As a child of the ’90s, I can wholeheartedly attest to the sheer joy and excitement that came with every new video game tie-in released during those glory days of console wars. The nostalgia is palpable when I think back to playing games based on everything from Judge Dredd to Cool Spot, the 7-Up mascot! Oh, the memories!
Diving into a Fortnite battle is always a mind-blowing adventure for me, as each match could potentially feature characters like Lando Calrissian, Spider-Man, Tom Hardy’s Venom version, RoboCop, Ellen Ripley from Alien, the Joker, John Cena, and Lady Gaga. These are just a few of the iconic skins my gaming buddies and I regularly employ to spice up our gaming experience.
In essence, Fortnite shares a striking resemblance with the digital universe envisioned in Ready Player One, being as close as we’ve experienced in reality. The absurdity of seeing Deadpool, Xenomorph from Alien, Geralt from The Witcher games, and Mike Lowrey from Bad Boys, all performed by Will Smith, dancing together to NSYNC is undeniably amusing. There’s a playful, juvenile charm to the random blending of characters engaging in nonsensical activities such as forming a band or riding a cartoon train amidst moments of shooting each other down. Despite the repetitive nature of this humor, it continues to captivate audiences.
But playing Fortnite always feels kind of gross for the same reason. It’s a mosh pit of business interests–not a celebration of characters and stories so much as the gotta-catch-em-all collecting of Intellectual Property. As corporations come to own more and more media of all sorts, we see more and more of that Ready Player One blender of nonsensical appearances of various bits of pop culture, devoid of any real soul. Fortnite is a major offender but far from the only one. You can be Nikki Minaj and shoot Paul Atreides from Dune in Call of Duty. You can beat on Bugs Bunny as Batman in MultiVersus. You can ride a Ghostbusters-inspired speeder bike in Destiny 2.
In every instance, figures from various games appear, yet they fail to contribute anything significant to their inclusion. Including Fry and Leela in Fortnite doesn’t infuse it with the essence or inventiveness of Futurama; instead, it simply offers the opportunity to buy a few nods to your favorite show within the game you enjoy. Each one is devoid of substance and seems to have been mass-produced.
Interesting, yet ironic, that a game modeled after Funko Pop figures – mass-produced toys designed to simplify characters from diverse franchises into uniform shapes – paradoxically offers a profound sense of individuality this time of intellectual property fever is capable of fostering, but ultimately falls short.
The Funko Fusion game is an action title where you progress through numerous stages influenced by various Intellectual Properties, similar to games like the Lego series that feature licenses such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, and The Incredibles. While I’m not particularly fond of Funko pops in general (though I must confess to owning a few—my favorites being the Wendigo from Hannibal, BT-7472 from Titanfall 2, and a voxel Xenomorph from Alien), I found myself eager to enjoy this game, despite finding it somewhat frustrating at times.
I quite enjoy the quirky aspect of Funko Fusion, even though they also combine different franchises like many others. To put it simply, Funko Fusion can be quite peculiar or eccentric.
Funko structures its major categories around Universal film and television properties, and while some, such as Jurassic World, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and Masters of the Universe, seem fitting for a video game, others offer intriguing and unconventional choices. These include Hot Fuzz, a ’90s action movie spoof by Edgar Wright, the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy, the 1978 TV show Battlestar Galactica, and John Carpenter’s horror masterpiece, The Thing.
Additionally, this game offers hidden levels and characters to discover, referencing a variety of subjects. You’ll have the chance to compete against KITT, the chatty car from the 1980s Knight Rider TV series starring David Hasselhoff. You might also join forces with Xena, the warrior princess character from the 1990s action show Xena: Warrior Princess, which was a spin-off from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Be prepared to face off against Chucky, the doll possessed by a serial killer, from Child’s Play, as well as M3GAN, the menacing robot doll from the movie of the same name. There are entire stages inspired by Jaws, Shaun of the Dead, Jordan Peele’s Nope, and the 1999 version of The Mummy. If you manage to collect enough items, you can even play as Colonel Sanders, the iconic figure from the fried chicken fast-food restaurant.
Funko Fusion offers an eclectic mix of unusual items to incorporate into video games, and it generally provides them with intricate detail. The Mummy level abounds with puzzles and hazards, leading up to a boss battle against Arnold Vosloo’s fly-breathing Mummy. Additionally, there’s a Back to the Future segment in Hill Valley where you need to replace tires on the DeLorean.
What I find fascinating is that Funko Fusion explores intellectual properties (IP) that aren’t being utilized extensively by others. It stirs up feelings of nostalgia in me, taking me back to the 1990s – a period known as the Console Wars, during the fourth generation of gaming hardware. This was a time before companies started combining characters from different things, creating a marketing tool for both, yet requiring minimal creativity.
It was the time of the tie-in video game.
If you haven’t lived or played video games during the 1990s, you might find it hard to follow my references. Although tie-in games are still around today – for instance, Lego games, Ubisoft produced Star Wars and Avatar adaptations this year and last, I enjoyed several games based on my favorite movies in 2023 like Aliens: Dark Descent, RoboCop: Rogue City, and Starship Troopers: Extermination. The makers of Harry Potter are even attempting to make Quidditch appealing with a game tie-in. Video games continue to be produced based on movies and TV shows.
During the ’90s and into the early 2000s, it was quite simple to create a video game that could capture children’s attention. As a result, virtually every popular concept, ranging from Sylvester Stallone’s Judge Dredd and Cliffhanger to lesser-known titles like Addams Family Values, Hook, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Casper, The Flintstones, Home Alone, Home Improvement, all the way to movies like Toys starring Robin Williams, the Cool Spot mascot for 7-Up, and even the Noid from Domino’s Pizza ads, had a video game counterpart. If you browse through the Wikipedia list of movie-based games, you’ll find some truly eccentric titles from that era.
Indeed, a majority of these appeared to be money-driven endeavors that left many disappointed. However, there were exceptions like “Enter the Matrix,” “The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay,” Disney’s “Aladdin” and “The Lion King,” “Blade Runner,” or “GoldenEye.” Typically, tie-in games consisted of platformers or clones of Doom, which felt rushed and lacked enthusiasm from their creators. Yet, on occasion, you could find something genuinely thrilling.
It’s quite impressive that Funko Fusion has a game level dedicated entirely to the movie Nope. Back in the day, it was common for games to feature a broad variety of movies and TV shows. However, these days, even if characters from films like Battlestar Galactica’s Cylons or Nicholas Angel from Hot Fuzz appear in Fortnite, they’re just modified versions of their original selves, designed to do TikTok-style dances. Their appeal is primarily “I recognize that,” rather than offering a deep connection or authentic representation.
I’m eagerly anticipating Funko Fusion, as it could pave the way for a surge of games similar to it – projects that breathe life into less popular licenses, explore their narratives, characters, and universes in some depth. I yearn for additional titles like RoboCop: Rogue City, Starship Troopers: Extermination, and Aliens: The Dark Descent. I’m on the hunt for more adaptations of comedies that might seem a bit silly, and films starring Robin Williams that didn’t resonate with everyone. Instead of just paying $10 for cosmetic changes reminiscent of past joys, I’m hoping for something more substantial and immersive.
Given that the media landscape is dominated by corporate intellectual property, let’s aim for the silver lining and enjoy some uniquely strange games instead.
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2024-09-27 23:09