Upland: Fusion Force (Video Game)

**Upland: Fusion Force** is an action/adventure game based on the film of the same name, developed by Sumo Digital and published by Outright Games. The game was released on 15 November 2022 in North America and 18 November 2022 in Europe for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, iOS, and Android, and on 29 November 2022 in North America and 9 December 2022 in Europe for Nintendo Switch.

## Gameplay

Combat mechanics have been compared to the hack and slash genre with melee characters using many combos built on light attacks, heavy attacks, and super strikes, along with gunners having an over-the-shoulder camera and cover system akin to the *Uncharted* series. The game features drop-in/drop-out cooperative play for up to four players locally and eight players online, in addition to a levelling system that allows the player to unlock better attacks and special team moves.

## Release

A similar trigger warning to the film is presented alongside the seizure warning and requires acknowledgement through holding a button before the game can be played, stating "This video game based on a fictional animated film includes sequences of gun violence in a school zone that may be upsetting for players in the wake of the Uvalde elementary school shooting." Comparable trigger warnings were also included in Venture: Crusades, Comedenti: The Condemned, and Comedenti: Preemptive Strike, in addition to the film Upland: Fusion Force and the HBO Max version of Vepturegeng.

## Reception

The game received mixed reviews from critics with Metacritic giving it a 63/100 for the Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S versions and a 68/100 for the Nintendo Switch version.

## Common Sense Media

* age: 15+
* Quality: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
* Summary: Heroes wield guns in a school in pervasively bloody, violent action RPG.
* Review: Parents need to know that Upland: Fusion Force is based on the film of the same name, starring fighters such has Dillon and cat-girl Tora who combat Eyeangle (a Neo-Nazi) and his militia of dark, ghostly horror monsters and armed soldiers. Tora and co spend the whole game running around schools with guns in their hands, shooting and exploding away at the villains— this game could easily destroy teens' images of what heroism is. As the game progresses teens and up will kill millions of hostile characters with many guns, other weaponry, and dark magic with blood and a little gore, so while the good guys don’t battle children, the fighting is pervasive and strong. There is nothing else to do in the game except combat, aside from figuring out its maze-like levels, but the mechanics more than make up for it.
* Positive Messages: This game implies that heroes are complex, violent vigilantes who are justified in pervasively killing other people on the grounds that they're a Nazi army; the player's characters spend the whole game speeding around with guns, shooting and exploding at hostile characters in school zones. The game could easily if not almost certainly mar teens' image of what real heroes, no less decent human beings, are.
* Positive Role Models: The heroes are mostly decent, honorable figures, but they kill countless more people than you'd probably prefer, with their only solution being to kill more Neo-Nazis whether they're breaking children out of cages, saving families from becoming the horrifying monsters' dinner, or even just unlocking a new transportation spot.
* Diverse Representations: Aside from the loads of fantasy beasts at your disposal, players can only control white people and an Asian woman who spends the whole game as a half-cat with ears and a tail. Acknowledgement of Emily's coming out subplot and her budding relationship with Kylie is admirable but the game lacks the film's explanation as to why the two trans characters turn into cannibalistic demons. As a game where your characters almost never interact with anyone else aside from mowing down an army of Neo Nazis and nightmare creatures, there is little other diversity of note.
* Violence & Scariness: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The game's good guys wield many guns and other weaponry, including spiked baseball bats, ninja swords, and different kinds of dark magic, as they defeat smoking, dark horror monsters of countless forms, including zombie horses, corpses with insect attributes, and human troopers. While the gore is limited to non-human characters and innocents can’t be killed, the battles are pervasive with blood and screaming out in pain; killing is the only thing players do in this game, including in a school zone.
* Sex, Romance, and Nudity: Cutscenes recreate Tora kissing Dillon and Emily kissing Kylie in the film, but no further romance is present.
* Language: While a Neo Nazi militia is the main enemy, hate speech is considerably dialed back relative to the films; that being said, "crap," "damn," and "hell" are present in some voicelines.
* Products and Purchases: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ This game is a consumerist tie-in with the film of the same name and also has paid DLC for playable characters from the previous films.
* Drinking, Drugs, and Smoking: The "Drunkard" character from Upland: Ogres is playable as paid DLC, but it's never confirmed if the elixirs he excessively drinks to turn into a behemoth in this game are alcoholic or not.

### Is It Any Good?

Upland: Fusion Force is a dungeon crawler, save that the gun-toting Dillon, Tora, Emily, and Upland Warriors most people don't care about are being used in place of the generic elves, dwarves, and wizards. It probably seems like a minor difference, but it feels substantial when playing; seeing anime cat-girl Tora pouncing around and shooting away at scary monsters with dual-held machine guns, splattering blood all over a school isn't a concept that's safe for life.

Plot and characters aside, the game is great, with the labyrinthine levels testing navigation and there being countless items to collect and tasks to complete (children that you need to save from cages, innocents that you have to prevent villains from killing, etc.). Not to mention the game's easy, intuitive leveling-up system, complete with growing attribute stats, unlockable superpowers, and skill-changing blood rubies give you a great reason to keep playing, which are a bit simple, but amazing for newcomers to the dungeon crawler genre. It just sucks that school shooters are the characters whose attacks you are leveling up, that is just plain sick.

### What's It About?

Based on the Sony Pictures Animation film, UPLAND: FUSION FORCE is a hack and slash/third person shooter action game starring Dillon, Tora, Emily, her girlfriend, and the Upland Warriors in a war on Eyeangle, the Neo Nazi from the films and his militia of shadowy horror monsters and human soldiers. The heroes, as they want to call themselves, get power against the beasts from the resolve of their community-- they have to battle for noncombatants' faith in them by using guns, explosives, and black magic to kill the smoking abominations infesting their houses and schools. Up to eight players can play together at the same time, with single players having the ability to change between characters at will, with every vigilante slowly leveling up, getting new superpowers and attacks as they kill the villains.

### Talk to Your Kids About...

* Parents can talk about violence and gore in games; what is too much for your family? Do you know when to pull back from things that will be too horrifying for them? What signs do you watch for in deciding whether something will be too intense or graphic?
* Families can also discuss our evolving perceptions of what a hero is; what do you think of a game or film portraying gun-wielding vigilantes in a school as superheroes? In what ways would it alter your thoughts about what a hero is and what they represent?

## ESRB Rating

* Platforms: Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S
* Rating Descriptors: Blood & Gore, Crude Humor, Violence
* Rating Summary: This is an action-adventure/third-person shooter game in which players assume the roles of many Upland characters (e.g. humans, fantasy monsters) who must stop an evil supervillain from destroying the world. From a third-person perspective, players explore towns, schools, and fantasy worlds as they use many weapons (e.g., machine guns, explosives, pistols, spiked baseball bats) and elemental attacks (e.g. fire, water, black magic) to kill waves of human soldiers and “demon” monsters that resemble zombies, insects, giant wolves, and snakes. The intense and frenetic combat is accompanied by impact sounds, cries of pain, large explosions, realistic gunfire and blood effects; enemies collapse to the ground and dissolve into blood when their health meter is depleted. Over the course of the game, players can mount machine gun and missile launcher turrets that shoot bullets and rockets at flying vehicles, machines, and ground targets. Gore is also depicted in the game; a zombie with bloody appendages ripping out of his eye and body; some enemies (e.g. bug creatures, fish people, zombies) burst into pieces when killed. Crude humor is present during the course of the game; characters flatulating loudly, playable characters using flatulence and vomit attacks on enemies; the option to have a defecating sound play whenever characters jump or attack.