[Shelltoon]

Here is one person's impressions from another forum I go to.

Cartoon Network is working on an MMO called "Fusion Fall". The lead designer worked on SWG in the old days, and I had a chance to talk to him. (I guess he isn't much of a Sony fan anymore...)

The premise of the game is a bit on the silly side (Earth's about to be assimilated by some weird blob of planets that have crashed into each other) and it shows a lot of *obvious* Toontown inspiration (the devs are apparently huge fans), but I got to try a gameplay demo, and I have to say that the work these guys have done is amazing, and the game will be smooth and enjoyable. It is skill based, and skills are based on collecting "nanos" (chibi versions of CN characters that float above your head). Each Nano has a spell or attack that will help you, but you can only take three with you at a time. This puts you in a position of having to choose a total of three skills, depending on if you want to solo, take down a major dungeon with a group, etc.

Nanos are mostly heals, buffs, and debuffs though. The vast majority of combat is done with either a ranged or melee weapon, and combat is fast and fluid.

The *real* CN characters send you off on storyline-based missions, of which there are apparently quite a bit. You can do missions for either good or evil characters (which will reward you with good or evil Nanos), and you can play both sides if you wish. The premise of the game involves the fact that evil characters aren't exactly immune to Earth getting sucked into a mass of planets either, so no matter which faction you lean towards, you're helping save the day.

Furthermore, a lot of equipment and collectible items in the show are artifacts and/or outfits from assorted CN shows. (For example, a Plumber suit and a Null Void Projector, or that bowl of "tangelos" that Billy once wore on his head.)

The game is *very* twitchy, uses the standard WASD control scheme, plays quite a bit like Phantasy Star Universe (I apparently wasn't the first to tell them this. Ironically, the devs have never played!) and...oh yeah, Grim will turn up when you die.

PvP is still in conceptual stages (they haven't finalized whether they're even going to do it), but I can easily see it done with the combat system. With the controls and gameplay, it would likely be as frantic as playing Halo!