Fuse, Insomniac's new multiplatform game

Surprised there's no forum thread for this game, since it's Insomniac's first multiplatform game.

Preview.

There was, it was called Overstrike. it disappeared when everyone stopped caring.

Oh, right. Forgot.

Yeah Fuse looks horrible.

Yep. They turned something that looked original into another generic TPS.

Funny thing. They changed it so it can appeal to a more mature audience. yet the changes came because the listened to 13 year old kids.

I still don't understand why Insomniac wanted twelve year olds as a focus group for a M rated shooter.

Apparently it wasn't M-rated until the twelve year olds requested such.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Wasn't Insomniac's Idea, it was EA's.

That 12 year olds are the biggest consumers of M-Rated games? I think that was already well known.

I wasn't particularly interested in Overstrike, but it at least didn't look completely generic.

Fuse, though... That's a no.

-_______-

Pretty much sums up my opinion on the change. I'll be following this with interest, though.

Edit: Can I get a source on the thirteen/twelve year-old thing?

edited 16th Feb '13 4:05:39 PM by Nicknacks

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/09/28/always-independent-the-story-of-insomniac-games

“Maybe it was going to appeal to gamers who, we thought at the time, might be in their late teens. The industry’s changed quite a bit… We would focus test the game in front of a lot of gamers, and get their opinion. These are people that regularly play Play Station 3 and Xbox games. We started to discover that everyone thought this was a game for their younger brother. We would hear this from 12-year-olds. So we decided that we needed to make a game that had an older appeal.”

Oh.

People mostly suck.

Well, as long as the gameplay has the signature Insomniac touch (whatever that means), I'm sure it'll end up fine. I mean, it's the gameplay that matters in the end, right?

edited 16th Feb '13 4:33:49 PM by Nettacki

yeah it's important the games industry learn that the casual audience simply isn't a sustainable market, with the proliferation of phones and micro games they've mostly moved on. The only way to really turn a profit now is to either look more long term or create something unique enough to garner interest in the gaming community. They need to be more discerning with play testers, and become more creatively driven.

I've seen a trailer on this game on The Game Station's livestream today. I would have agreed with you about the whole "generic TPS" thing if I didn't see a GIANT DUDE SHOOTING FRICKIN LASER BEAMS FROM HIS HANDS.

Demo is out. While it really doesn't look like much, it's actually quite a blast to play. Too bad the designs are so generic. The fun part is that while you can technically play it like a generic TPS, relying on conventional weaponry, the eponymous FUSE weapons are incredibly efficient and using them properly in unison can decimate an entire enemy squad in a matter of seconds, whereas otherwise firefights would tend to draw out.

edited 7th May '13 6:59:03 PM by TAPETRVE

Sounds like the gameplay still has that Insomniac touch, with or without the generic designs.

Yeah, the fuse weapons are actually pretty fun, and they do spice things up a bit.

But the problem is the game feels like it has no fucking soul. Its just...Your dudes making generic TPS quips at each other as you kill generic mooks while you play as generic looking characters.

Had the game kept its original design and appearance this game would have been pretty sweet.

As it stands, its a rental at best.

edited 8th May '13 12:17:17 AM by Thorn14

So from what I understand, you've got a choice between the Ratchet & Clank style guns with whacky functions and upgrades and the typical FPS guns, such as shotguns, sniper rifles, SM Gs, assault rifles, etc?

Ugh why can't they just go back to the old cartoony graphics? It was beautiful and they reminded me of the time when games were about having fun.

So... Ratchet meets Resistance?

They aren't really wacky ratchet and clank weapons.

You got a gun that makes a big force field that can project a blast, a cross bow that can cause an incendiary reaction, a gun that can entomb people into rocks and shatter, and a gun that causes singularity explosives (best one). Each character has access to that one gun for them at all times and 2 generic guns.

The rest of your guns are boring machine gun, pistol, machine pistol, sniper rifles, etc.

Because 12 year old focus testers found it 'too kiddy'

This game is just so focus group tested by the numbers bland. And the sad part is you can see what used to be unique underneath it.

edited 8th May '13 1:06:34 AM by Thorn14

It's interesting. A lot of adults, particularly young adults in their twenties, tend to find a lot of pleasure in nostalgia. But early and pre-teens are often interested in being adult, and are at the awkward state where they're negotiating their independence. So they tend to aim at things which are seen as taboo, or "adult", despite the people they tend to be emulating (late teens, and twenty somethings) being far more invested in the narratives associated with the stuff adults are often giving the twelve-year-olds (and the twelve-year-olds are subsequently rejecting).

It's a strange bivalence, which I guess partially accounts for the absence of late twenty-something fiction.