We sit down and review Funko Fusion. A new and twisted way to play with your Funko POP!s in the world. Here is our review of Funko Fusion
We have had a whole lot to look at for Funko Fusion and the game has finally made its way out to all of those platforms it set out for, so now we are here to offer up our full review of the game. One that we were insanely hyped for when it was first announced at SDCC a long while ago, and then with all of the other events and showcases that 10:10 Games has placed out there. Now that we can all play Funko Fusion on the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and PC, it is time to offer our thoughts after all of the gameplay we have shared with you up to now. Gameplay you can watch and see some of the game’s faults as well as its perks. So, here we go with that final review of it all out there to get you ready for this holiday season.
Story
There are a few stories out there for Funko Fusion as it revolves around various IPs that the toys are from, but we will not touch on those. Instead, the main story is about Funko Freddy going about his normal days and business trying to get as many of the others out there for us to have fun with. Well, an evil goo manifests and brings from Eddy Funko, a twisted version of the “king” of it all who is hellbent on bringing down this empire one IP at a time. We are then tasked with heading out to the various worlds out there, reliving the stories of those IPs, and reclaiming the crown for Freddy. Maybe make a few more friends along the way.
Funko Fusion — Review
Hated
Sadly, one of the things that felt like could be a shining grace in Funko Fusion when compared to other titles like it, the gameplay gets repetitive rather quickly. That is, we go around, smash a bunch of things, loot, shoot things, and maybe build a few items along the way. Quite a bit like the many LEGO titles out there only with massive sections of maps locked off if you have not unlocked specific characters in the game. It is nice to have that kind of forced replay value, sure, but in some cases, it is not little parts of the map or level that are not accessible. So, early on in Funko Fusion you find yourself repeating the same actions many times until you can open up the other places in the game. In some levels, it is a complete hallway walkthrough with barred doors everywhere until you complete a good portion of the game, and when you have to keep smashing things to push a story forward, it can get a little boring.
On top of that, while the Funko Fusion lineup is rather stacked for characters, it feels like so many of them are underused or made completely pointless even in their own worlds. Some, sure have fun abilities to play with and are not even the star of the IP, but so many others are just so basic that you will unlock them, but then never want to play with them again. For instance, in the Hot Fuzz story of the game, you get access to the whole squad but Nicolas was the only one I ever played with. Even then, I would only swap out for the specific characters that offer up a skill I needed, like fire or lasers, and then swap back. If I was not just playing as one character not from specific IPs the whole time. All because I enjoyed that character and the others did nothing for me. Imagine getting to play all of Jurassic World as Number 5 with no consequences at all. A weird option to go with in the game’s design.
Lastly, as it was the biggest gripe I did have with Funko Fusion, is the inventory and item use system in the game. First, it was always so clunky to mess around with in the game between selecting and using the items I might want. Second, if it was not a healing item in the game, I generally did not use them at all unless it was for a very specific instance the story required. This was odd, as there is a whole progression system to unlock them and a cost to grab the different “sodas” during play, but I always forgot about all of those until I had to drop them to pick up another health potion. It was almost as if the team for Funko Fusion had a grander idea for them to be used, but then something had to hit the cutting room floor, and their true use was lost. Along with the extra weapons, that I only ever had to use once as to gain access to a location you had to use a character that could not shoot lasers, but to unlock the area you needed lasers. Something that could only be done with the crafting system. Again, I only had to do that once in the full game.
Funko Fusion — Review
Loved
So, right out the gate for Funko Fusion, I have to give it praise as it gave me something I had always wished I would have had in a LEGO title. That being there are more grown-up IPs and content in the mix. Even in the other one, when they dive into the more mature stuff, it is lowered down to a child-friendly level. Funko Fusion did that to an extent, but also did not shy away from human characters having blood come out or some of the other darker elements from the source IP. Could you imagine The Thing as a family-friendly event? No, and it was not that way in the game here. A solid swing and hits it out of the park for those who grew up with a similar kind of game but have been looking for a more mature version of it all. That you get in spades in this game, even if there is still some of that low-level slapstick humor, it hits perfectly in the mix but also makes sure we are not taken out of some of the events in the game. Massive kudos for walking that line.
Next, while I ragged on it a bit, the characters that feel important in Funko Fusion actually are a whole lot of fun to play with and can also lead to more fun in figuring out how to use their abilities in fun new ways. Like being able to teleport with Number 5 or use Scott Pilgrim’s amps to float over to the same location; things like that where there can be a specific path to take, but also creative ways to work around it. This goes over to other characters in Funko Fusion who also don’t have specific abilities but have stats that can be helpful. Like Blue the Raptor being one of the faster options in the game being tapped to outrun certain things easier when it was originally set up for a slower character to have to use their abilities to get around quickly. This worked so well for the game and even though they were few, they were always fun to tap in and get jobs done or even just play around further with them.
Finally, I will have to say that even though Funko Fusion did feel a bit repetitive at times, there were a bunch of other puzzles and a coziness about the game that still pulled me back into it all even when I thought I was done. Even if I was reliving out stories I have seen and heard so many times before too. I just kept wanting to come back and solve the mysteries and unlock all of the little extras out there too. Sometimes it was finding those hidden paths that the 10:10 Games had hidden in the world and other times it was finding unique solutions only to find the easier one later. I may have tried to put things in the path to slow Knight Rider down instead of just going with a fair race. That said, Funko Fusion offered up a lot of fun when I went looking for it. Once I could ignore the hand-holding parts and just be free to explore, I will say the game shined once more like the golden crowns we had to find and unlock along the way too.
Funko Fusion — Review
Overview
In Funko Fusion going to be a title for everyone? Certainly not, but it is going to be a title for those who grew up playing the LEGO games and want something a bit more mature to play with. It would be nice to have more characters that seem to matter in the mix, but I understand some of the limitations. The design of the game is there to allow for many more worlds, cameo characters, and other full characters to be added in, so that could be coming to keep it growing even further down the line. Just know that the base gameplay loop is going to be the same thing over and over until you get most of the way through Funko Fusion and unlock many other characters and tools to use. It is not a hard pass from us at all, but know what you are getting into and it will be a fun experience for quite a few hours. I know it sucked up a whole lot of our time once we started to dig deeper into it all.
I give Funko Fusion 28 Golden Crowns on the Golden Crown scale.
Funko Fusion was developed and published by 10:10 Games for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on September 13th, 2024, and the PS4 and Switch on November 11th, 2024. A PlayStation copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.