Ion Fury left me speechless
Procedes to write the longest review ever
Seriously, Ion Fury is so perfect that i can’t even. I’m pretty sure this would’ve been my child obsession if i’d played it in the 90’s. I’m pretty sure that Ion Fury is seductive enough for everyone just by it’s visual aspect. That whole cyberpunk/neon bisexual lightning/retro-futuristic/80’s sci-fi aesthetic might be something pretty common in videogames and culture as a whole nowadays, but one can’t resist it’s charm. And to see that it has finally made it’s way not just into a random FPS, but as one of the kickstarters of the whole Retro-FPS revival, and all of this in what makes the comeback of the glorious Build Engine after more than 20 years... well, it’s just something way too big.
Rarely something so promising manages to fit the expectatives. Ion Fury actually surpasses them. This game is essentially a masterclass in atmosphere, gameplay, and level design. As for the atmosphere, this game goes for completely different direction compared to a game like, let’s say, Dusk (But you can also count Blood, Cultic, and even Quake). And i’m not just referring to the most obvious difference which is the strong differences in their respective themes. What i mean is that a game like Dusk, even if it’s not a survival horror game or anything like that, it is still supposed to make you feel uncomfortable, at times. It’s still obligated to make the experience not entirely pleasant. On the opposite, Ion Fury is pure sci-fi bliss, pure joy, pure pleasure. It’s a fun time from beginning to end. This, concerning the atmosphere, is posible not just because of the visuals, but also because of the music.
Music here deserves it’s own paragraph. The correlation between the FPS genre and electronic music has been explored before, obviously (Unreal comes to mind), but Ion Fury should be consider as a true paradigm. It’s a really eclectic mix of synth sounds. It can sound badass without relying on heavy guitars, it can also sound groovy, and at times it can sound like something out of the Robocop or Terminator soundtrack. It’s nice blend of styles from the 80s, like synth-pop and new wave, and also styles from the 90’s like house music, trance, and such. To put it simple, it’s one banger after another.
Let’s talk about level design. In terms of concept/art/aesthetic, you have 7 different episodes or “zones” as they are called in the game, comprising between 3 and 6 maps, altogether creating a single long campaign, because there’s some kind of narrative progression here. First zone is probably the most iconic of all, and it’s based on the futuristic city of Neo D.C. The second zone is pretty much a mix of some city maps and a few, let’s say, “tech-bases”. Third zone, one of the best of the whole game, happens inside a large building, pretty much in the style of Die Hard. Episodes 4, 6 and 7 are essentially a bunch of tech-base levels. Episode 5, one of my favourites, is a mix of different ideas: A natural environment during daytime, a sewer level (probably one of the best sewer levels of all time), and a fantastic spooky mansion level (i just love the spooky mansion theme in shooters, Blood and Hedon are some other examples). If i can make any criticism is that, overall, it feels like there are too many tech-base maps, but this is only a superficial and very subjective nitpick, since all of this maps are actually pretty good and it’s pretty hard to tell which one you would leave out of the game. It’s just a matter of theme/concept, which comes down to a matter of how and why certaing textures are chosen.
Looking at the level design In terms of pure gameplay, Ion Fury can proudly say that it’s a singular case of an FPS with no bad maps at all. Even the most iconic games of the genre might have a couple of bad maps here and there, but truly, Ion Fury has none. For sure, there might be a few mediocre ones – And i’m sure that’s mostly determined by some repetitive themes – but objectively, there are no shitty enemy placements, no convoluted mazes, no annoying puzzles, no dark places. Simply, there’s no bullshit here. There are simple maps aswell as some bigger and more complex ones. Yet you’ll never feel lost, you’ll never be wandering around looking for a hidden switch. Except, of course, if you’re looking fot the hardest secrets, of which i’ll talk later.
As for the combat, i just have to agree with Civvie about the comparison with Shadow Warrior. Ion Fury’s difficult is not as hard as Blood, and not as easy as Duke Nukem 3D. Instead, it’s actually something pretty close to Shadow Warrior. Weapons are tight, featuring the best pistol ever introduced in a FPS, an excelent shotgun, and some very interesting dual sub-machine guns. It’s also interesting how the chaingun is introduced as the most powerful weapon here. Explosive weapons, on the other hand, well, they could’ve been handled a little bit better. Bowling bombs take some time to get used to, but they end up being the best of the bunch, a very interesting concept all in all. The grenade launcher is ok, but has some problems with the aiming. Clusterpucks, i rarely used them in my entire gameplay, given how hard they were to figure out for me. But the three explosive weapons share the same problem: The unpredictability of the splashing damage. Sometimes you might want to use one of these to deal with a group of weak enemies that are practically tied to each other. Given that case, there are chances that you might only kill the enemy who actually hitted the explosive, with almost no splash damage to the surrounding left. That’s a little janky.
I guess my biggest nitpick with this game is the -sort of- imposibility to reach a 100% at the end of every episode. First of all, Killings are pretty much imposible to do in a 100%. There will always be a single enemy that didn’t spawn correctly when it should, for some unknown reason. And if that’s not the reason, then the counter is broke, or maybe deaths by enemy-infight don’t count. Idk really. And second of all, secrets, which are probably some of the hardest to find i’ve ever experienced in any FPS. They tend to be a lot for every map, and sometimes they are so hard to discover, that it feels a bit excessive, to the point where it kinda goes against having fun. But of course, if you’re able to deal with your OCD, none of these should be a real problem. Actually, i did two consecutive full playthroughs of this game (something i can recall doing just a couple times in my whole life), the first one exploring all of the secrets, and the second one only going for those i remembered. Naturally, the second was a lot more fun.
Ion Fury is so good that it even has a good sewer level. Does it get better than this?
Procedes to write the longest review ever
Seriously, Ion Fury is so perfect that i can’t even. I’m pretty sure this would’ve been my child obsession if i’d played it in the 90’s. I’m pretty sure that Ion Fury is seductive enough for everyone just by it’s visual aspect. That whole cyberpunk/neon bisexual lightning/retro-futuristic/80’s sci-fi aesthetic might be something pretty common in videogames and culture as a whole nowadays, but one can’t resist it’s charm. And to see that it has finally made it’s way not just into a random FPS, but as one of the kickstarters of the whole Retro-FPS revival, and all of this in what makes the comeback of the glorious Build Engine after more than 20 years... well, it’s just something way too big.
Rarely something so promising manages to fit the expectatives. Ion Fury actually surpasses them. This game is essentially a masterclass in atmosphere, gameplay, and level design. As for the atmosphere, this game goes for completely different direction compared to a game like, let’s say, Dusk (But you can also count Blood, Cultic, and even Quake). And i’m not just referring to the most obvious difference which is the strong differences in their respective themes. What i mean is that a game like Dusk, even if it’s not a survival horror game or anything like that, it is still supposed to make you feel uncomfortable, at times. It’s still obligated to make the experience not entirely pleasant. On the opposite, Ion Fury is pure sci-fi bliss, pure joy, pure pleasure. It’s a fun time from beginning to end. This, concerning the atmosphere, is posible not just because of the visuals, but also because of the music.
Music here deserves it’s own paragraph. The correlation between the FPS genre and electronic music has been explored before, obviously (Unreal comes to mind), but Ion Fury should be consider as a true paradigm. It’s a really eclectic mix of synth sounds. It can sound badass without relying on heavy guitars, it can also sound groovy, and at times it can sound like something out of the Robocop or Terminator soundtrack. It’s nice blend of styles from the 80s, like synth-pop and new wave, and also styles from the 90’s like house music, trance, and such. To put it simple, it’s one banger after another.
Let’s talk about level design. In terms of concept/art/aesthetic, you have 7 different episodes or “zones” as they are called in the game, comprising between 3 and 6 maps, altogether creating a single long campaign, because there’s some kind of narrative progression here. First zone is probably the most iconic of all, and it’s based on the futuristic city of Neo D.C. The second zone is pretty much a mix of some city maps and a few, let’s say, “tech-bases”. Third zone, one of the best of the whole game, happens inside a large building, pretty much in the style of Die Hard. Episodes 4, 6 and 7 are essentially a bunch of tech-base levels. Episode 5, one of my favourites, is a mix of different ideas: A natural environment during daytime, a sewer level (probably one of the best sewer levels of all time), and a fantastic spooky mansion level (i just love the spooky mansion theme in shooters, Blood and Hedon are some other examples). If i can make any criticism is that, overall, it feels like there are too many tech-base maps, but this is only a superficial and very subjective nitpick, since all of this maps are actually pretty good and it’s pretty hard to tell which one you would leave out of the game. It’s just a matter of theme/concept, which comes down to a matter of how and why certaing textures are chosen.
Looking at the level design In terms of pure gameplay, Ion Fury can proudly say that it’s a singular case of an FPS with no bad maps at all. Even the most iconic games of the genre might have a couple of bad maps here and there, but truly, Ion Fury has none. For sure, there might be a few mediocre ones – And i’m sure that’s mostly determined by some repetitive themes – but objectively, there are no shitty enemy placements, no convoluted mazes, no annoying puzzles, no dark places. Simply, there’s no bullshit here. There are simple maps aswell as some bigger and more complex ones. Yet you’ll never feel lost, you’ll never be wandering around looking for a hidden switch. Except, of course, if you’re looking fot the hardest secrets, of which i’ll talk later.
As for the combat, i just have to agree with Civvie about the comparison with Shadow Warrior. Ion Fury’s difficult is not as hard as Blood, and not as easy as Duke Nukem 3D. Instead, it’s actually something pretty close to Shadow Warrior. Weapons are tight, featuring the best pistol ever introduced in a FPS, an excelent shotgun, and some very interesting dual sub-machine guns. It’s also interesting how the chaingun is introduced as the most powerful weapon here. Explosive weapons, on the other hand, well, they could’ve been handled a little bit better. Bowling bombs take some time to get used to, but they end up being the best of the bunch, a very interesting concept all in all. The grenade launcher is ok, but has some problems with the aiming. Clusterpucks, i rarely used them in my entire gameplay, given how hard they were to figure out for me. But the three explosive weapons share the same problem: The unpredictability of the splashing damage. Sometimes you might want to use one of these to deal with a group of weak enemies that are practically tied to each other. Given that case, there are chances that you might only kill the enemy who actually hitted the explosive, with almost no splash damage to the surrounding left. That’s a little janky.
I guess my biggest nitpick with this game is the -sort of- imposibility to reach a 100% at the end of every episode. First of all, Killings are pretty much imposible to do in a 100%. There will always be a single enemy that didn’t spawn correctly when it should, for some unknown reason. And if that’s not the reason, then the counter is broke, or maybe deaths by enemy-infight don’t count. Idk really. And second of all, secrets, which are probably some of the hardest to find i’ve ever experienced in any FPS. They tend to be a lot for every map, and sometimes they are so hard to discover, that it feels a bit excessive, to the point where it kinda goes against having fun. But of course, if you’re able to deal with your OCD, none of these should be a real problem. Actually, i did two consecutive full playthroughs of this game (something i can recall doing just a couple times in my whole life), the first one exploring all of the secrets, and the second one only going for those i remembered. Naturally, the second was a lot more fun.
Ion Fury is so good that it even has a good sewer level. Does it get better than this?
2 Comments
@sakana i'm pretty sure that, on my second playthrough, the loverboy was the weapon i used the most. The alternate fire is just pure bliss.
sakana
10 months ago