Starfire Studios, made up of four veterans from the Microsoft owned Rare studio, has finally shown off their very first game in Fusion: Genesis a top-down twin-stick shooter for XBLA. I know you’ve probably read about a hundred other twin-stick shooters before now, but really, Fusion: Genesis is attempting to do something quite different.

According to Eurogamer, who has a lengthy preview, while the game looks and, in some ways, acts like a traditional top-down twin stick it is actually “a labyrinth of systems that make it play out like an MMO.” What they mean by this is the game is open ended. There are no set levels. You’ll be able to fly around, pick up new missions, etc. and continue on your merry way.

The game is shipping with around 100 different player ships for you to choose from, each of which is customizable and upgradeable. There are also six different factions to choose from which will open up new story arcs, updates, weapons, ships etc.

And for those of you wondering about multiplayer. You better believe it’s in there. Starfire has gone ahead and added in a 4-player co-op mode where players can simply jump in and help each other in the single player campaign, which takes about 16 hours to complete. The PVP system gets even more complex tying in various other players working for and against other factions to fight against you.

Really this is one of the most impressive and ambitious XBLA games I’ve seen in a long, long time. While Starfire Studios is only 4 people large, they have certainly concocted something epic in size. And I, for one, can’t wait to play it.

The Starfire Studios guys are also currently creating a WP7 tie-in game called Fusion: Sentient.

[Starfire Studios]

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