When passing judgment on any game, there are many things one has to consider. There are obvious things, like the presentation, gameplay, and value, but there are also not-so-immediately apparent things, such as the game’s goals and target audience. And the latter are two concepts that bring us nicely around to the topic of this article: FusionFall, an MMO developed by Majesco and based on the Cartoon Network Universe.

FusionFall is not a game for adults. It is a game for the tweenies, and everything from the graphics to the gameplay to the community aspects reflect this ideal. Largely due to this, FusionFall is not going to be able to compete with wildly popular Massively-Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) like World of Warcraft or Warhammer Online. The community support is just not there. In fact, the game often plays more like a single-player RPG with MMO elements than a true MMO.

MMOs survive due to community aspects. Unfortunately, FusionFall stumbles when it comes to this. Obviously done in an attempt to make the game kid-friendly, there is very little in the way of true social interaction. There are many pre-made emotes that you can say, but by default no way to type in your own messages, leading to a largely silent world. You can’t form guilds or go on massive raids together. All you can do is form groups of up to five players. These groups are implemented solely for teaming up on missions. You have to be very close to your group at all times and can only warp to other areas in game together. The limited emotes are a problem here too; it is extremely hard to co-ordinate attacks.

Thankfully, there is not much need to co-ordinate. The combat system is extremely simplistic, revolving around finding the best available weapon, targeting the nearest enemy, and holding down the left mouse button to pump them full of whatever projectile spews from your barrel. In addition, you can also wield “Nanos,” miniature versions of CartoonNetwork characters. These "Nanos" have many different functions, from temporarily upping your speed to restoring a small amount of health to simply attacking enemies for you. Every monster and Nano in FusionFall is either classified as an Adaption (A), Blaston (B), or Cosmix (C). In combat, A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A, an interesting little rock-paper-scissors minigame on top of the basic combat. You can carry three different Nanos at once, so variety in your choices is encouraged.

You collect Nanos by defeating corrupted characters. The story of FusionFall is that the evil Fuse is unleashing Fusion mass over the galaxy, slowly devouring planet after planet. Now he has turned his eyes on the Cartoon Network planet. Fusion mass is creeping over the world, corrupting Cartoon Network characters who then run amok. Well, actually, they mostly hide out in caves, surrounded by monsters, waiting for you to come along and destroy them. The story is an interesting premise, but smacks flat on its face after the introductory cutscene and tutorial. It falls into a familiar MMO trap of not going anywhere. No matter how many times you destroy Fusion Eduardo, he’s still going to be there when the next player comes along. I think that the narrative could work very well as single player RPG, but not as an MMO.


FusionFall relies heavily on platforming in addition to combat. Surprisingly enough, the platforming is pretty well designed, but unfortunately lack polish. It is pretty disconcerting to see flowerbeds hovering 20 feet above the ground, waiting for you to leap onto them. It’s hard to believe that there was no other way to make the platforming sections functional, but also realistic.   

All in the name of simplifying things, FusionFall also forgoes a class system and stat customization. Instead, you just find different weapons and equipment to equip. You Don’t even earn experience points; the only way to level up is by completing special Nano missions. The equipment often serves more as entertainment than assistance. Giant watermelon heads, bat wings, and clown masks are just a few of the amusing items to place on your character. I try and avoid hats, though, as they cover up my character’s gigantic purple afro.

FusionFall doesn’t look all that good, save for the character models, which have an appealing, cel-shaded graphical styling. Its too bad that the textures and environments are so bland. Another problem is the draw distance. It’s very short, even on the longest setting. The game is browser-based, so probably didn’t have all that much potential in the first place. To make things worse, despite the poor graphics the game engine still stutters, though it is hard to tell if it is the framerate or lag. Overall, the graphics will be bright and colourful enough to please the kids, but won’t impress any serious gamers.


The voice acting in the game is sparse, but all done by the original actors so of solid quality. The music is in line with the rest of the game, up beat and colourful, and pretty effective when it is used properly. There are some interesting sound effects too.

Unfortunately, FusionFall gets pretty repetitive, a problem compounded by the fact that the endless fetch quests will have you running through the same areas dozens of times with very limited fast-travel options. For only a month, FusionFall is still a decent enough deal, but that one month will be more than enough for most gamers.

FusionFall has been passed over by many serious gamers, simply because of its graphical style and kiddie premise. If you can get past your predispositions, though, a neat little MMO lies beneath the surface. Granted, the story is better suited for a single-player game, the combat is extremely simplistic, and the community aspects are hugely lacking, but you really can’t go wrong for only a month.

Posted by Steve Clare (StevieQ)

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