5/5 ★ – RawMetal's review of Cartoon Network Universe: Fusion Fall.

System: PC Started: January 14, 2009 Ended: August 29, 2013 Flashback Review In the mid-2000's, World of Warcraft dominated the MMO gaming trend at the time. It earned gaming awards, there were TV commercial ads, and a full episode of South Park as their main topic. I would have jumped into this franchise, but my parents could not afford a gaming PC and would not approve of spending 15 bucks a month, knowing I already had an Xbox Live subscription and a good portion of games on my shelf. None of my friends were interested in World of Warcraft anyways since they were playing Runescape and Maplestory and it was either those games were free to play, or their computers were not up to par to run the game properly. So basically World of Warcraft was a game for higher income folks and with its huge success, game companies would try to make their own MMO IP's to match up to World of Warcraft, especially games that are free-to-play or affordable for lower-income players. Games like Wizard 101, ToonTown Online, and Club Penguin to name a few. Then Cartoon Network joined in on this trend with the release of FusionFall in early 2009. Cartoon Network has been my childhood entertainment since the late 90's and I could not be happier to have all my favorite Cartoon Network shows in one single universe for the player to engage with. I had to get this game, even if it was a paid service. FusionFall used to be a paid subscription for $9.99 a month and my parents were ok with that price, but my computer itself at the time could not handle the game due to heavy lag. That is why I previously played those PC games, like classic Battlefield, at a friend’s house. I know a relative who is also a huge Cartoon Network fan, and he actually does have multiple desktop computers for anyone to use. He actually let me play FusionFall on one of his computers, and I would join in with his friend group and do raid missions. If you remember those awesome Cartoon Network City Bumper TV promos, FusionFall was like that, except that it had an epic story as alien life forms took over the Cartoon Network universe under the control of Lord Fuse. You play as your customized avatar from the future, teleport to the past, and stop the alien threat by stopping Fusion doppelgangers of Cartoon Network characters. The story is very similar to the Terminator franchise, so nothing too complex. Based on my playthrough, I actually did beat the game alongside my group at one point and would occasionally come back to the game to assist my party in beating a mission, do mercenary work in helping players for objectives, or just grind for rare items for me to wear or trade. It was a great experience to play an MMO for the first time. A Cartoon Network MMO is like a dream coming to reality, and I would consider it the peak moment for the TV network. I always wanted to see both classics and modern shows from the late 2000’s to early 2010’s interact, and we got what we expected. The online community was not toxic. Thinking back, I never had any scuffles with anybody in that game except tricksters goofing off in certain locations, but I never interacted with them. FusionFall does have a chat system, and if you say anything foul, the system censors it by displaying symbols on the avatar’s text bubble. If I had to nitpick on the community, I do remember there were barterers who were in popular locations in the game and tried to sell and trade gear, and most of them were scammers by trading in common gear for rare or overpriced in-game currency. After playing FusionFall for four years, there were notable flaws based on what I can remember. The art style does vary, as the character models have an anime aesthetic. In fact, FusionFall was developed under a South Korean game studio named Grigon Entertainment. Some of the character models looked good, like Dexter, but others, like Ed's from 'Ed, Edd, and Eddy', looked ridiculous. Since this is an MMO game, you rely on your gear and weapons and level up to become stronger and FusionFall has a special mechanic that lets you summon these miniature versions of Cartoon Network characters called Nanobots. They have unique abilities based on selection when you unlock them and can help you give stat boosts like extra speed and jump, and increase damage to enemies based on their weaknesses like rock, paper, scissors, but it's A, B, and C. Once you select a Nanobot ability, you cannot change it back as it is a permanent ability, which sucks. If you want your nanobots to have a different ability, you have to create another character. Speaking of another character, the thing that always bothers me is that you can go up to three custom character avatars in FusionFall. Compared to World of Warcraft, you can go up to 50 characters. The game was well received but not up to par with World of Warcraft. However, it had a small community, which is perfect for newcomers who are going into the MMO genre. I did wish for this game to stick around more often than it could, but what happened was that after Grigon finished developing FusionFall, the studio declared bankruptcy, which was the reason that Cartoon Network announced FusionFall as free-to-play and played overseer of the MMO with updated versions and events until they discontinued the game in 2013. The free-to-play service was a bit of a step-down; the toxic players did come out of the woodwork and kind of ruined the community of the game, but it wasn’t that severe. Sure, FusionFall got above-average reviews, but it holds a special memory of the times I've had with an MMO game just before the 2010s began. This game could be right up your alley if you were a huge fan of Cartoon Network at the time, like I was, or if you were looking into MMO games that were not too popular or too expensive. Of course, I was bummed out when it was officially announced that Cartoon Network had discontinued its service in 2013. The FusionFall community could not let this game go, and they eventually brought the game back themselves and called it FusionFall Retro. It did not stop there. The community added more characters, stories, and mission content to the point that it became its very own game and called it FusionFall Legacy. I supported this plan, but it eventually came to an abrupt end after finding out that there was drama between the development team and one team member squealed to Cartoon Network with false allegations claiming the game is a paid membership and the project has been taken down via DMCA. Recently, the game has been brought back up in a quiet fashion, and you can now play Classic FusionFall on custom servers. If you are curious enough, you can check this out. But it will never match up with the experience the game once had back in 2009. It may not have the qualities of World of Warcraft or Everquest, but its fun appeal did last to the point that veteran fans tried to bring it back.