Fuzion Frenzy Platform: Xbox Developer: Blitz Games Publisher: Microsoft ESRB Rating: Everyone Ratings Graphics: 4 Sound: 3 Playability: 3 Gameplay: 3 Overall: 3

Microsoft's "Fuzion Frenzy" might not be the best title to show off the immense and expensive power of the Xbox, but this multiplayer party game makes for great fun, four-way competition. "Fuzion Frenzy" is really just a sizable collection of easy-to-play mini games. Presented with sharp-looking graphics, "Frenzy" offers fast-paced, frenetic, essentially non-violent gameplay against the computer, other gamers, or both.

Many mini games
"Fuzion Frenzy" has a lot of classic elements to it. Most games use only one or two buttons -- if they use any buttons at all -- and generally revolve around physics-based gameplay. Throughout the 45 different mini games, you'll take control of buoyant inner-tube boats, tanks, glowing spheres, and other similar vehicles that find themselves at the whim of the laws of gravity and inertia. Other games are "Power Stone"-like battles in which you collect glowing orbs for points. Grab an orb, then run to the goal to dunk it, while avoiding light martial arts attacks from the other three players.

"Frenzy's" frenzied action takes place in a wild, TV game show atmosphere, where six young and punky extreme sportsters compete with one another across several zones in a futuristic city. These fame- and fortune-seeking athletes go head-to-head in four randomly picked games across each of the huge zones, which include the coliseum, waterfront, military zone, outlands, and downtown. Each zone has specific kinds of games that suit the locale, so expect several tank-based games in the military zone for instance, and water boat races at the waterfront.

Easy to learn
All the games are intended to be incredibly easy to learn, but challenging to master, and for the most part, that's true. The various events players compete in can go from boat racing, to a Tron-cycle-like game in which you have to make other players ram into an energy wall that trails behind your little cycle. There are even some musical games in which you have to keep up with a drumbeat by pressing the right button at the right time.

"Fuzion Frenzy" contains a lot of battling games that have players scrambling for points while trying to foil the other competitors by shooting them or punching and kicking. Some games even have players throwing bombs at each other for points in reactive, changing environments. Any violence is downplayed, however, by the colorful, cartoon graphics and comical nature of the action. There's no gore, or death here, and everyone always comes back.

Graphics and sound
The graphics in "Fuzion Frenzy," while not as state-of-the-art as those of some other Xbox launch titles, are still sharp. The variety of arenas and settings saves you from staring at the same graphics all the time. Adding to the cool look is the ultra fast-paced nature of the gameplay, which never misses a beat when it comes to frame rate or animation.

The audio work has a sort of throwaway hip-hop nature to it. All the characters have a hipster attitude, and the soundtrack mix adds a funky air to the backdrop.

Multiplayer mayhem
While you can play the game by yourself, the real point of "Fuzion Frenzy" is multiplayer fun. Games are either free-for-all battles for points, or two-on-two team games, and with such a variety of events there's plenty of party action to go around. Admittedly, games tend to be just variations of others for the most part, but those variations can make a lot of difference, and players will be able to find competitions that cater both to casual and more hardcore gamers, enabling anyone to play "Fuzion Frenzy" and have fun.

It's highly unlikely that "Fuzion Frenzy" will turn into a runaway best-seller, but if you're into multiplayer fun that anyone can get into, this is the only game in town. It's offbeat, diverse, and boisterous, and the cool graphics and variety of things to do give "Frenzy" a singular distinction in the Xbox library. It's not a masterpiece of gaming by any means, but it's definitely a lot of fun.
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