Starfire Studios has brought a type of game to XBLA that I thought I would never see on anything other than the PC. Fusion Genesis is a Space-RPG-Shooter that has tons of potential and will very likely appeal to a specific group of gamers; the kind of gamer that loves open world space games, such as the recent Space Pirates and Zombies, or older classics like Star Control or Freelancer, then you will likely find a lot to enjoy in Fusion Genesis. This game came out on November 9th for 800 Microsoft Points.

Fusion Genesis features huge space battles in open environments with all kinds of rpg elements, like leveling, customization, exploring, stores, upgrading, reputation and tons to keep you going for a long time. The main focus of the game is spent fighting for one the five factions, one of which you have to join after the prologue, each of which has their own stores, ships and storyline. The five factions you can choose between the Dominion, Consortium, Praetoriate, Revenant Order and The Syndicate. This gives the game plenty of replay value and diversity between the groups, although you can change up your allegiance at certain points. The voice acting is well done, and the story actually seems to be interesting and well-written, not just a collection of space-cliches, it feels at the very least a little bit original.






I can safely say that this game has an extremely impressive amount of content, the lengthy demo alone offers hours of gameplay. I haven't mentioned if Genesis is solely single player yet, but it in fact has so much multiplayer infused into that I keep seeing reviews calling it a MMO (which seems a bit far-fetched). On top of the single player story and missions there are also three different multiplayer modes, one of which is co-op and the other two are big PvP battles. You can play one of these PvP battles solo in the demo, which is initially fun but becomes tedious once you realize that you can accomplish little on your own.


Leveling up in the game lets you put points into active and passive skills, some of which feel very typical while others are more unique and fit the feel of flying big shiny spaceships. You gain levels doing normal tasks, like missions or just merely from decimating enemy ships. There is a mining element to the game that allows you earn money and get upgrades for your ship, which isn't the most exciting thing in the world but it does work well. The controls handle well by using basic joystick schemes, one allows you to move and the other lets you shoot, you can and will want to set up hotkeys for abilities. Eventually, once you have a all powerful ship that takes up half the screen, then you will notice that the game makes use of almost every button the Xbox 360 controller. The menus on the other hand are a little annoying to navigate, they obviously need some work but don't affect gameplay.



Fusion Genesis kept me playing for hours without even realizing it, I just kept wanting fly one more mission in order to level and push towards a larger grander ship. If you love exploring and space shooters then Genesis is for you and you should at the very least try the demo, but for those of you who want nothing of the sort then this game isn't going to change your opinion. My only negative reactions about Fusion Genesis come from the clunky menus, tedious/repetitive side missions and chaotic large scale battles. Despite those negatives I absolutely love the feeling of exploration and the impressively detailed environments that are very numerous. Check out the website for more information and thanks for reading. 
Main Website: http://starfirestudios.co.uk/fusion-genesis

-Written by Sean Cargle