Fusion Fall

Hoyt and I tried Cartoon Network's MMO over the weekend, Fusion Fall. Fusion Fall is a browser based MMO, so it doesn't require any disks or downloads, unlike most MMORPGS. Another great thing offered by the game is the "family" account- which has multiple (4) individual accounts tied to one billing and login account. The game currently offers
a free account type, which has limited leveling, item use, and item aquisation. The price for the game isn't that high either, with a normal account billing at $5.95 a month and a family account at $9.95 monthly.

The game brings back many of Cartoon Network's favorites- Dexter, The Kids Next Door, Samurai Jack, The Power Puff Girls, and more, for the Player to interact with. The voice actors are all present, which makes character dialouge simply a joy to hear. The animation
and graphic style is a generic and clean anime style, rather like the Digimon series.

While I like the game generally, with clear story expectations and mission tracking (it has a Quest Helper built in to the interface) I found myself frustrated with the primary method of movement, which is mouse based. Unlike most MMO's, this isn't optional and there is no "point and click" function of the mouse unless you move to the options screen, the same screen used for in game chatter. So for someone like me, who keeps a few programs going in the back ground, as well as text messenger, the only way to switch between programs is to hit enter, which brings up the game's options and automatically starts the chat window. This also means that the game is entirely auto-target, no selecting your target. If you want to target the monster on the right, you have to make sure it's centered in your screen and the auto-target system has selected the target and isn't stuck on a different monster. The good news is that the monsters don't appear to have an Aggro range; they only attack once engaged. To attack, you click the mouse and no auto-continue on attacks. I found, after some digging, that the game is built to be compatible with play on the XBox 360, for which these control issues wouldn't be a problem.

The game also doesn't appear to offer specailty classes; everyone can use everything and has the same fighting styles. I didn't see anything indicating a healing class (my favored class in just about everything I've ever played), but after the first hour or so, I wanted to move back into a more complicated world. Again, I like the world, and will probably continue playing, but I can't see myself quitting my WOW account or paying the otherwise reasonable fee for an unlimited account.