Fuse was revealed as Overstrike at E3 2011 before being rebranded as Fuse and released in 2013 near the tail end of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 console cycle. The original style of the game leaned more into a Team Fortress 2 like cartooniness. Fuse is a four-player cover shooter much like Gears of War, but with the choice of agents who have exclusive weapons and abilities, sorta like Borderlands. The titular Fuse is an alien substance being used for clean energy and of course, weapon research in the wrong hands (the orange color of Fuse also saps the life out of the game’s menu, U.I. and loading screens.) Your team of agents travels around the world to stop the evil Raven corporation and their ranks of mad scientists, rogue agents and U.S. senators from usin’ the Fusin’.

The core cover shooting is solid: the moving between cover, blind firing etc. all work great. There’s mini-bosses and big arenas with plenty of verticality to flank enemies. Unfortunately, bullet sponge enemies and poor co-op A.I. ruined my fun after a mission or two. I played as Izzy, who had healing grenades and a Fuse gun that crystalized enemies and allowed for chain-shattering baddies. But it takes way too many bullets to crystalize each enemy, both the initial freezing and shattering itself. I frequently ran out of bullets with my Fuse gun; switching to alternate guns to whittle down each enemy’s health felt plodding and boring. I know this is where co-op would sing: I could crystalize enemies while a friend playing as Naya could cloak and shatter them, or Dalton’s mag shield could amplify my bullets for better damage. Alas, I played by myself and had to swap characters mid-fight to use all of the good ammo and grenades. And relying on the A.I. to revive you is as frustrating as it is in every game of this era.

Overall, Fuse needs more personality. And guns and abilities. The plot drops you in the middle and fills in characters’ backstory as you go. I appreciate how fast the plot moves, but it does feel as though you’re starting halfway through the story, or in the second chapter of a trilogy. Squad banter and backstabbing villains keep the plot lively, if generic. For as many great guns that Insomniac is known for, there aren’t nearly enough in Fuse. You run out of ammo too often to rely on your agent’s main firearm and the enemies don’t drop interesting weapons often, like they do in a Gears of War title for example.

I didn’t play this with any friends or try out the Horde-style Echelon mode so it’s hard to review this game on those merits in 2026. I know I would have had way more fun playing it that way. I grade on game design, vibes of the game’s world, and how fun to play the game is. All of these categories could be bumped up a point if that classic Insomniac style wasn’t stifled during development. Generic title, bland colors; it’s a shame.

Game Design: 4/5 Vibes & World: 3/5 Fun to Play: 3/5

Bonus Points:

• Banter between squad mates keeps the game from being too bland.
• Skill trees are always fun to fill out.
• Bond-esque super villains.

Current ranking of all Xbox 360 games:

• #1 – Overlord
• #2 – Singularity
• #3 – Dead Island
• #4 – Kameo: Elements of Power
• #5 – Gun
• #6 – Fuse
• #7 – The Club
• #8 – Too Human