Fast Fusion review: beautiful and blisteringly fast, this Switch 2 launch game is a hidden gem

Fast Fusion for Switch 2 impresses on two fronts. Firstly, it is a fantastic looking game, perhaps the best way to show off your shiny new Nintendo console to friends. Secondly - and most importantly - it is damn fun to play. (Read our Switch 2 review for a verdict on the new console.)

To put this in context, when a new console like Switch 2 launches with a dearth of exclusive games, the few that are there don't have to put in so much effort to enjoy an initial burst of sales. So it's welcome to see Shin'en Multimedia has gone the extra mile here to wow new Switch 2 owners.

As with the Switch's Fast RMX, the influence that WipEout (RIP) has had on Fast Fusion is immediately apparent. Long, angular antigravity vehicles race at tremendous speed across twisting tracks that sweep through a wide variety of environments, accompanied by a techno soundtrack.

Boost on the ground

The tracks in Fast Fusion exploit a sense of verticality and a variety of angles. One might see you briefly soaring above a forest as you plan or hope to make a safe landing on the next piece of track hundreds of feet below, while another might see you thundering across a wall with a split-second jump just moments ahead.

The futuristic aesthetic is regularly punctuated with bright blue and orange. More than a generic signal of a future plastered with neon, this is a visual language that ties the whole experience together. You can 'phase' your vehicle at the touch of a button, which basically just means switching its lights between these two colours. This is a crucial mechanic, as matching the colour of the boost strips that you'll encounter on the track gives you a brief burst of speed, while a mismatch slows you down significantly. The coins you collect to fill up the boost meter you can use at will also use blue and orange to stand out.

Each track has been painstakingly designed to be challenging but fair. The speeds you'll be travelling, particularly in the third and final Hypersonic league, create a danger of sudden turns and last-minute jumps being unpredictable and brutally unfair. That is absolutely not the case here. Tracks regularly twist and loop like a rollercoaster (albeit one with lengths of the track missing), which serves the dual purpose of being visually arresting, and affording you a glimpse of what's coming up ahead. Those blue and orange lights help you spend that brief second or two preparing, with a subtler shade of yellow used to signify sharper turns and compulsory jumps.

There are 12 tracks, a fair amount for what is a relatively cheap game, but each is so wonderful that I'm left aching for more. There's plenty of visual spectacle. The giant sand whales leaping over a section of track in Vhale Valley impresses me every time, and racing through the legs of a huge mech in Port Genkai is a brief but memorable thrill. The mini tornadoes of Tempesta that hurl me through the air when I get too close, the subdued smoky colours of Chuoku Circuit that evoke an industrial feel… each track has a unique identity.

For a racing game this fast, frame rate is everything. Handheld mode sustains a consistent 60fps at 1080p in performance mode, and playing while docked offers more 60fps options up to full 4K for screens that support it. Both handheld and docked offer a mode with greater graphical quality in exchange for 30fps play, but I strongly advise against this. Slashing the frame rate in half has a devastating effect on immersion.

For FPS sake

Outside of the GP mode, there's still more to do. You can play the empty tracks in time trial, a true test of your skills, as the developer times are pretty unforgiving. Then there's Super Hero mode. This lets you play an individual race of your choice - but you must come first, your boost meter doubles as your health meter, jumping depletes this meter, and one crash means you fail. Apart from that, pretty easy.

Whichever mode you're playing, the 'fusion' side of things proves important at higher difficulties. You can fuse any two vehicles you've unlocked to create a new one. While this results in a vehicle with aesthetics and a company name that meld the two original ones, the main benefit is improved stats (for example, I absorbed a vehicle with maximum boost to improve another that was lacking in that area). There aren't many vehicles, and you can't fuse a previously fused creation, so the system is fairly limited; but it's an interesting mechanic that has noticeable effects.

The biggest downside is what isn't here rather than anything that is. There's local four player splitscreen, and two people can play together with Game Share, which is great; but sadly, there's no online play. If Fast Fusion is successful enough to justify that addition, and online matchmaking appears, it'll rocket from a great game to an essential purchase.