2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Fast Fusion review – anti-gravity racer offers brings 60fps fun to Switch 2
Shin'en Multimedia returns with another excellent, high-speed entry into its anti-gravity racing series, retaining what works with some small appreciated adjustments.
Fast Fusion tears up the anti-gravity track for a fourth time thanks to improved visuals and framerate, which allows you to feel the high-speed thrill of futuristic racing like never before only on Nintendo Switch 2.
It must be the law that whenever a new Nintendo console launches, so too will an anti-gravity racing game developed by Shin'en Multimedia soon after. For four – count them, four! – straight generations now the studio has been on hand to provide fast-paced racing nirvana, first launching its F-Zero and Wipeout inspired series with 2011's Fast Racing League on Wii, followed by Fast Racing Neo on Wii U, and then the simply titled Fast RMX in 2017 on Nintendo Switch.
Fast forward to today and the studio is back (as is tradition) with the equally brilliant Fast Fusion for the Nintendo Switch 2. Surprising absolutely no-one it's yet another stylish futuristic racer that excels in delivering high-speed thrills with little to no frills – this time complete with a fresh new fusion mechanic.
Anyone familiar with the series up until this point will feel right at home with Fast Fusion. You work your way through a series of three-circuit tournaments while trying to stay on the track racing a high-powered anti-gravity racing machine. With the ability to drive into orbs that enable you to engage a boost to let you race even faster, it's a clear harken back to the days when minimalist racers dominated the early 3D era of racers using stripped-back control schemes and super sleek aesthetic design.
Given Nintendo itself hasn't released a proper console F-Zero game since 2003's GX, Shin'en Multimedia's continued attempts at recapturing this style of racer have been forever welcome.
Doubly so on the Nintendo Switch 2 with Fast Fusion, it turns out, since for the very first time I got the sense while playing that this is the first proper Fast series entry to not have to compromise due to old hardware or technical limitation. The extra oomph in horsepower the new hybrid console provides is immediately noticeable upon firing up this latest anti-gravity racer, where playing in handheld mode means getting to enjoy silky smooth 60fps at 1080p, with the resolution increasing to 4K when played on the big screen.
Such a difference in framerate and resolution truly benefits Fast Fusion, since the sense of speed feels the fastest and smoothest it has ever been. Even outside of technical performance, however, Fast Fusion brings the heat with a great selection of varied track designs and environmental course themes. While it's a tad disappointing to know that there's only 12 tracks in total to race on (less than half of what's available in Mario Kart World) all excel in making every bend, corner, and chicane matter.
One thing that always surprised me the more I explored Fast Fusion's racing delights was the sense of weight these hulking, metal vehicles offer. Leaping into the air in search of more boost orbs or coins only to come crashing down onto the track feels satisfyingly hefty, giving races a sense of drama and intensity other indie racers could only dream of.
Need for speed
Speaking honestly, most of what Fast Fusion does well are elements that Shin'en Multimedia has already executed pretty perfectly with previous entries. Finding sly shortcuts by venturing off track early, engaging boosts at the correct time, and switching between blue and red modes to take advantage of on-track boost strips are all present and accounted for again.
It's really only the new hyper jump ability that forces you to consider your actions on the track slightly more strategically. However, the number of vehicles you can pilot has been stepped up thanks to the new titular mechanic, which genuinely does bring a new level of excitement to the same familiar yet fun high-speed races.
At any point in between tournaments you can visit the Fusion shop to not just unlock new vehicles boasting different, better stats using any money earned, but fuse any two of them together also. As such, while picking two higher-tier vehicles for fusion might see them taken off the track, it often leads to more powerful vehicles with increased speed, acceleration, and boost to become available in your racing roster.
Competing without these beasts in the early hours works perfectly fine to maintain your lead in races across icescapes, neon cities, and abandoned woodland, but eventually new fusion vehicles become essential to hold your own in tournaments played on the toughest difficulty level.
Thankfully, Fast Fusion encourages plenty of experimentation with its fusion mechanic thanks to the ability to break a vehicle back into two for a small cost. I didn't need to rely on this too much, however, since the game always provides a handy rating to indicate the kind of quality the outcome vehicle will be following fusion, although its exact properties are kept a mystery up until after.
Overall, the fusion mechanic isn't significantly game-changing in terms of the way you should approach races on the track, but it does add another string to the bow of this already stylish racing package that makes for a good deal of personalisation that wasn't there before. To the extent that I'll be gutted if the mechanic doesn't return in the hypothetical Nintendo Switch 3's eventual instalment.
Fast Fusion isn't too dissimilar to what's come before in the series, yet this hasn't stopped Shin'en Multimedia from nipping and tucking its anti-gravity racing formula marginally to find ways that make it more even more exciting but still pure. Careening around bends and clashing into rival vehicles is still as intensely thrilling as it has been for over 10 years.
However, thanks to improved visuals and framerate that do real justice to the franchise's futuristic inclinations, the new hyper jump ability, and the surprisingly flexible fusion mechanic, racing through stylish circuits at a fast pace has been given additional depth and dimensions.
