopped caring when they switched it to Fuse.

 

[shrekfan246]

Fuse is really not meant to be played as a single player game.

All right...

But it should still hold up as a single-player game.

Almost everything is going to be better when you're doing it with a friend. That's not really a point in the game's favor.

Besides, as a few of the posts above have pointed out, what my and many other peoples' problems -- including the crux of Jim Sterling's pieces -- with Fuse compared to Overstrike were, involved more the fact that the redesign took all of the visual flair and personality of Overstrike away in favor of another humdrum 'realistic' sci-fi shooter.

 

[piinyouri]

Also you can play BL2 single player just fine, well up to UVHM anyway.

Actually I was talking about the first one. Ever tried the first BL by yourself? Pretty boring.

Eh you know, opinions and whatnot.
I played the first one intensively by myself almost the entire time I owned it.

 

[Zhukov]

Most of the complaints about Fuse have nothing to do with the co-op. In fact, everything I've heard indicates that the single player works fine.

Most of the complaints concern the way it went from a colourful, campy and cartoonish game to a just kinda blaaah game.

Also, if playing Fuse single player is such a terrible idea, why does it have a single player mode?

 

[piinyouri]

Most of the complaints about Fuse have nothing to do with the co-op. In fact, everything I've heard indicates that the single player works fine.

Most of the complaints concern the way it went from a colourful, campy and cartoonish game to a just kinda blaaah game.

Also, if playing Fuse single player is such a terrible idea, why does it have a single player mode?

My opinion, it could have kept the old aesthetic but if the controls and the game itself remained as un-fun to play, it wouldn't have mattered, for me at least.

 

[Smooth Operator]

So you need your friends for it to not be boring... in that case you could just as well take the game out of the equation and arrive at the same conclusion, which would make the game rather irrelevant.

 

[Zeckt]

I'm sorry but I'm going to have to go with Jim on this one I never even heard of the game before this and thought the colorful trailer was pretty good and then he showed me how it was morphed into a generic, brown and gritty and completely forgettable shooter I forgot about as soon as the trailer ended.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

If a game is meant to be played co-op, but the dev includes a lackluster singleplayer option anyway and then find it doesn't go over all that well, then that is on their heads.

There are enough mp-centric games that do provide a satisfying singleplayer experience for the "It's meant to be mp" excuse to not hold up.

 

[josemlopes]

The game is indeed taking a lot of flak for the change of style alone and that is kind of unfair. If it never showed the original artstyle people wouldnt be so upset. I still would pefer if they kept it but to go "It was cool now it sucks" is very unfair for the game.

Overall its a fun game, not anything major and all that it would have gotten with the original artstyle was personality (the game as it is now lacks a lot of it but that alone doesnt make a game good so if people are so devoted to not like it then they wouldnt like it even with the original style)

And this went the same path as "Remember Me":
-show something that builds hype (personality here, female protagonist in "Remember Me")
-game doesnt live up to it
-the feeling of disappointment will overshadow a lot of good stuff in the game making it appear to be worse then it actually is.

 

[Darquenaut]

I'm going to level with you on some of this. I played the demo, single-player, and I found it to be a very competent game, albeit maybe a little forgiving. The controls felt good and there weren't any objectionable voice acting or scripting or anything.

But all the same, it just felt too same-y, too safe. I realize the hook is the "Fuse-guns" and each character has a special skill through the Fuse weaponry, but that was just a small drop of red paint on an otherwise slate canvas. The game didn't try to stretch out and challenge anything. It was all acceptable... but not inspired.

Maybe when this game goes on sale for $20 or falls into the holiday $5-$10 range, I'll buy it. For now, it's just a shame that it went from a fun kinetic looking game to what I can best describe as having taking the aesthetics from a fanciful Tom Clancy game .

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

I think that the Jim's major problem with FUSE is not that it's supposed to be multiplayer, but that they took Overstrike's funky, cartoonish style and morphed it into another generic, grizzled shooter.

Yeah, that's my sentiment as well. I would have loved a more colorful game with the characters having a lot of wit behind their speech (Dalton in the Overstrike trailer was funny as hell with a lot of wit, and sarcasm to boot). The game's mechanics may work fine but if it feels like a drag then there's no point playing it.

 

[Colt47]

Am I the only one who read the title to this thread and asked the question "what about Fuse?" The most interesting thing about the game is how it parallels Fox Kids / Cartoon Network anime editing for child friendliness (Particularly One Piece), only in this case it was to make sure it stuck in the big shooter box with the familiar thump thump beats in the commercials.

 

[Terramax]

Well, this is a shame, because I was planning to buy the game to play as single player, but if it's not meant for just one person, maybe I won't bother.

But that does beg the question why there was a greater emphasis on story if the game is meant for multiplayer? Why wasn't it less plot driven ala Brink, if it wasn't meant for single player?

 

[Milanezi]

Also you can play BL2 single player just fine, well up to UVHM anyway.

Actually I was talking about the first one. Ever tried the first BL by yourself? Pretty boring.

Eh you know, opinions and whatnot.
I played the first one intensively by myself almost the entire time I owned it.

In your defense, I played Borderlands (first one) entirely by myself and loved it, I loved the game's mood, something akin to the movie Doomsday in my opinion, which means hysterical, violent, post-apocalyptic cartoonish humor... That got me going through the whole game.
I got back to Borderlands 2 recently, and only the other day (near half the game done) did I habilitate the network so anybody could jump into my game, and I'll tell you what, it's funnier that way but it is NOT essential to the the entertainment Borderlands gives, at least to what I find amusing about the game that is.

 

[Milanezi]

Most of the complaints about Fuse have nothing to do with the co-op. In fact, everything I've heard indicates that the single player works fine.

Most of the complaints concern the way it went from a colourful, campy and cartoonish game to a just kinda blaaah game.

Also, if playing Fuse single player is such a terrible idea, why does it have a single player mode?

Same reason Bioshock 2 had a Multiplayer mode? hahahahah Way I see it, it's just the inverse, Bioshock being a game that was force fed a multiplayer mode because "it brings money" this one MIGHT HAVE BEEN fed a single player mode because "it's usual to console games to have a single player mode"...

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Blagh, I hate co-op... videogames are my hobby of choice for my "me" time, why do publishers keep forcing me to spend my "me" time with annoying random people by making these games with terrible single player modes. How many people REALLY play these things co-op? I've STILL never managed to get in any co-op play on any of my games that "offer" co-op that aren't Left 4 Dead. Seriously... I have no idea how all you co-op supported manage it...