Now tired of: Fuzion Frenzy 2

If you're invited to a party, and someone happens to mention whipping out their copy of Fuzion Frenzy 2 because it's a party game ... well, you better bail on that party quick. Inform them that you just learned that your aunt's second cousin twice removed just died and you must report to the family compound immediately or you'll miss out on your inheritance. Or just leave, fast, without explanation, move and don't leave a forwarding address. Because Fuzion Frenzy is just that awful.

This second installation of the Fuzion Frenzy franchise ensured that there would be no Fuzion Frenzy 3, despite game developers' love of franchise games. It was poorly received by a public expecting a fun, light party game because it stunk on so many levels. Here are some reasons you'd be better served reading "War and Peace" than taking up FF2, (besides a good book being better for your intellect, of course):

• Main Quest. I can think of a few good adjectives to describe the Main Quest portion of this game. Unwieldy. Rigid. Sucky. Craptacular. But let's get beyond juvenile namecalling despite the fact that the Main Quest has very little in the way of redeeming values. The fun is just very hard to find here in this insipid pseudo gameshow. For instance, players have very little control of the flow of the tournament, just forced along a very strict path determined largely by the caprice of the emcee and the silly playing card sidegame -- a cheap and unnecessary barrier to success. Players also often find themselves playing some of the lousiest conceived minigames in the game, cursing their luck as well as the developers. Minigames like Ice Sculpture, which involves melting the ice around a sculpture with a water hose, were truly lousy and impossible to conquer, even at the lowest difficulty level. Other minigames like Don't Sink the Boat are just too insipid for me to give a flip.
  
  Also, in order to unlock a couple of the more fun games -- like Sumo Paint -- you must win the Main Quest with all the characters. Like, ugh.
  
• Art style. Gone is the Jet Set Radio Future art style of the first game in favor of some futuristic, planet-hopping theme, with battle armor, all of which just leaves me cold as Icicle, the ice planet. Yep, the developers were really creative on this one.
  


• The Emcee. That voice. Those cheesy remarks, over and over. "Viewers across the universe are glued to this battle." No, they are not. So very not. Luckily, you do get the option to turn down the sound, but still, demerits for him even being in the game with his futuristic clown suit and pink pants. Next time they want an emcee with a futuristic yet flamboyant touch, I'd much prefer the annoying, whiny comedy relief guy from the Fifth Element.
  

• POV. The POV makes the player feel like they are playing this game from a great distance away, so it's hard to get immersed in the game, even if you wanted to. And it's hard to succeed at the minigames because it's hard to see what you're doing at times since you are playing from such a distance away.