Hudson is probably best known as the group behind the latter titles in the successful Mario Party series, so it was probably sound reasoning that Microsoft would want to tap this development studio to create the perfect party game for the Xbox 360. The problem is that this dog don't hunt. Fusion Frenzy 2 is a decent enough game but Mario Party caliber it is not. We'll get into the particulars in a minute but the short answer is Fusion Frenzy 2 doesn't live up to its considerable post release hype.

The premise of the game is that you are one of five contestants on an intergalactic gameshow that is played out across five varied and vastly different themed planets. These planets include a mechanical world, a fire world, a water world, an ice world, and so and so forth. Each of these worlds offer a metric ton of mini-game to compete in, with the idea being that you play a series of match-ups to earn points. These points are tallied at the end of each bout and the one with the most at the end of the battle series is declared the winner of that planet. To win a tournament you'll have to win anywhere from two to five planets to be proclaimed the ultimate winner.

The most interesting and core parts of gameplay are the mini-games, which offer a lot of variety, fun and sometimes frustration. In the straight no-nonsense tournament mode these are chosen by the announcer, who has to be the worst in-game personality ever conceived. Hudson seems to have a real problem in their last few games creating compelling characters, and Fusion Frenzy 2 is no exception to that fact. The characters, which you'll choose when you begin a tournament, are all pretty much just skins with a few different animations and sound bytes to bleat out and perform as you play through the game - there's no real difference between them that's really very noticeable.

Ultimately it doesn't matter - you'll pick who you like and jump right into the action. You'll start out on one of the themed planets and have a mini-game chosen for you by the MC. Before you start each game you'll get a screen explaining how to play the mini-game in question, along with the option to jump right in or take a practice run. Oddly enough I had more luck just jumping in than practicing with a lot of these mini-games...

The real strength of Fusion Frenzy 2 is the number of mini-games and the shear amount of variation that they offer. No two mini-games are alike in Fusion Frenzy 2, and most -- but not all -- are fun. These mini-games range from smashing each other with hammers in a clearly action focused event to button combination matching against AI controlled opponents. The action is fun and because there are so many different games to choose from, you'll get a real sense of being challenged on each planet. Fusion Frenzy 2 feels like a next-generation rehash of the earlier Mario Party games without all of goofy and cool Mario stuff. Luckily the game doesn't feature the same crapshoot luck-based gameplay of chance you get with Hudson's latest work on the GameCube.

The other element which does play a serious role in scoring are cards. Cards are given out as rewards between rounds by the host of the show and do things like nullify the affects of your opponent's cards, multiply your score in a round by a certain number or allow you or an opponent the option of choosing the next mini-game or world. The cards are really great if you win a mini-game and no one plays a card to counter your affects, but really don't have much of an impact if you do badly.

As you play through the single-player tournament style game mode you'll unlock mini-games that can then be played in quick style matches and in multiplayer. The quick matches are great if you just want to play some quick mini-games without all the hassles (like the awful presentation). Like the tournament mode you can select the AI setting of your opponents but you can also set the way points are handed out to change how fast or how long a given game session is going to last. Fans of a particular mini-game will appreciate the unfettered nature of these modes for sure, but hands down the best part of Fusion Frenzy 2 is its support for multiplayer. Party games are meant to be played by groups of people and Fusion Frenzy 2 certainly serves up plenty of action both online and in your living room. Because the way the action is set up the game is perfect for battling against your friends and family on the couch or across the world. Kudos to Hudson for doing this part of the game right.