Like Resistance and Ratchet and Clank before it, Fuse is about experimenting with one-of-a-kind weapons -- and you'll have no shortage of test subjects to use 'em on in Echelon, Fuse's answer to Horde mode.
As expected, you and three friends need to survive a long series of enemy waves, each progressively tougher than the last. You might not be ready for their size or the speed at which Fuse's interesting array of foes comes at you. Full squads of riot-shield-toting soldiers deflect everything you can throw at them while a second group takes cover behind to lay down suppressing fire. Luckily, whoever controlled stealth-specialist Naya had cloaked, swung around behind them, and used her Warp Rifle to create a mini-black hole within their formation. My one well-placed grenade mopped up the bunched-up lot.
And that's only the most basic form of teamwork you'll need to exercise to make it through Echelon's 22 waves. After our team cleaned up the rest of the jobbers, a map waypoint beckoning us to the location of an ordinance drop. But there are no free meals here. You don't just get to walk up and grab the goods; you've got to sing for your supper. And by “sing,” I mean “defend the supply crate from the angry men with guns while a squadmate gets it open.”
Work together, live. It's scientifically proven.
Dalton set up his Magshield so Naya and Jacob could open fire safely. As Izzy, I dropped a healing beacon at their feet before helping to crack the crate. Despite our inexperience and grouping up with total strangers, improvised strategies came naturally to our team because each character's signature weapon defines their role. After taking the back seat on that last encounter, I decided to snag our newly awarded heavy flamethrower and have a good old-fashioned bad-guy BBQ on the next wave.
As it turns out, giant robots of doom don't cook up so nicely, especially when they're four times your size and can shrug off bullets like they were gumdrops. Seriously, shooting at these things from the front was like throwing pennies at plate armor. Upon discovering the weak point on the rear, we split up hoping to draw the metal bastard's fire, leaving a teammate room to peg him from behind.
But as a wise man once said, "it's dangerous to go alone." As potent as we felt fighting together, the squad seemed equally vulnerable when apart. It wasn't long before Jacob died, having gone down too far away for anyone to revive him in time. Naya took a knee next. I tossed a Hail Mary healing beacon to Dalton and made run for Naya, but we both died to a devastating fusillade of missiles. Without a team to back him up, even our boy Dalton wasn't long for this world.
Don't let Fuse fool you. 22 waves is plenty.
Given that we only made it to the sixth wave out of a total 22, I can't even imagine the carnage that's bound to ensue. Each Echelon map starts with 12 preset waves, the sixth of which throws a sub-boss such as that mechanical monstrosity into the mix. The last of that lot adds one of the game's main bosses. 10 waves of random, escalating mayhem follows, so you'll have to think on your feet and work with your teammates flawlessly if you expect to survive. All told, it seems like the perfect playground in which to test out all of Insomniac's wonderful toys.
For more on Fuse, including more impressions of the single player campaign next week, keep it locked to IGN.
Vincent Ingenito is a freelance writer living in the Bay Area. He's pretty good at fighting games. Beware, and follow him on Twitter.
Source : ign[dot]com
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