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Fusion Fall: Fusion Fall Review
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh takes a look at Cartoon Network's forray into the realm of MMOGs with Fusion Fall, a family friendly MMO.
Fusion Fall is Turner’s foray into the Children’s MMOG market. Following the success of Disney’s ToonTown Online, we’ve seen several other MMOs emerge in the past couple of years that are targeted not just at children, but at families. Today’s children are digital natives and often learn to “keyboard” as soon as they learn to read. So what is Fusion Fall about?
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Read the Fusion Fall Review
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
Haha, hilarious. What's next? CNN world? BBC world? Discovery Universe(I would actually like to see that
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Grammar nazi's. This one is for you.
I am confused over how you think CNN, BBC and Discovery have anything to do or have in common with a Cartoon Network for kids, who have created a really awesome flash game. This is a stupid comment.
I had my son mess with this, and he was having a blast. It is a good step into MMO's for age 9 and up. The graphics were decent, and the way they made all the original characters teenagers was cool.
I agree with your score for a kids MMO...not too shabby!
hmmm intriguing they shall be hearing from my lawyers in due course
It's all Lies...
Slask... One of your family members needs to take your keyboard and smash it into pieces. They should really watch what their retarded child types on the internet. How the hell can you compare News channels like cnn and BBC with Cartoon Network which has several action cartoons which can and has actually translated into games. Friggin idiot.... I've beta'd the game because of the nostalgia of some of the shows and to see how they changed the characters and made them older ( Which was neat). It's a decent game, free (Although they limit your play by stopping your experience and taros gain after a set time of straight playing the game. You then have to wait a few hours before you can gain XP again. If you pay per month you get unlimited play), and runs in your browser so even slask could run the game without needing to know how to install anything....
It sounds like they put some effort into making an appealing MMORPG for kids, it's nice to see the genre expanding available choices for the huge number of potential players that exist outside of hardcores.
I particularly like their game mechanic of stopping XP gain after a certain amount of time. Just because some adult MMORPG players sit in front of a PC for 20+ hours a week is no reason to teach kids to do the same. Well done Cartoon Network.
What?
MMO extrapolation fail.
This looks like a pretty fun kid's game based on cartoons. And i'm sure plenty of parents will play it too.
I have to agree with what the others in this thread have said about your comment.....how in gods name do you see any similarities between a MMO that is based in the Cartoon Network universe, which is full of interesting characters from their stable of cartoons and anime, and one that could be based on one of the channels you listed there? Seriously man, Cartoon Network is a channel that has it's own, original cartoon/anime kids shows, and the rest of those are adult news/documentary channels. Yeah, I'm not one to flame other people on forums, and I'm not going to start now, but wow....
As for the review of Fusion Fall....
I think this is a very fair review of the game, and it's more then I expected from a dedicated MMO site. You guys took the game for what it is, a browser based MMO for children, and reviewed it as such, which is a lot more then many of the forum-goers here have been able to do. The games target audience is 5-15 years old, and as such it is a simplified MMO for said audience. That doesn't mean it's been "dumbed down", it couldn't have been b/c from it's inception it was designed to be a game that young kids can hop into for an hour here and there and have no problems grasping the basics of the game. And with that in mind, they did an excellent job with it, my two kids (a 6yo daughter and 4yo son) really dig it and enjoy interacting,a nd adventuring with their favorite characters from their favorite Cartoon Network shows such as Dexter's Lab; Powerpuff Girls; Ed, Edd + Eddy; Ben 10 etc.
As I've said in other threads on these boards, I personally like the game b/c it is another way for my kids and I to spend time together doing something we all enjoy, playing video games. If you take the game for what it is, a child-friendly MMO that incorporates elements of platforming and FPS's, and don't try to shoehorn it in with more adult, and thus more complex, games like EQ, EQ2, WoW wtc, then you may find you enjoy it. I came across it and introduced my kids to it, but in doing so found that I enjoy the game a bit as well and will occasionally find myself playing it alone, late at night long after the kids go to bed as a nice distraction from raiding.
While I agree with the overall review, it's not really a review so much as it's a summary. The entire piece could have been gleaned from press releases. Where's the detail?
Also, mmorpg.com has a ranking system based on specific categories. If you're going to give a game a score, it would be great to see how that score was achieved, based each category. Otherwise, the rating seems arbitrary. I want to see how you ranked each of the following categories and why:
You touched on some of these, but only at a high level and you didn't rank them.
~Ripper
My little'un had a mess around with this and I was quite impressed. I like that they do a very reasonable family subscription package, allowing families to play together without dropping £30-40 on subs every month. Plus, it has Samurai Jack and Megas XLR, quite possibly the best cartoons I've seen since my own 80's-early 90's childhood.
Dumbest post of the year. How can you possibly compare CARTOON NETWORK to the NEWS CHANNELS? That's like trying to compare cheese and a football. When you create a cartoon you create an entire world or even an entire universe so you CAN make a mmorpg out of ANY cartoon. Think before you post.
As for Fusion Fall; I've been waiting for this review because I think it deserves to be treated as a regular MMO seeing how much work they put into it. I've played it myself and the game is pretty cool. I like especially how they aged the characters without losing that nostalgic feeling or essence of the characters themselves (think back to Rugrats: All Growed Up and how they screwed up the transition from babies to teens/kids). They actually put in some thought as to how the characters would look and chose an art style to compliment it.
I've had problems on my side though. For me, the game takes forever to load up (sometimes more than half an hour) and even once its finished loading and I start playing I only can play for about an hour or less before I get some sort of error and have to RESTART THE DARN GAME! All my drivers and stuff have been updated and I still get the same problems. I know its most likely a problem with my graphics card, but I've played way better games than this with way better looking graphics and engines so I don't know why I can't play this for long periods of time.
Character customization was alright. There's lots of weird looking costumes to choose from (I call them costumes because theres noway anyone would wear that stuff). What would have been nice would be if you could choose costumes based off the Cartoon Network characters themselves and instead of some made up futuristic looking crap that I just shifted through until I found something that didn't make me look like a clown (ironically it was a brown and white striped button-up shirt).
Overall as a fan of anime, I like the anime art style they chose which you can easily tell is anime just by looking at the hairstyles.
From what I can gather. This game is just plain fun for the kids with all the special attacks and nanos. The first nano you get is one of the powerpuff girls (the mean green one) which you can summon and she fights alongside you. Which I also found great because back when I was a kid I occasionally wondered how the powerpuff girls would look when they grew up and found this a surprise and kept me interested to see what other surprises the game had in-store for me.
So if you ever were a fan of Cartoon Network be it now or in the past. I suggest you try this game if not for the pure fact of looking at your favorite characters all grown up
Please people though. Don't be an asshat and play this game thinking its a serious MMORPG then come whining about it on the forums. Seriously stay away people with sticks up their you know whats.
I think that's enough people jumping on the bandwagon to bash that guy in the second comment. No one wants to read a giant block of text with the same regurgitated garbage that all the prior posts contained as well.
Now I'm sure this is a decent MMO for kids and all that, but no responsible parent would want to introduce their infant to probably the most addicting genre of computer games. Only the kind of parent that dumps their kids in front of the tv as soon as they get home so they don't 'bother' them would be interested.
You parents, particularly the American ones, need to turn off your kids' computers, and force them to go run and play outside. A 9 yr old has no need for an MMORPG. Let him or her run and play outside with, get this, PEOPLE, where they'll learn to adapt and fit in and become better people in the REAL WORLD.
If they're done playing outside, then when they come in, give them a damn book to read.
We Americans are fat and stupid. Fix it.
Don't you think a 9 year old would get all of that at School? Durrr. I mean you don't think people learn that at the 6-8 hours of school they have everyday? Tack on another hour for homework as well.
Americans are fat and stupid because they are spoiled and choose not to pay attention in school, not because of MMOs or videogames in general. If you look at all the players that go to MLG (Major League Gaming) events you would see that 80% of the players there aren't fat AT ALL and even those that are fat are just chubby, not huge. I'm sure we could start a discussion of this along with pros and cons of things, but that's not for this thread. This thread is for discussing Fusion Fall.
As for the other guy (loophole was it?) if he was referring to me, as I said before think before you speak. I don't think anyone dedicated more than 2 or 3 sentences to that stupid post that got flamed. You might want to actually read posts before you post about them. As views on this thread goes up expect that guy to get flamed even more because there is no 'bandwagon', the guy posted a really really stupid comment and deserves what he gets.
Good review, another "Kids" show that is just begging to be made into an MMO would be Avatar: The Last Airbender. I say "kids" in quotation marks because the show actually had a storyline, a nice change from the mindless dribble of reality TV and Sitcoms that dominate the channels today (not that I don't like those shows, it's just there should be a little more variety). Also had beautiful music and a well-developed world/background.
Who wouldn't want to shoot fire while doing kung-fu anyways?
When are companies going to figure out that if you put "Fall" in your name, some crank will come along and dub your game "Fusion Fail"?
Well, I guess that's not as high profile as dubbing Nixon's re-election committee (Committee to Re-Elect the President) CREEP.
Actually, as you may have noticed, MMORPG moved away from those categories to a 10 point score and a list of Pros and Cons for their reviews given that as a genre, MMOs have broadened considerably.
I'm a mature MMO player who's "grown up" on EverQuest, DAoC, WoW and others - EQ2, Vanguard, LotRO, etc. If you measure a browser-based, children's game on the same yardstick measuring those games, Fusion Fall would fall rather short.
Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.
It's in development.
Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.
Not exactly heathy for small children to be playing mmos in my opinion...they should be out playing with friends...or playing with lego expanding your imagination...not getting sucked into some computer game...READ A BOOK!
I'm willing to bet that the 3 of you (so far) that have made comments about how terrible it is to let kids play an MMO made for children don't actually have any kids of your own. Maybe you do, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you don't, only b/c those comments reek of inexperience and assumption.
I, however, have 2 children, a daughter that is 6, and a son who is 4. Do I let them play Fusion Fall? Absolutely. Do they get carried away and spend hours on end in front of the computer grinding? Absolutely not.
First off, I can't speak for other parents out there, but my wife and I would never, ever allow our children to sit anywhere, doing anything for hours on end, especially if it involves no exercise wether it be physical or mental. You see, when it gets right down to it, there is NOTHING wrong with letting kids play video games, or watch tv, or whatever else as long as it's done in moderation. That's the key to parenting. Your job as a parent is to educate your children, and the best way to educate is to expose them to as wide a variety of different stimuli as possible. That includes books, video games, tv, sports, toys, computers and whatever else is out there. As long as there is balance in their lives, they are always learning something, and they are healthy and happy, everything is as it should be.
It is nothing but ignorance that leads to comments like the ones that have been made in this thread about a childrens MMO. Now, that isn't an insult, I'm not trying to put anyone down, it's just my opinion that comments like that can only come from not knowing enough about children and what it takes to raise one.
Raising children isn't about denying them experiences, it's about guiding them through the trials of life and having them experience as much as they possibly can.
Yeah that's what we should do, let kids run amok in the "Real World" and "learn" from the scumbags they meet there.
Advice from fat stupid americans on how to fix the world is not very compelling.
As for the game - can i be Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force?
Oh.
Wow. Lotsa trolling on my account here. Not that I care much. Ofcourse those channels I listed doesn't have anything in common with Cartoon Network content, except being just another commercial channel. That you people don't realize that this is just another grab to get even more subscribers to their idiot channel is your fault. That is why I wrote what I wrote. This game, like the Disney game is basically just a bloody commercial to get your toddler even more addicted to those channels and their brands. Jeez...I see now that I should have made the connection to brands a little more clearer. Oh well, there is always a next time.
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Grammar nazi's. This one is for you.
Yeah that's what we should do, let kids run amok in the "Real World" and "learn" from the scumbags they meet there.
Advice from fat stupid americans on how to fix the world is not very compelling.
As for the game - can i be Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force?
Oh.
I'm sure you'd call this lady a bad parent too, right?
Thank you for reviewing this game ! I'd probably give it a bit higher ranking in its category, browser-based games for young kids, maybe an 8-8.5. My 5yr old nephew [who plays DDO] had no problem playing, but even my 3yr old nephew had fun running around shooting things - the voice-acted tutorial descriptions are excellent!
Thank you MMORPG.com for bringing MMOs of all genres to your readers' attention <big hug>
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My 5 year old nephew enjoys ALL those things - why not let him enjoy playing some video games, too! I'll grant you, in the US anyway, there appears to be a fine line between having "varied interests" and "ADD". We are currently ending winter and entering mud-season here in the Northeastern US - other than the 1/2 mile walk to the post office and back, he & I don't play outside much this time of year. Come summer, that will change - in fact, we'll spend most of the days at the beach or canoeing [I think he needs another year before he can start coming to the rifle range with me], then about an hour of gaming before bed.
Well rounded adults tend to have well rounded kids [in either way of defining "well rounded"!]
<p align=center><a target=_blank href=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm><img border=0 src=http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/20.jpg></a></p>;
The problem isn't whether you let your kids play computer games, it's letting them play a genre that's known to focus on making gameplay as addicting as possible. The younger kids are, the more vulnerable they are to the methods used by developers - methods plenty of adults can't seem to resist. Exposing them to that sort of thing has it's effects even if you limit their playtime since they're still in their formative years.
If you don't understand why it's an issue then I probably won't be able to convince you anyway, so this'll be my last derail here.