Fuse's Echelon mode to be "brutal"

Fuse developer Insomniac Games has promised that its wave-based multiplayer mode Echelon will be perfect for hardcore players.

In a developer update, Insomniac boasted that games media who have played Echelon to date have found it very difficult, with some unable to get past the seventh of presumably ten waves.

"We want this game to be hard – Echelon especially so. However, difficulty is a very fine balance," the developer noted.

"On one hand, you want to challenge people so they feel as if they are accomplishing something. But on the other, you don’t want to frustrate players to the point of quitting. Things become trickier when you factor in co-op that can accommodate anywhere from one to four human players."

The failure of the noble games media to conquer Echelon showed Insomniac it was well on its way to hitting the sweet spot, but made some tweaks in response to the press tour. The most common enemy type has been ramped up to be as tough as in the campaign's Hard difficulty. Mini-bosses are on the level of the campaign's Lethal difficulty. And earlier waves have been made a bit easier, while the final waves remain just as tough as before.

The full post is an interesting look at how a developer seeks to satisfy the core, using innocent games press as beta testers. Fuse is expected on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 very soon, although we still don’t have a solid release date.