Fuse (previously titled Overstrike) will be coming to the PlayStation 3 next year from the very talented crew at Insomniac, who are also behind the Ratchet & Clank and Resistance franchises. The game will allow you to play as a member of a four person squad of special agents who all carry weapons powered by an alien substance known as Fuse (hence the title).
The PlayStation Blog had a chance to catch up with Ted Price, Founder of Insomniac Games, and they asked him why the game’s title was changed from Overstrike to Fuse:
When we showed off the trailer in 2011, that was for the promise of gameplay that we had then. It was very story-focussed and less gameplay-focussed. In the intervening time we started really thinking harder about what the game was and where it was going to get its greatest impact.
That was when we started experimenting with Fuse. We created more visceral impact for our weapons, took a page from Resistance, went over the top with the visceral nature of each of the weapons and rethought the story in a slightly more grounded fashion.
The world is still very ‘Insomniac’ – it’s stylized in its own way and doesn’t adhere to any realistic conventions that we see today, and it is in no way a military sim. And it still has humor, but it’s a very different kind of humor to the campy, cartoony approach we originally took. I understand too that the change upset some of our fans who saw the trailer in 2011 and expected something very different. But what we have now is actually a better, deeper experience where we have gameplay and story tied more closely.
Being that Fuse is created with co-op play in mind, Ted was also asked if the single player experience will be enjoyable:
I mostly play Fuse in single player. I play it a lot, because as part of the team that’s my job. In single player you get a great experience because we spent a lot of time on the bots. We know how important it is to have great AI bots in a multi-hero game. Our bots – we hope – strike the right balance between bots that support you well and bots that don’t kill-steal or get in your way.
We want to avoid those annoying traits that you see so often in bots because as a single player with three bots the potential problems are multiplied. So, one of the great aspects of playing a single player is that you can leap between all four characters at will and it gives you many different ways to approach our different combat scenarios.
Lastly, he was asked the very tough question of just what is his favorite Insomniac franchise:
It’s difficult to answer because I have been heavily involved in all of them. Shoot, I’ve been creative director on Ratchet games, Resistance, heavily involved with Fuse, I love Outernauts as somebody who has been peripherally involved with that, and Spyro… They’ve all been really fun and challenging as someone who has been part of the development team.
So, my current favorite – and this sounds like a suck-up answer – is Fuse, because I’m playing it a lot, I’ve been heavily involved in the process and I’m really proud of what the team has pulled off, especially in light of how much we’ve changed it in the last year.
When Fuse does come out, don’t expect to play the game in 3D or have any Move support, though two player split-screen and a demo of some sort will be happening.
Are you excited for Fuse or will Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault give you enough Insomniac insanity? Let us know in the comments section.
