Mashup-maker Fuser now has a demo
When the crowd say "Demo, selecta"
You too can now enjoy mashing Smash Mouth's All Star into other songs, thanks to a free demo for Fuser. Made by Harmonix, the creators of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Fuser's a game about slamming parts of different songs together on the wheels of steel to create mashups that... actually kinda work? When I started the demo myself, I did not imagine I would soon be bopping in my chair along to my own mix of Rage Against The Machine, Warren G and Nate Dogg, Billy Eilish, and yes, Smash Mouth.
The demo, released Thursday on Steam (look for the "Download Demo" button in the righthand bar), contains only a tutorial level. That packs seven songs to play with: Smash Mouth's All Star; Billie Eilish's Bad Guy; Cardi B's Bodak Yellow; Dua Lipa's Don't Start Now; Deadmau5 and Rob Swire's Ghosts 'n' Stuff; RATM's Killing In The Name, Warren G and Nate Dogg Regulate; and Bad Bunny's Yo Perreo Sola.
I hadn't paid much attention to Fuser because most my exposure to it came from adverts during not-E3 streams, in which someone made a right hash of The Clash's Rock The Casbah. Put me right off, those ads did. But I did pay attention when our Colm pointed to Fuser as one of the 2020 games people missed.
"Unless you have the rhythm of an interim British prime minister at a party conference, your mash-ups will fall somewhere between decent and phenomenal," Colm said. "That's all thanks to the inexplainable sorcery that Harmonix have cooked into the game. You can slap the horns from Panic! At The Disco's High Hopes over the bassline from the very 2012 Thrift Shop and you'll make music magic. It doesn't always work out, and it'll be jarring when something is just slightly off, but blending seemingly immiscible sounds together to create the next addition to your Spotify playlist is an incredible feeling."
Yeah, it is pretty impressive. I quite liked some of the mashups I made. And even when the mix sounded terrible (mostly thanks to my choices), I was occupied with mastering timings and fulfilling audience requests for bonus points. Nice that the music and play I won't buy it but I was glad to try it.
The full game is available from Steam and the Epic Games Store for £55/€60/$60, with DLC aplenty adding extra songs. Oh, the demo's also on PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch.
