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FusionFall

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FusionFall
Developer(s)Grigon Entertainment
Publisher(s)Cartoon Network
Director(s)
  • Levon Hakobyan
  • Greg Grigon
Producer(s)
  • Cree Haas
  • Toe Bronson
Designer(s)
  • Levon Hakobyan
  • Chris Sunn
  • D. R. Watson
  • Jeremy Polk
  • Greg Grigon
Writer(s)
  • Levon Hakobyan
  • Erab Azraeu
  • Greg Grigon
Composer(s)Seth Podowitz
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
ReleaseJanuary 13, 2009
Genre(s)Massively multiplayer online role-playing game, third-person shooter
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall was a massively multiplayer online game developed by Cartoon Network and South Korean studio Grigon Entertainment, released on January 13, 2009.[1] The game took place within an amalgamation of Cartoon Network settings that included characters and locations from established shows as well as some unique additions, following a science fiction genre. FusionFall used the Unity engine as its client technology basis.

For the first year, the full game required a subscription; free accounts could only access a portion of the content.[2] On August 29, 2013, the game's servers were shut down. It was unofficially revived by fans as two different games in 2017, the first being FusionFall: Retro (a revival of the original game) and the second being the unreleased FusionFall: Legacy (the original game plus additional content). On April 16, 2020, Cartoon Network issued a DMCA takedown notice to the developers of the games, resulting in Retro being removed entirely and Legacy's cancellation.[3]

Plot

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Under the control of Lord Fuse, Planet Fusion travels through the universe devouring other planets, and Earth becomes its next target. Fusion Matter is dropped upon Earth, taking on a corrupted form of objects in the environment and becoming monsters. The player is enlisted into a force to thwart the enemies' plan and defeat them.[4][5]

Gameplay

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In FusionFall, the player takes control of a customized human avatar.[6][7] The game world features over 50 characters and several areas based on current and past shows on Cartoon Network. Some of these characters assist the player during their adventure.[8] Uncommon in MMORPG's of its time was the platforming gameplay significantly present in FusionFall, with Community Director Rich Weil emphasizing the developers' intent to make the game "as three-dimensional as possible".[4]

The player character is viewed from a third-person perspective[9] with an overlaid HUD. By defeating enemies, players progress towards leveling up and receive currency, called taros,[10] to buy clothing and weapon upgrades. There are two types of combat styles, ranged and melee,[11] and the player can equip weapons for both and switch between them with a button press.[12] A special feature present in FusionFall is the use of nanos, small versions of Cartoon Network characters, obtained by defeating an evil doppelgänger of the respective character.[13] The mission to defeat the doppelgänger becomes available once the player obtains enough Fusion Matter, the game's experience point,[14] and the player's level is dependent on how many nanos they've collected. Having the nano and assigning them as active grants a special ability of the player, chosen among three.[13]

Four characters were available as a guide: Ben Tennyson (Ben 10), Dexter (Dexter's Laboratory), Edd (Ed Edd n Eddy), and Mojo Jojo (The Powerpuff Girls).[15] They gave rewards like equipment and items for completing certain missions.[2]

Playing past level 5 originally required a monthly paid subscription in the form of redeemable cards that could be purchased at participating retailers. The cards were rendered obsolete after April 16, 2010, when the entirety of the game became free to play; players with unredeemed time cards were offered a refund for their unused cards. Since the game was designed for kids primarily, there were parental control options, giving parents the ability to monitor what their children were doing and restrict how much they could chat with other users.[16]

New missions, NPCs, areas, and elements were periodically added to FusionFall from more recent shows. An area called the Academy was also put into the game, where players made their characters and started playing. FusionFall's development, however, stopped so Cartoon Network could focus on other games such as Project Exonaut, Formula Cartoon, and FusionFall Heroes.[citation needed]

In-game events

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On certain holidays, such as Thanksgiving or Christmas, FusionFall had small in-game celebrations that usually involved a special code for exclusive holiday items, scenery, and missions carried by special guest appearances of future cast members. Events for holidays stretched from two weeks to several months; some rolled directly from one to the other. The Holo Suit, an in-game outfit, would change its appearance, reflecting in-game events and the time of year.[citation needed]

Development

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After trying four years to have the project greenlit, development on FusionFall started in April 2006. Turner Entertainment wanted to take time to plan the business model carefully while searching for a developer at the same time. They settled on a Korean studio Grigon Entertainment, due to their art style and sense of humor.[16] Some characters were aged up in order to please a wide range of the target audience.[4] Unity was decided to be the engine running the game, as the team wanted for people to play even on low-end computers. To be easier for the younger players to access the game, it was made to be played in a web-browser.[17]

A comic prequel, FusionFall: Worlds Collide!!, was co-written by Matthew Schwartz and Megas XLR co-creator George Krstic, and was distributed during Comic Con '07. The comic was available on the official website to read and to download as a PDF. It covers the events leading up to the start of the game.[18]

Four periods of open beta testing took place between November 14, 2008 and January 11, 2009, available to anyone with an account on Cartoon Network's website. All characters created after December 27, 2008 were not deleted but carried onto the official release.[citation needed]

Release

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When it was first released, FusionFall required a paid subscription for the full game, with a limited portion of the content available for free.[19] Free accounts could only play in the "future" portion of the game, which only allows players to collect four nanos and create two characters. The full game had a total of 56 nanos,[20][21][22][23][24] 36 before the new updates. To create up to four characters, players had to earn all 36 nanos during the beta testing. Players with characters that progressed into the past during the sneak peek or during a previous subscription had their characters locked until a current subscription was purchased.

Subscription plans included one-month, three-month, year-long, and family plans. The FusionFall Victory Pack Exclusive was made available for purchase when the game was released. It contained a four-month subscription, as well as a game guide, T-shirt (if bought from GameStop), and exclusive outfits and weapons for the player's character through codes to enter on the game's website.[1] The Victory Packs were eventually discontinued, having been replaced with one-month and three-month game card available for purchase at Target outlets.

The game was made completely free on April 19, 2010, making everything a member could have available for free.[25][26]

Reception

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Year Organization Award Result Ref.
2009 Webby Awards Games Nominated [32]

In the year of its release, FusionFall received coverage from such news outlets for technology and gaming as Ars Technica,[13] IGN,[33] Wired,[2] Engadget,[34] and the Unity engine blog[35] among others.

FusionFall Heroes

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On March 25, 2013, about five months before the original game's shutdown, Cartoon Network released a new game called FusionFall Heroes. In this game, instead of playing a customized avatar, players would play different variants of established Cartoon Network characters. The game takes place concurrently with Fuse's attack on the Cartoon Network Universe in the original game. Playable characters include Finn the Human, Fionna the Human, and Marceline of Adventure Time, Dexter of Dexter's Laboratory, Mordecai and Rigby of Regular Show, Four Arms and Feedback of Ben 10, Gumball Watterson of The Amazing World of Gumball, Mojo Jojo of The Powerpuff Girls, and Johnny Bravo of his eponymous show. In the game, there are different costumes for the playable characters, as well as eggs that can unlock new costumes for different heroes.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Majesco Entertainment Partners With Cartoon Network Enterprises to Ship Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall for PC and Mac". Majesco Entertainment. January 13, 2009. Archived from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Ralph, Nate (January 14, 2009). "Inside FusionFall, Cartoon Network's New Kid-Friendly MMO". Wired. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  3. ^ "Our team has received a take-down request from The Cartoon Network, Inc. under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). We respect their right to do so and are complying with their requests.", Twitter, The Universe Team, April 16, 2020, archived from the original on September 25, 2023, retrieved September 25, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Heckman, Kelly (January 8, 2009). "Interview with Rich Weil, FusionFall". Gamezebo. Archived from the original on November 23, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  5. ^ G., Noa (January 19, 2009). "FusionFall: Cartoon Network Universe :: PC Game Review". Kidzworld. Archived from the original on July 22, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  6. ^ Alexander, Leigh (February 4, 2009). "Fusion Fall". Variety. Archived from the original on February 17, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  7. ^ FusionFall Character Creation (video). MMOHuts. April 2, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2024 – via YouTube.
  8. ^ Padilla, Raymond (February 28, 2008). "FusionFall". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on November 5, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  9. ^ Henry, Alan (July 1, 2011). "Five great free, browser-based games like Club Penguin". Geek.com. Archived from the original on November 13, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  10. ^ Game Guide (PDF), p. 28, archived from the original on August 24, 2013, retrieved January 15, 2024{{citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. ^ Talamasca, Akela (February 26, 2008). "GDC08: Cartoon Network's FusionFall". Engadget. Archived from the original on November 5, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  12. ^ Game Guide (PDF), p. 50, archived from the original on August 24, 2013, retrieved January 15, 2024{{citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. ^ a b c Thompson, Michael (January 16, 2009). "Review: Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on November 6, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  14. ^ Game Guide (PDF), p. 15, archived from the original on August 24, 2013, retrieved January 15, 2024{{citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. ^ Thompson, Michael (December 23, 2008). "Isn't it nerdtastic: a preview of FusionFall". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  16. ^ a b Yip, Spencer (August 2, 2007). "Q&A: Waldron Talks Cartoon Network FusionFall MMO". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on November 6, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  17. ^ Griffin, Mike (February 2009). "Fusion Fall: The MMO your kids can play". Play (US magazine). Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  18. ^ Fusionfall: Worlds Collide!! (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2009.
  19. ^ "Fusion Fall". The Daily Advertiser. February 15, 2009. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  20. ^ "All-New Nanos!". Cartoon Network. February 16, 2011. Archived from the original on February 20, 2011.
  21. ^ "Pick up Johnny Bravo, Cheese and the Unstable nano". Cartoon Network. April 27, 2011. Archived from the original on April 30, 2011.
  22. ^ "More New Nanos!". Cartoon Network. May 25, 2011. Archived from the original on May 29, 2011.
  23. ^ "A New Wave of Nanos!". Cartoon Network. July 27, 2011. Archived from the original on August 8, 2011.
  24. ^ "Ice King Nano Mission!". Cartoon Network. August 22, 2011. Archived from the original on August 27, 2011.
  25. ^ "FusionFall is Free today!". Cartoon Network. April 19, 2010. Archived from the original on April 22, 2010. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  26. ^ Hindman, Beau (March 10, 2010). "Exclusive: FusionFall free to play launch details". Engadget. Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  27. ^ "Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall for PC". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 30, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  28. ^ David, Mike (February 10, 2009). "Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on April 20, 2009. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  29. ^ Thang, Jimmy (January 30, 2009). "Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall Review". IGN. Archived from the original on May 26, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  30. ^ Bade, Ted (February 19, 2009). "FusionFall". Inside Mac Games. Archived from the original on February 4, 2010. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  31. ^ Holt, Chris (January 27, 2009). "Review: FusionFall". Macworld. Archived from the original on November 5, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  32. ^ "2009 Nominee". Webby Awards. Archived from the original on November 23, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  33. ^ Aihoshi, Richard (February 23, 2009). "Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall Wrap Report". IGN. Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  34. ^ Brennan, Seraphina (February 9, 2009). "FusionFall developers hint at Wii, iPhone possibilities". Engadget. Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  35. ^ Higgins, Tom (January 15, 2009). "FusionFall goes live". Unity Blog. Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
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