Ion Fury is a retro-styled FPS game for PS4, XBONE, Switch, and PC, which was originally developed by Voidpoint for PC release, while console release was ported by General Arcade, and published by 3D Realms. It is a prequel to the 2016's game Bombshell.
Back in my good old retro days of 90's where the FPS genre had gained a popularity the likes of the classics such as Wolf 3D, Doom, Quake, Turok, Goldeneye 007, and Unreal, so there are one of the popular FPS game that got my attention as a kid is Duke Nukem 3D for PC which was widely known for badass protagonist with awesome liners, unique selection of weapons, kicking every alien asses, so many pop culture references, and of course saving tons of babes is what made the game so fun and entertaining back then.
So going back to this modern day gaming era where I got busy with my PS4, there's one of the title that is so much similar to classic FPS game is Ion Fury which is a 90's throwback of our favourite FPS classics.
It is one of the game that heavily utilises with Ken Silverman's Build engine in 20 years since the previous title such as World War II GI as it uses the game's source code through the software called EDuke32 was based on the classic titles like Duke Nukem 3D.
I finally got my hands on with the copy of Ion Fury for PS4 which I had spend time kicking ass for one whole weeks of having fun slaughtering every enemies in pieces with insane amount of weapons, finding hidden secrets with every pop culture references, opening new area of levels, running and jumping through platforms, solving problems, and battling with crazy bosses is what makes the retro-styled FPS quite fun to play.
So without go further do, lets start the review.
Presentation
The game takes the role of female military officer named Shelly Bombshell Harrison, who is a bomb disposal expert aligned to the Global Defense Force, set her mission to take down the a transhumanist cult leader named Dr. Jadus Heskel unleashes his army of cybernetically-enhanced soldiers on the futuristic dystopian city of Neo D.C.
As you can see the game did not heavily focuses on the emphasis of story which the opening intro only last just about 20 seconds of simplistic slideshow sequences lacking the in-depth of plot, but you can also hear the voice dialogue between heroine and villain throughout the in-game levels which is fine, but I wish it could have been better with bit more of the storyline that made the plot in the game much interesting.
I got to say I really liked Shelly Bombshell Harrison as a protagonist which delivers a great liners in every level adds up a overall humor as well as being a strong female solder that welds her signature 18-round triple-barrelled revolver that kicks every asses.
Then you have a crackhead villain Dr. Jadus Heskel is insanely dangerous scientist that threaten to destroy not just Global Defense Force, but humanity. He designed to corrupt a augmented humans, sending his cult army to kill innocent, and planting an explosive device in the Washington which makes him a most sadistic and baddest mother f***er in planet.
I got to say I liked the dystopian theme of every levels, so it has broken city with cracked roads, abandoned streets, empty places, and sewers, while the inside of buildings filled with casinos, bars, pubs, shops, restaurants, labs, mansions, and libraries, so it made every presentation just like what you expected from a classic FPS that made Ion Fury just quite appealing as the Duke Nukem 3D.
Overall, lackluster story but has great characters and cool presentation.
Gameplay
You take control of Shelly in first-person perspective as your goal is to head at the exit point and defeating many bosses as possible.
Shelly has ability to jump on platforms, crouching through smaller passage, climbing on ladders, running, and reloading.
You will starting off with revolver which is a basic weapon that shoots in mid-range, while you can also perform double shot for heavier damage at cult enemies as well as flying drones.
There are several of new weapons in each areas such as shotgun that shoots in close-range, while you can also switch it to grenade launcher that shoots grenade ammo which is highly effective against bigger and large enemies as well as turrets.
Then you have sub machine guns that is dual-weld shoots with fiery bullets that causes enemies set on fire while the chaingun blasts every heavy bullets with massive amount of damage.
You will have throwing weapon such as bowling bombs that bounces and roll through while you can also set bombs by pressing alt button for quick explosive, and then you have explosive puck which is another bomb weapon but you can also switch it to cluster mode which explodes tons of overkill shrapnels.
There are Ion bow which allows you to shoot with single or multiple of bolts in long range dealing with heavy damage with both small and big enemies.
Lastly you have melee attack called electrifier which deals with close range combat by not just hitting them, but also stuns as well that tasered smaller enemies.
There are several of enemies are featured in the game such as cybernetic spiders that is capable of jumping to the average human height deals bit amount of damages, cultist that shoots machine guns and multiple bolts, liberatior shoots with shotgun as well as grenade launcher, drone floats everywhere armed with long-range projectiles, skinless dude with blue fiery skull are capable of invisible and teleport power, deacon blast you with homing projectiles, mutant are zombie-like creatures are slow but fires an organic projectiles deals with weak damage compared with armored mutant uses a strong durable vomit attack, diopede is a millipede-like robot with separating body segments releases a acid squirts on ground, wendigo is a massive monster an leap through large distance at high speed, and finally brute has buzzsaw and plasma launcher.
Along with decent combat weapons and enemy's variation of range attacks, I am going to talk about the structure of level design and finding way of heading to exit point.
The game has large map of level where you get to explore around the area for discovering hidden secrets filled with armours and ammos, finding key card to unlock doors, solving problems like disabling blocked lasers, activating air-flowing fans, destroying gas valves and using tank's missiles to open up blocked passage, going inside through the ventilators for short-cuts, and finally finding a different route to access new area without falling off the platforms.
You can also spent time of doing interacting stuff like playing darts for bulleye, throwing bowling bombs at enemies as mini game, practising target shootouts, looking yourself at mirror in bathrooms, breaking stuff like glass wines and perfumes, and grabbing yourself can of fizzy drink from venting machine.
I got to say the whole gameplay in general is genuinely good for its actual controls which I can able to move around and aim at the enemies and objects thanks to customisable sensitivity and deadzones with precision aiming, so I am very glad that the developer finally adds the invert aiming options in the game after getting a feedback from the fans that I can able to enjoy the game even more.
Most of the weapons are pretty effective for most enemies which I got to say it worked absolutely amazing for the use of range attacks and damages.
The level design is fairly good for platforming and exploring especially with map screens does help you find a way of heading to new area.
The game does have the wicked boss battle that is brutally tough, but very challenging indeed that keeps you self entertained it whole game.
There are some minor issues in the game where the frame-rate runs on 60 FPS which is very good, but the part where one or two levels began to explodes everywhere kinda slows down the performance which I have noticed that the game could struggle to keep it on steady FPS rate due to overused explosion effects doesn't mean it's going to affect the fun of the game which is doing fine in every zones.
It's a shame that the game didn't had local split-screen and online features for multiplayer battle that could have been a fun if its included in the game, so why not?
The cool thing in the game is that you have 3 bonus missions which included horde modes where you have to kill all the enemies in every waves till you die, then you have a mission where your health is low but only uses infinite bombs to survive through level, and lastly the level were featured as the early access demo which I think its pretty awesome to have these bonus features in the game.
Overall, it has good controls, effective weapons, decent level design, and fun boss battles.
Graphics
The graphics is looked acceptable for retro-styled FPS game. As you can see it ran on modified build engine which is just like Duke Nukem 3D, but featuring much more vector detailed on lighting effects, textures surfaces, hud screen, and sprites animation for most part to make the game looked more neater and feels up to date rather than rehashing the same assets from the earliest build engine.
Instead of making the whole environmental looks flat just like some games with 2D engine, you can see the building layouts are quite dynamic from top to bottom as well as the details on walls and floors that made the level design keeping intact.
Most of the objects like crates, weapons, items, barrels, and etc. are actually voxels based design to make it look like a 3D is just what you expected from classic FPS games.
I also liked the use of the gore effects in the game when most of the enemies are been set on fire, electrocuted to death, and their body explodes causing to splatter their blood particles on ground is looking damn brutal.
Overall, it has well structured environmental design, more detailed textures and lighting, and the use of gore effects.
Music and Sounds
The in-game music is actually sounds decent just to keep you pumped for action with upbeating soundtrack mixes with industrial and electronic style sounds pretty intense for FPS games.
The sound effects is just as good as you expecting from the old school game with amazing use of sound design for explosion, shooting, reloading, and enemy's grunting in every levels and I got to say the voice cast such as Valerie Arem, who previously worked on her role from Persona series, just totally nails her role on female protagonist with amazingly edgy liners, while Jon St John, who is well known for his role of badass protagonist from Duke Nukem series, did a great job of voicing the main villain in the game.
Overall, it has upbeating music, impressive sound effects, and great voice role.
Special Features
The game has 3 bonus missions and chapter selects, but the physical copy comes with cool artbook and sticker which is a nice bonus collecting.
The game has tons of Easter eggs in every levels featuring the pop culture references from video games and films.
It is sadly that it didn't include the cheat code from PC version for strange reason, but I'm sure it will pretty soon.
Overall, good features but the console ports missing out one features from PC version.
Advantages
Cool protagonist with awesome liners
Awesome single-player campaign with 30 levels
Good gameplay with decent controls and weapons choices
Fine graphics with impressive visuals and design
Intense soundtrack
Great voice roles
Disadvantages
Lacking in-depth story
Minor framerate issues during the explosion effects
Missing out multiplayer modes and cheat features
Final Verdict
Presentation 7/10 - lackluster story but has great characters and cool presentation.
Gameplay 8/10 - good controls, effective weapons, decent level design, and fun boss battles.
Graphics 8/10 - well structured environmental design, more detailed textures and lighting, and the use of gore effects.
Music and Sounds 8/10 - upbeating music, impressive sound effects, and great voice role.
Special Features 7/10 - 3 bonus missions and chapter selects, the physical copy comes with cool artbook and sticker, and Easter eggs references but lacking cheat modes from PC version.
Overall 8/10 - It is a fun throwback of retro FPS classics that made Ion Fury a decent game which finally puts their step in the right direction. With over the top action campaign, insane amount of weapons, wicked boss battles, well structured levels, and has fair replay values is what made the game worth playing for those who previously enjoying the FPS classics from 90's era should able to pick up and play.
If you think the game is way too old school for you, so what you know guys it's Ion f***ing Fury and it is the way it should be look and play like classics. You just simply pop the game on the system and start kicking asses that brings all your action FPS experience into awesomeness.
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