Pilot

In true Kids Next Door fashion, Cartoon Network’s MMO Fusion Fall prodly proclaims to the whole world, No Adults Allowed. Fusion Fall is a web-browser [yes you read that right] MMO based on the Cartoon Network Universe.

The premise of the game is pretty simple and straightforward. The evil Fuse and his army of monsters and doppelgangers is out to take over your world, and you must help various CN heroes such as Ben 10, Dexter, the Powerpuff Girls and the Kids Next Door, to defend your world and defeat the evily Fuse. All of this, with a fresh anime styled coating.

The cartoon characters aren’t actually playable characters, much to my dismay but hey, we can’t all be Dexter or Ben 10 right? Rather, they are NPCs that serve to guide you through your quests and missions. The game starts with Dexter guiding you through a pretty simple tutorial section, with the messages being logged for your referral, and tips from Dexter’s “computeress“ popping up from time to time. Afterwards, other famous CN characters take over Dexter’s role as your guide, as you continue with your quest to save the world from the evil Fuse. The “guides” give you newer and better equipment as you complete your quests and occasionally, “gift boxes” which when used gives the player a random item depending on the box’s type. The item depends on the box’s type and can range from common items to ultra rare items.

Using the acronym MMORPG to describe the game wouldn’t do it any justice. The game plays more like Kingdom Hearts than your usual MMO. It has platforming elements and more along the lines of an Action/Adventure RPG with its combat system, utilizing a lock on system and both melee and ranged attack modes. Nonetheless, the game is “child friendly” and the platforming is relatively easy, with the jump’s long airtime and no “death by falling”.

As you familiarize yourself with the gameplay, you might’ve tried killing a few mobs in order to level up a couple of times and you might’ve noticed that even if you’ve got enough fusion matter, the game’s analog to experience points, you still can’t level up. That is because you can only level up once you gain a new Nano which can be acquired through a “Nano quest” that will only become available once you gather enough fusion matter.

“Nanos” are miniature versions of the CN heroes that you get once you complete a Nano quest. A Nano quest is completed by defeating a Fusion, a doppelganger of its respective CN character counterpart. For instance, one of the early quests requires you to fight an evil version of Eddy from Ed, Edd, and Eddy. After beating the “evil twin”, the player receives the “nano” version of Eddy.

The game also does not have a class system with each class having different abilities. The game’s version of that can be loosely related to the Nanos. Once a player acquires a Nano the player can then choose an ability for it, with the only exception being Buttercup, the first Nano a player gets, who comes with an ability pre-chosen. The player can then summon the Nano to aid him/her in combat afterwards.

But Nanos can’t be used incessantly. Each Nano has a stamina bar, relative to other games’ “MP” or “Energy” bar, which limits its usage. There are other limitations to the Nano system. For one, the player can only use one Nano at a time and would have to frequently shift between Nanos to use various abilities. The player can also carry only up to three Nanos at a time, and each Nano can only have one ability equipped each time. The players can use special booths called Nano Stations to change their “Builds” i.e. their Nanos’ current abilities and the Nanos they have equipped.

Nanos also have elements but in a much simpler form than most other games. The three Nano types are A for Adaptium, B for Blastons, and C for Cosmix. It’s pretty much a rock – paper – scissors setup, A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A. This makes for much faster and simpler gameplay, reminiscent of some Ys titles, perfect for the game’s target demographic.

On the other hand, there is also the player character customization. The player character is as customizable as the average MMORPG, with the players being able to choose from a wide array of clothing. The item combination system in particular caught my attention. It's always good to be able to customize how your equipment look and by extension, your character. This way, you can stick to a look you like and still get the benefits from upgrading your equipment.

The game is basically quest based with most of the playing being done by doing one quest after another, most of which are mob killing quests, with a few item retrieval quests on the side and even NPC escort quests. There are also other sidequests and minigames such as races where the player races against time in trying to navigate an area in true platformer style whilst gathering target items in order to avoid “cheating” or taking a shortcut.

The missions are fun for a while but they get monotonous in the long run, and sometimes the players end up jumping from one quest to another without absorbing the lore significance of the 4x4 planks they’re gathering or the little green slimes they’re whacking.

One aspect “gamers” nowadays turn their attention to first would be the game’s graphics. Fusion Fall’s visuals are a mixture of 3d and cel-shading. The environment’s or game world’s style is reminiscent to that of World of Warcraft, cartoony which is just fitting, and mostly seamless save for some “dungeons”. The game’s pretty non-intensive with me being able to run it on a PC with an Nvdia 8400GS graphics card on BestQuality settings and in Browser mode. The only issues apparent for now are jerky character animation, severe [although rare] lag stutters, and shadow issues. Only the lag stutters can be foreseen to affect gameplay so far, especially when it happens during combat.

Aside from a few qualms about subtle details such as the “crayon shooting gun” shooting shockwave projectiles instead of crayon projectiles, there aren’t any other issues with the game. Besides, it’s doubtful whether the young’uns who’re playing this game will pay that much attention. The only problems that can affect enjoyability are the lag stutters mentioned prior.

As for the game’s sound, the best part is the fact that the NPCs are voiced by their original VAs which is not so much a treat as a nostalgia rush for the players. Hearing the all too familiar voices of Dexter and Numbuh 5 was definitely a fun experience. The BGM was fitting as well, but overall, both the voice acting and the BGMs were inadequate and I would’ve loved to had heard of them more. The only other qualm I had was when the player character got hit by 3 enemies at the same time and the game let out 3 groan sfx, which triggers when the player is damaged, at the same time. It sounded very weird, like an adult’s low bellowing growl.

Probably the weakest aspect of the game is the interaction between players. Ironically enough, MMOs are most known for the interaction amongst multiple players it can provide. With its focus on Child Protection on the other hand, Fusion Fall incorporated a communication system reminiscent of CounterStrike’s quick command system. The player can only choose an utterance from a specific list given and no free chat is allowed. This would’ve worked better, had the game only incorporated the use of hotkeys or shortcuts for the chat commands. Aside from the chat system or apparent lack thereof, the game lets players trade amongst each other, and create and join groups in an all too familiar MMO fashion.

Overall, Fusion Fall is a solid game, and a perfect game if you’re 11 years old and an avid viewer of Cartoon Network. The game is entirely child-friendly in all aspects, but adults beware, and for those of you who’re looking for something deep overall, this might not be the best game for you. While the game may have its downsides, it’s stays enjoyable nonetheless. Finally, as I said earlier, this may be a 7/10 for adults, but definitely a 10/10 for kids and Cartoon Network fans out there.