When I previewed "Fuser" in June, it was the freestyle mode that I enjoyed the most. Creating a wicked fusion of Smash Mouth's "All Star" and Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" was the highlight of my playing time. I knew that the complete version released a few months later would draw me back to the relaxed, charming call of Freestyle Crowd, who happened to like everything I made (even my worst abominations).

That changed when I dove into the 10-hour campaign. After learning about pickups, setting the right BPM, the importance of cueing discs, creating snappy loops, and carefully constructing the perfect four-disc drop, I realized that there was more to learn than just slapping discs together as you please.Fuser is a music game with depth, and while I'd love to immerse myself in the freestyle comfort of a crowd cheering for anything, the campaign mode is where the game's exhilarating exuberance can be experienced.

Fuser is a DJ simulator that mixes music on the fly. You select various samples from a track list, drop a disc on the deck in time with the music, and pray that the mix works. Each song consists of four color-coded components: blue for drums, green for bass or synths, yellow for lead instruments, and red for vocals. You can choose the elements of the song you want to mix, for example, picking out a thrashing guitar riff from The Clash's "Rock the Casbah" and assigning it to one of the four turntables mapped to the A, S, D, and F keys.

With a playlist of 100 songs, finding a musical match may seem almost impossible, but Fuser skillfully blends each selected sample; Harmonix's mixing technology is as impressive as that of DropMix, and the genre of the chosen song, No matter how different the genre, tempo, or musical key of the chosen songs, Fuser easily transforms each song to match the others. Not every mix will be a masterpiece, and often it sounds like the disc is going through a shredder, but when it works, you will be enveloped in a harmonic euphoria.

Finding that sweet spot is what Fuser is all about, and it feels great when you come across a great mix. Playing as an unknown DJ, you will have to prove your mixing skills by headlining gigs at a variety of venues. Each venue has eccentric music producers who specialize in a particular genre of music, and you need to show them your skills before moving on to the next venue.

It takes more than just dropping a disc at the right time to impress the EDM giants. Each time they do, a new skill is introduced, which can be mastered and added to the disc jockey's repertoire. In a way, the campaign is like one long tutorial, but instead of endlessly reading menus, it is integrated into the performance. You learn new skills almost to the end of the campaign, and I always looked forward to seeing what new dynamic elements I would learn next.

Every skill improves your music, whether it's dropping a disc for the perfect pickup, making a smooth transition from one disc to another, or (my favorite) reserving and dropping four discs at once. There are also options like choosing the ideal key and tempo for the song you are currently playing, or completely remixing everything with a decorative twist.

The success of a concert depends on how many points you can score by completing time-limited mini-goals during the set. Tasks can include fading out discs, dropping songs from the 2000s, and creating loops, all while keeping up with the rhythm of the music. Audience members may also call out requests during the set, which, if completed, will increase the overall score of the performance. [0 points] [1 point] I understand Fuser's desire to use a point system to determine DJ skills, but some of the tasks the game throws at you can be a bit of a drain on your flow. I like the challenge of switching mixes quickly, and most of the time I found these tasks to be fun, such as adding Rick Astley to a Latin pop fusion. However, when the audience shouted that they specifically wanted the vocals from Coldplay's "Clock" to score me more points, I found myself deliberately missing them in order to stay in my groove. It's counter-intuitive, but thankfully the fuser's scoring calculations are forgiving, and after a few on-beat disc drops, you can get back in the groove.

While it may sound like a fuser's campaign is all about scoring points, the campaign is so much more than that. When you start playing fuser, it is tempting to use all four discs at the same time, spinning all four cylinders at full speed, switching discs as quickly as possible and earning cheesy cheers from the crowd. But Fuser urges you to create music with more depth, and the campaign teaches you that mixing can be a mountain of a ride. Getting the crowd going with a somber drum loop is just as important as sending them soaring with an exhilarating EDM drop. Like a roller coaster, mixing is about setting expectations and reaping the ultimate reward.

Personally, I started getting better around set 5 of the third arena. Perhaps it was because my character was wearing a wolf mask during the full moon night concert, but I could finally feel the fusor flow. Instead of working through a list of tasks thrown at me, I began to make meaningful decisions in the music. There is always a moment of hesitation and excitement before you drop a disc because you have no idea if it will work, but whether you are discovering a new type of sound or just making audio vomit, the moment is fun.

One of the deck's features is loop playback, and while much of Fuser's mixing and effects can be controlled on the main screen, the menu of loop mechanics blocks other views and requires full attention to at least three other things you need to keep an eye on. It's not hard by any means, but when the game asks you to add classical piano or bongo solos to a heavy mix of EMD or hip-hop, you hear speed bumps. But even if the mix is bad, the fast tempo of the music drives the player, so a terrible mix won't linger on the deck for long.

The looping mechanics may be finicky, but the rest of the deck is streamlined brilliantly; it is impressive that so much can be done with only five keys and a mouse as inputs. Everything is mapped out in comfortable locations around the A to F keys, so it's natural to know which buttons to press to get the desired effect. You don't feel like you have to search around the keyboard; everything is right at your fingertips.

If Fuser's campaign mode is blood-pumping EDM at 150 BPM, this game's free-play mode is the soothing rhythm of laid-back R&B. It is an endless mode where you can experiment as much as you like, free from scorekeeping and crowd demands. In freeplay, you can create interesting mixes at your own leisure, and you can even listen again to mixes you hastily saved in campaign mode.

One aspect that Harmonix is pushing in Fuser is multiplayer and social features. The game has its own social hub, where users can share music with other communities and enter their mixes in voting contests. There are also PvP battles, where both players try to complete requests as quickly as possible to score points.

Before the battle, you need to decide what music you want to bring to the fight, and I wanted to tackle the disc selection like I would a card in a deck builder. However, the fuser's battles are determined by how many different types are in the crate, so you can't pick and choose specific ones by your own choice. Battles are even more chaotic than campaigns, and dropping discs is more frenetic and used to get quick, cheap points rather than actually making informed, musical decisions.

Fuser has a diversity that many other rhythm games lack. What may sound like a terrible mix at first is a celebration of unexpected little mistakes and using learned skills to make them work; some of the best mixes I've made in Fuser were created in the moment, without any planning at all. It's a shock when you're in the middle of mixing and you create an absolute banger (whether intentionally or accidentally), and once you've done it, you want to do it again and again... Fuser is a rhythm game that never stops chasing that elation... it's a game of rhythm that never stops chasing that elation... and it's a game that never stops chasing that elation...