Funko Fusion Review (PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, & PC)

Collecting Funko Pop! Vinyl Figures has been a guilty pleasure for many. Even though some gamers won’t admit it, there’s something about collecting figurines and bobbleheads. Trust me, I should know. Anyway, you probably were among the fans who played the Funko board games. And although the tabletop’s momentum has died down, 1010 Games is hoisting the franchises’ flag again, this time in the third-person action-adventure genre.

Breaking the mold in a new genre is always a tricky endeavor, and a lot of eyes are fixated on 1010 Games to deliver a stellar gaming experience. After all, the premise is promising: merging the worlds of several licensed movies, TV series, games, and comics and representing their pop-culture characters as Funko Pop! Vinyl Figures. What could go wrong? Quite a ton, it turns out. But before getting ahead of myself here, read on for the deep dive of our Funko Fusion review.

Sibling Rivalry

As much as Funko Fusion is a mash-up of several iconic movies, TV series, games, and comics and represents fan-favorite characters from these media, the game has a stand-alone story. Granted, the plot isn’t the most profound, with the player starting in the Funko factory, where the manager, Freddy Funko, and his evil twin, Eddy Funko, are at each other’s throats. 

Villain Eddy steals protagonist Freddy’s crown, scattering its pieces across seven worlds. The worlds are adaptations of some of the most popular media: Hot Fuzz, The Thing, Jurassic World, Battlestar Galactica, Umbrella Academy, Masters of the Universe, and Scott Pilgrim. And so, your journey begins, jumping from one world to another, completing objectives that may include killing a certain number of enemies, collecting valuable items, etc. 

Dip in Nostalgia

Ideally, you want to tackle one world at a time, at least in the beginning. You can start with one world, relatively linear, and complete the objectives at hand. Each world allows you to choose one of four characters. Hot Fuzz has Funko Pop! Nicholas Angel, an elite London police officer who investigates gruesome deaths.

Even though the protagonist in Funko Fusion is Freddy Funko, he takes a bit of a backseat and lets Nicholas Angel steal the spotlight. No complaints here, though, as playing as some of your fan-favorite characters is a blast. In time, you’ll play Nick Frost, Timothy Dalton, and other popular characters from Hot Fuzz. And then you’ll move on to The Thing, Jurassic World, and so on and so forth. 

The joy of crossover games is when nostalgia strikes, thanks to the recreation of a beloved scene. It feels incredible to witness the personalities of your favorite characters come to life. Each universe contains several references and tidbits of information from the movies, games, and comics on which it’s based. 

You’ll definitely spot a ton of familiar scenes, from using scanners to find clues and investigating a murder in Hot Fuzz to He-Man fighting raptors in Jurassic World. In that aspect, Funko Fusion does its utmost to please. It remains faithful to its source material, ensuring that its inspirations are clear and appreciated.

LEGOs, But Funko Fusion

In retrospect, Funko Fusion plays a lot like LEGO Star Wars. Just as the LEGOs are mute, so are the Funko Pop! Vinyl Figures. For the most part, the environments and actions speak for themselves. Still, LEGO games do such a fantastic job of capturing the authenticity and humor of popular references that Funko Fusion, unfortunately, falls short of. 

Something feels off in the way the stories of the seven worlds are told. They don’t quite stick the landing as they do in their source material. Perhaps it’s the disconnect between Freddy Funk and Eddy Funk’s story and that of the universes you explore. They feel like two sides of a coin, with little to connect Freddy Funk’s hunt for the crown pieces and the events unraveling in the worlds you explore. 

Completionists Rule

For what it’s worth, though, Funko Fusion is steeped in immense content variety. It’s incredible how the game features over 20 licensed franchises. While only seven franchises have been crafted into a fully-fledged universe, the remaining ones remain locked away as Cameos. You never know which Cameo you’re going to unlock from each world. So, the sensible thing is to play through all of them to unlock all the franchises. 

That means that you have to explore all seven worlds thoroughly to find the Cameos. And I wish the actual gameplay was that straightforward. As you’ll soon find out, the Cameos have requirements you must meet to unlock them. Some require you to unlock certain characters who can only be accessed by completing a different world. Others require certain collectibles or weapons from another world. The more you play, the more you’ll realize that a good chunk of your time is spent backtracking.

Funko Fusion is simply tied to the completionist rule. Completing the seven worlds unlocks new characters. However, within those worlds are hidden franchises that require you to bounce between different worlds to collect all the items you need. The items are often spread out across worlds, so much so that they can begin to grow repetitive. 

On the other hand, you’ll unlock over 60 characters by the end of your run-through, and for completionists, that can be a source of pleasure. Funko Fusion isn’t without its immense content variety. The question is, how willing are you to pace back and forth in search of all the items you need to achieve 100% completion? 

Big Heads

You could argue that combat can keep you interested through to achieving 100% completion. However, Funko Fusion’s combat isn’t the best. It’s a mix of melee and ranged from an over-the-shoulder perspective. Melee can be comical and very joyous. Some of the weapons you’ll be using to smack enemies in the head are simply humorous. But ranged can be too easy. The aim assist is extremely generous, and often, you lean on mindless shooting to survive. 

Soon, the enemies flood before you in hordes and, all along, call for the same tactics that eventually get tiresome. The silver lining, though, is that characters’ skills and abilities vary. You can unlock Adam (He-Man) from Masters of the Universe, for instance, who can wield a lightning-powered sword, or Alison from The Umbrella Academy, who can convince others to do her bidding. And for good measure, with Funko Pop! Vinyl Figures’ big heads, taking headshots can be a sweet thrill. 

You won’t just be fighting enemies, though. Each world tries to vary its objectives such that you’re engaged in more exploration in some worlds and more combat in others. As a result, traversing the worlds brings a fresh experience. And if you enjoy collecting vinyl, you can have a blast chasing after every collectible hidden in the universes.

From time to time, you can also stumble upon puzzles. They vary, too, from environmental puzzles that simply need you to wander around until you find the solution to actual brain teasers. Still, they are never too complex to cause a headache. Plus, you can always choose to move on to the next thing if it’s taking too long to figure the solution out. 

If You Choose

In fact, plenty of the Cameo levels and quests are optional. So you don’t have to endure the pain of backtracking to unlock that specific ability or item needed to access Cameo levels and quests. You can forego them altogether and still enjoy a good time. However, the Cameo levels and quests do have some juicy content that may be worth chasing. You may find iconic moments from franchises like Jaws, NOPE, and Back To The Future. If only the process of unlocking optional content weren’t as tedious, perhaps every gamer would have the incentive to reach 100%.

Funko Fusion would have been perfect for co-op or competitive multiplayer. However, the online co-op feature has unfortunately slipped into October 2024. Moreover, the upcoming content update will only allow players to play in the Jurassic World universe. It’s shocking that we’ll have to wait longer to team up in all the worlds on offer. But at least for consolation, 1010 Games promises to release free bonus characters and outfits as well, albeit in a series of updates.

Verdict

Funko Fusion is very much a replayable game, specially curated for gamers who enjoy checking off every single item on a checklist. It starts off with completing seven worlds, which faithfully adapt beloved franchises. Afterward, you have the option to reach 100% and unlock over 20 franchises tucked away in the universes. The game follows in the footsteps of LEGO games, adapting references and tidbits of iconic scenes in the story. 

However, Funko Fusion video game may have placed too much focus on nostalgia. It disregards the main story revolving around Freddy Funk and his evil twin, Eddy Funk. You lose the trajectory of the supposedly main protagonist and end up diverting your attention to the numerous universes you explore.