Some of my fondest gaming memories from growing up are of playing TT Games’ Lego video games with my brother. They were easy to pick up and play as a kid, featured some of my favorite franchises like Star Wars and DC Comics, and had a childish sense of humor I found endearing. I eventually grew out of Lego games, and their release cadence dried up due to the tumultuous development of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. That’s the main reason that Funko Fusion caught my eye; it has the potential to serve the same purpose for this younger generation of players.
I was certainly intrigued by a hands-off preview I saw of Funko Fusion earlier in the year, especially because it highlighted films you wouldn’t associate with a game, like The Thing and Sean of the Dead. Having gone hands-on with Funko Fusion’s opening and Jurassic World levels, I now know that this game definitely isn’t for me, but is tapping into an energy that a lot of younger gamers who mainly play games like Fortnite can appreciate. And if it can serve as a gateway to films like Nope and Hot Fuzz, is that such a bad thing?
Funko Fusion’s off-kilter, dark sense of humor hits almost immediately. One of the first things players do in the game is save a fox, only to see its skin get melted off shortly thereafter by Eddy, a corrupted version of Funko mascot Freddy. After fighting and killing a giant corrupted Foxxo, players must then set off on a journey to stop him and recover crowns based on popular IP that Funko has crossed over with that have spread across worlds. I appreciated that the dialogue was minimal, like in the classic Lego games.
More importantly, the opening also made me understand that this game is trying to appeal to kids who like edgy, scarier stuff like Five Night at Freddy’s (which is part of the game) rather than being too kid-friendly an adventure. Funko Fusion should also feel familiar to kids who like third-person shooters like Fortnite.
It’s a fairly simple third-person shooter with level objectives that often center around killing a boss or a certain number of enemies, gathering creatures and bringing them to a certain point on a map, or finding batteries to open a door. There are lots of different machines players can use to mold helpful items, like a jump pad, scattered across each level. I know that Funko Fusion will not become my preferred co-op shooter, but if you’re a kid who likes to shoot and build things in Fortnite, then Funko Fusion should definitely be appealing to you.
It’s also a mish-mash of IP like Fortnite. There isn’t much connective tissue between all of the franchise’s features other than the Funko art style. It’s also not a satirical, yet faithful retelling of the films like the early Lego Star Wars games were; the Jurassic World level follows Owen and Claire as they try to save Claire and Eddy. From there, it then lets players explore levels and set pieces that are a sort of “greatest hits” of locales from the Jurassic World film trilogy. There’s not much in the way of a compelling story here, and none of the pantomimed jokes are that funny, but I also understand that this game isn’t aimed at me.
It’s hard for me to get that angry or excited for Funko Fusion, even after playing it, because it’s exactly what I thought it was going in. Its blend of crass adaptation of beloved IP and simple third-person shooting and building gameplay isn’t for me, but it could be for a kid who enjoys running around playing Fortnite as Peter Griffin from Family Guy. And just as the Lego games deepened my love for franchises like Star Wars and how Fortnite has introduced younger players to great franchises like Avatar: The Last Airbender, I can only hope that Funko Fusion elicits some passion or inspiration from kids out there and deepens their love for one of the fantastic franchises featured in it.
Funko Fusion launches for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on September 13 and for PS4 and Nintendo Switch on November 15.
