Diving into a Fortnite match is always an otherworldly experience, as any round of this battle royale titan could feature Lando Calrissian, Spider-Man, Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock from Venom, RoboCop, Ellen Ripley from Alien, the Joker, wrestler John Cena, and pop star Lady Gaga. These are just the skins my friends and I use. In this way, Fortnite comes close to the online world imagined in Ready Player One. Watching Deadpool, the Xenomorph from Alien, Geralt from The Witcher, and Will Smith as Mike Lowrey from Bad Boys dance to NSYNC is hilariously absurd. There's a childish joy in seeing random characters mix and match, forming a rock band or riding a cartoon train between firefights. It's a simple joke that never seems to grow stale.
However, playing Fortnite also feels somewhat distasteful. It's a melting pot of corporate interests—more about collecting Intellectual Property than celebrating characters and stories. As corporations increasingly own media, we see more of that Ready Player One mishmash of pop culture references, stripped of soul. Fortnite is a prime example but not the only one. You can play as Nikki Minaj and shoot Paul Atreides from Dune in Call of Duty. You can beat up Bugs Bunny as Batman in MultiVersus. You can ride a Ghostbusters-inspired speeder bike in Destiny 2. In these cases, characters appear but add little to the game.
Funko Fusion, a third-person action game, offers a different approach. It features levels inspired by various IPs, similar to Lego games. Despite not being a Funko fan, I found myself drawn to the game. What I find charming about Funko Fusion is its oddness. It includes levels based on Universal movies and TV shows, some expected like Jurassic World and Masters of the Universe, and others surprising like Hot Fuzz, The Umbrella Academy, Battlestar Galactica, and The Thing. There are secret levels and characters referencing diverse media. Funko Fusion's eclectic choices intrigue me, making me nostalgic for the 1990s, a time before corporate IP blending was common.
During the 1990s, tie-in games were prevalent. Everything from Judge Dredd to Home Alone had a video game. While most were cynical cash-grabs, some were exciting, like Enter the Matrix and GoldenEye. Funko Fusion's level based on Nope is cool for its execution, as such diverse media in games is rare. I hope Funko Fusion leads to more games exploring ignored licenses and their stories. In a world dominated by corporate IP, we should at least get some unique games.
