Fuzion Frenzy 2 - multiplayer hands-on

Every console needs a good party game. No matter how many gripping single player campaigns or furious deathmatch experiences a system offers, there will always be space for something that regular folks - regardless of their skills- can gather around and play immediately. On the Xbox systems, that space has always been somewhat of a vacuum. There’s been a Super Monkey Ball and a (shudder) Shrek Super Party, but nothing to rival the presence and popularity of Nintendo’s Mario Party or WarioWare.

Enter Fuzion Frenzy 2. The first Fuzion Frenzy, a launch title on original Xbox, was received surprisingly well, but this probably had more to do with a dearth of good titles at the time than with its actual quality. So can a direct sequel, arriving five years later, hope to appeal to an older, wiser audience spoiled on next-gen graphics and ground-breaking new control schemes?

It certainly won’t fail for lack of trying. Fuzion Frenzy 2 is chock full of content- a whopping 43 minigames, to be exact, delivered via seven distinct themes or "planets." The uncomfortably named Moisture Planet, for instance, plays host to water-logged contests like Over the Falls (hit buttons in the correct order to avoid plummeting off the edge of a waterfall), Underwater Rumble (battle your opponents to the death while looking out for precious oxygen bubbles) and Aqua Hunter (collect coins but avoid bombs being distributed by a central fountain). Similarly, you can find industrial-style puzzles on the planet Machina and slippery ice matches on Icicle. Okay, so the writing may not be Frenzy 2' s biggest selling point.