Fuzion Frenzy 2 [X360]

Owners of the original Xbox might remember its first party game, the underrated Fuzion Frenzy, which saw up to four players competing across over 45 future-industrial-styled mini-games. Fuzion Frenzy 2 brings this timeless concept to the Xbox 360, adding Live online play and improved presentation. Has it been worth it?

Let's get this out of the way first: Fuzion Frenzy 2 has the most irritating announcer since Crazy Taxi. Thankfully, he's easily silenced, but you still have to put up with his idiotic subtitles -- and he's the tip of an iceberg of annoyance. The game's whole brash, colorful and edgy thing just doesn't quite gel, and grates more than it entertains -- and the less said about the music, the better.

Fuzion Frenzy 2 includes 40-odd mini-games, so it's inevitable that there's some variation in quality. Most of Frenzy's games are good, like Sumo Crash, an old Frenzy favorite where players are cooped up inside gigantic balls, which they roll around and try to knock each other out of an arena. Or the game where you drive tanks round a maze taking pot shots at each other. Or even simple classics like Frenzy's handful of button-mashing challenges: these have been popular ever since Track and Field started breaking joysticks way back in 1983, and with good reason.

And then there's the bad. Mini-games should be just that, and if you can't sum up the gameplay and scoring method of one in a single sentence, something's probably wrong. Too many of Fuzion Frenzy 2's games succumb to the understandable temptation of overcomplicating what should be a simple formula, by introducing power-ups, multiple weapon types, or unclear objectives.

Many of the on-foot games suffer from vague, remote-feeling controls, which is not what you want when, as the announcer puts it, one mistake can cost you the game. Some games -- ones that rely more heavily on depth perception -- don't do well with the game's 3D view. It's not helped by the camera's habit of zooming in on the action, either, as there are plenty of times when you need to see into a particular area regardless of whether a player is there or not.

There are two ways to play Frenzy: as a simple series of mini-games, or in a more structured tournament mode. Tournaments take place across multiple themed planets, each having its own selection of games and ending with a no-holds-barred fight. Tournament mode also gives players random cards that work variously to multiply your score, steal points from your opponents, and so on.