Nutrition/Buzz:7
There is just about all what you would expect in a basic energy shot in here, without many taste differentiators. At least it is sugar and calorie free, with only 2 grams of carbohydrates. Of course, that means it also has the Ace K and sucralose combo so popular in diet energy drinks. It has the “proprietary energy blend” Bs – so they dont have to list how much caffeine, taurine and the rest they actually use. There is caffeine, taurine, B vitamins, inositol, glucurolactone, carnatine, ginseng, and guarana seed buried in their blend, but no clue how much is actually in there.
As for buss, expect an average boost of about 2-3 hours of energy. Nothing over the top – about as much as a double espresso or a 16oz monster. While I wouldn’t be downing this at bedtime, it is not one of the more potent drinks out there.
The problem with that is I was really expecting a powerhouse of energy, both from their branding and innovative-ness of the company. I was expecting something different that just another Me-Too giving the same energy as the other 3 dozen drinks being hocked at C-Store counters across America. There is so much more they could have done with this product – and it is a shame they just imitated others as opposed to blazing their own trail.

Taste:6
well, you cant say it does not taste original. Problem is that’s not the same thing as making it taste good. This stuff is not the worst shot I have ever head, but years after shots have taken hold of the market, you could achieve much better than what they have done. This is tastes like a cranberry Kool aid without the water. Actually,I added a little of this to some water and it turned out to be a much more pleasant cranberry flavored drink. Shots do not need to taste like concentrate to work – as proven by a half a dozen shots that I would drink for taste alone. While it is not ed enough for me to have many of, it is not good enough for me to choose over many that have the same energy profile but taste so much better.

Packaging:8
This is a very marked difference from their old packaging, deciding to do away with all the light chrome and Japanese symbols – going for a more dark and sleek look. I do appreciate that they did not just force theirs into the usual 5 hour energy bottle, using their own designed bottle instead. The fonts and layout are top notch, and the colors they used really make this drink stand out. Printing in shiny silver and red on a flat matte black background it definitely a winner. This is also a bit larger than most shots out there, going for a Monster Hitman sized 3 ounces. Most of this works very well – except for a few things that I find annoying.
First, they haphazardly stick a UFC sticker on top, just in case we don’t know by the HUGE logo on the front of the label that they are still in cahoots with the UFC. with the rest of the can so dark and shiny, having a big ugly white sticker on the cap is just amateur.

The other thing which I really did not like was the lack of caffeine information on it, hiding it instead in the despised “Proprietary Energy Blend”. The bottle has a nice shiny warning telling me this drink is “Extremely Potent” and may “cause an energy rush”. So a couple hours after downing one, when I started drooping again – for all I know my system had completely unabsorbed the caffeine, because the drink was worn off and I did not know how much caffeine I consumed. I would either turn down all those warnings or just list the caffeine content.

Website:9
Their new and improved website was a real pleasure. I was surprised to find all the look and feel changed much much for the better. This not only looks very professional, but also very fitting for the sponsor of the UFC. Getfused.com did a great job – getting great design and great backend coding as well. The html is very nice and well organized – with loading times kept real low and uses flash very judiciously. You could tell that this was made by people that had the know how to build a great site, to encapsulate everything xyience needs, in terms of look and feel and creation. Hats off not only to getfused.com, but also to Xyience, keeping up their own end, having recent photos and all their products updated. Overall, a job well done.