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When Xbox launched so many years ago, there were several stand-out titles. Halo and Dead or Alive 3 come to mind. These games screamed for sequels, and got them, well deserved. However, I really never considered the party game Fuzion Frenzy to be among the titles that gamers would be clamoring to get a sequel of. However, the powers that be saw fit for a sequel anyway, and the result is a somewhat amusing, though flawed follow-up to a years-old launch title from 360’s little brother.

Developed by the team responsible for Mario Party and Super Bomberman, the game focuses on simplistic, fun gameplay to keep it going, opposed to a deeper, strategic formula. As this is a party game, that works fine, and you’re given several gameplay options, from Tournament, Mini-Game Frenzy, and Custom. The tournament mode is where the main focus of the game is: 43 mini games, where you choose from the character set, pick your difficulty and have at ‘er.  The character choices are very uninspired, and leave little reason to pick one over the other, and the worlds you play through are likewise in their simplistic design.

The way the game keeps track of the scoring is… different. Winning a round earns you 10 points, second place gets you 6, and third gets you 4, etc. If you end up with the most points at the end of a round on a planet, you win that planet, as well as earning the ability to choose where you play next. In an oddball decision, the game also has items known as specialty cards. These cards appear in a game where players collect three cards within a quick five second battle. If you’re lucky enough to grab a card during the match, you can use them to your advantage when it comes to scoring. There are various types of cards, from multipliers, minus cards, reverse cards, halving cards and more. These cards, while sounding like a good idea on the surface, really only act to throw a crank in the gears in terms of fairness and sportsmanship. Reverse cards can put a fourth place player in first place, while screwing that first place player and putting him in fourth. It’s not a huge deal if you’re just playing for kicks with some friends, but if you actually want to put any skill forth, the game really just eliminates your drive to play.

The mini-games are a combination of come-back games from the original, while others are boring imitations of titles that are already on the market (and better executed). There are a few stand-out games that are generally a lot of fun to play, but overall, there’s nothing to really write home about.

All the games modes are playable online with up to four players. You can choose to play with strangers or have an invitation only game. Any player slots not filled by humans are filled by AI, and again you choose their difficulty. Playing online is really not much different than playing with friends due largely to the native party nature of the game.

Visually, the game feels cheap. By cheap, I mean that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of effort put forth to make this game stand out from the rest. All the designs are simplistic, and rather bare bones. It seems like they did what they had to in order to get the game playable, and left it at that. Likewise is the audio, which features standard Jap-rock arcade-style music featuring generic guitar riffs and uninspired beats.

Considering the team behind the title, Fuzion Frenzy 2 should have been something special for 360 owners. Instead, you’d do just fine to pass it up and spend your money on a far more deserving title. The overall feel of the game is uninspired, and everything is just far too generic feeling to really be able to recommend it.