Overstrike Ditches the Humor and Personality, Becomes Fuse

Overstrike circa Summer 2011

During E3 2011, a game called Overstrike was announced via non-gameplay trailer. While details never really surfaced, we were able to surmise that Overstrike had something to do with a team of super-spies, dripping with personality, kicking all kinds of ass amidst colorful backdrops; think Team Fortress 2 meets Borderlands. Nary a shred of information regarding Overstrike released from that day until now. Unfortunately, humor and personality doesn't sell games, or so some of these companies think.

Overstrike has been cannibalized into Fuse, a shell of its former self that puts the focus on third-person shooting action and completely strips every endearing part of the source material. Insomniac Games what the fuck are you thinking? You've taken a new IP that had tons of buzz and made it a grey-brown shoot-and-snore fest. Oh but you can use different types of ammo and work as a team of four players! And what? That's nothing we haven't seen before, in fact it's something we see almost every damn day. Witty dialogue, colorful locales, characters with real personality and a sense of humor? Something gamers rarely see. So what happened? Did the boys at EA drop the hammer on your mockups, squeezing out every inch of life to fit their standards? 

Obviously, I'm pissed off about this. Feels like I just finished playing Inversion, one of the most lifeless games I've played in a while, but it looks like Fuse is challenging for that title. Take a look at the Overstrike trailer above and the Fuse trailer below and tell me: do you think these changes have been made for the better?