Ion Fury

Back in 1996 I played Quake and hated Duke 3D when we tried it on LAN. I have zero nostalgia for that title or that sprite-infested engine. But in 2019, when I got my hands on a game when you run around at full speed, shoot hordes of enemies, can backtrack not just a room or two, but sometimes a full level... Man, this is new quality in gaming. A game where there are no cutscenes, where door don't close behind you (except briefly for boss fights, and of course between chapters), which has a secret counter, which has satisfying weapons, which has silly one-liners and puns plastered on walls, items, map names, you name it. Not only does it allow backtracking, you actually need to do it, like in a proper game world. It's an actual world, not a series of scenes. You go somewhere, get a keycard, or power up a generator, or flip a switch, or blow something up, then you go back to where there was an obstacle which you can now pass. That's what a game world is supposed to be. It's fast, it's fun, it's satisfying, at normal difficulty it's really forgiving, especially since you have quick save/load available at all times. It's awesome! The only downside of this game is the constant reloading. You stop before every corner to swap between 3 different weapons and reload each one. So the potential breakneck speed of the game is hampered by this, but hey, at least it's ME deciding when to slow down!

Great guns. Fun gameplay. Awesome music. Retro game-engine. Secrets to find. Bosses. Cheats. If you like quake and duke nukem...you like this...i quarantee.

3D Realms had no luck with its new games in XXI century - but with Ion Fury they finally hit the jackpot. People might consider it a novelty because of its antiquated engine, but it offers much more than that. It's retro FPS to the core, even including barely-there excuse story typical to 90s games. Forget about lengthy cutscenes and forced RPG elements. This is 100% action oriented game, where only thing that matters is your skill. Player character is a glass cannon: she can deal a lot of damage, but can be killed within seconds if she's not careful. Enemies range from typical shotgun-wielding troops to completely insane teleporting cyborgs with powerful attack. Bosses are no slouch either, it takes more than circlestrafing to get rid of them. Thankfully, you're not unarmed. Your arsenal contains both typical shotgun, SMG, etc.; but also very satisfying crossbow and trademark bowling bombs. Kudos to devs for making pistol which is useful even after obtaining more powerful weapons :) If you have even a basic knowledge about Build engine limitations, you will often stop and wonder "how is it even possible?". Headshots, giant flying airship, skyboxes... IF has possibly the most creative secrets I've ever seen in any game. Levels are insanely detailed and quite long to beat. Music avoids typical to the FPS genre heavy metal, instead we got quite catchy electronic music. And if you expect simple, undetailed sprites, then be prepared for a pleasant surprise. IF does not use "retro" term as a excuse for poorly drawn graphics. Any flaws? Well, sometimes Build engine shows its limitations. Full mouselook is not allowed and throwing bombs can be tricky, but honestly it's not a big problem. All in all, Ion Fury is great. In my opinion it's the best Build engine game, ex aequo with Blood. I don't remember when I had so much fun with recently released game. I hope that IF will get active modding community, so it will be remembered for a long time, just like its predecessors.

as expected this game is beautiful and ken silverman should be proud. but beyond visual and technical merit this game consistently stumbles through the pillars of old school shooter design. many levels dont feel fun to navigate really lacking intreseting enemy closests and placement. Also this game feels like its consistently struggling to define its own difficulty, like most ppl my first run was on ultra vis and for example i have to ask why does the first level set drown you in ammo in every level exluding the warmech boss? like if your going to lock me in a areana on an autosave atleast give me half the reasources i need to kill the boss but no i had to mele half his health pool, lots of fun. but inconsistences and oversights like this are evwrywhere. i play this game for the visuals but it always makes me quit and go back to blood or god forbid even duke

Make sure you're sitting down and holding onto your hat when you read this, because I am about to utter words that will blow your mind that I didn't think would ever be said in this lifetime. Here it is: Iron Fury is so good it de-thrones Duke Nukem 3D as the 2nd best Build engine game ever developed. That's right folks, Duke 3D has been dethroned. (Side note: Whats the best Build engine game ? Blood, of course, and always will be, its not even fair to compare or discuss that topic, so not in scope here) Playing Ion Fury made me feel like a kid playing Duke 3D for the first time all over again. But since I'm an older, better and more experienced gamer Ion Fury had to ramp everything Duke did up to 111 to hit those nerves, and hit them it did !!! The levels are grander, and more detailed. You could spend over and hour on almost ever level just marveling at the intricacy of each one, at everything you see. Even making an active effort to stop and take it all in still results in not seeing everything, its simply not possible to absorb it all in one play through. Its sensory overload, but in a good way. And the difficulty, playing on Maximum Fury makes me feel like a noob playing an FPS for the first time again. There is no 'running and gunning' on this difficulty. Try that and its game over. You have to be extremely methodical and patient, which is how I like playing these types of FPS with such an unforgiving difficulty. Its so rewarding though, in that awesome way that makes you want to keep going and do better and try different tactics. Enemies ARE around every corner, waiting to ambush you. You have to fight tooth and nail for EVERY inch of progress. You have to look in every nook and cranny to make sure you're not missing out on any ammo or health, lest you run out of either of them on the next fight. I have nothing bad to say about this game. Nothing. I want more. Please make more games like this.