The first person shooter genre has transformed into an entirely different beast over the past few decades. Compared to their 90s counterparts, modern FPS games have better A.I., more advanced levels of complexity, and most importantly, they’re just so dang pretty to look at.
However, there’s still something appealing about the FPS games of the 90s. Even though the genre was at its most basic and crude form, there’s a certain charm to just how stupidly violent and vulgar these games managed to be. Ion Fury is a throwback to those times, and it feels so good, that you’d swear it was a classic game from 15 years ago, and not something that released in 2019.
Story? Who Needs That Crap
You play as Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison, quite possibly the most badass officer on the Global Defense Force. She possesses so much talent in the fields of murder and wanton destruction that it would an absolute shame if she didn’t have a cult of evil cybernetic soldiers to slaughter. Thankfully, such a gang does show up, led by an evil scientist who obviously wants to get his head blown off. Shelly grabs her magnum, and begins to blast any foolish freak who dares to get in her way.
I should point out that I mostly cobbled that story synopsis together from the Steam page for Ion Fury, because you definitely don’t get much story from the game. You pretty much hit start, and are head-shotting guys from the get go. But honestly, that’s kind of what you want from a game like this, as story just gets in the way of all the glorious murder.
If you’re played any of the original games from the Doom, Duke Nukem, or Quake series, than you’ll be right at home. The entire game exists as an homage to the first person shooters of the bygone era, and it nails everything about that period. From the goofy, downright childish joke ads on the walls, to the constant pop culture references, to practically every filthy word that comes out of Shelly’s mouth. Her top threats seem to involve shoving things up various human orifices, and some of the things she says would practically make Duke blush. It’s the kind of game that politicians would have lobbied against if it came out in the 90s, and that’s a good thing.
Firing Off Shotgun Shells At 90 Miles Per Hour
The nods to past games doesn’t stop at the one-liners coming out of Shelly’s mouth. This game is crazy fast and gory, and Shelly moves like a super-soldier on crack. Every level is filled to the brim with enemies who want to reduce you to a pile of bloody bits on the floor, and you get an entire arsenal of weaponry to wipe the city clean of every baddie you can see. The game isn’t a cakewalk, as you can get killed pretty easily, so you have to be constantly alert for enemies sneaking up on you.
Considering that you’ll be doing a lot of shooting in Ion Fury, it’s lucky that each round you fire off feels fantastic. This game is just plain fun, and landing headshots gives you the appropriate amount of damage, blood, and childish glee that it should. Everything moves so smoothly and the game throws so much at you that you feel like an indestructible super-badass by the time you reach the end.
Ion Fury does a good job of giving you a lot of options for things to shoot, and things to shoot them with. The enemies continue to get more and more grotesque as the game progresses. By the end you’re fighting acid shooting zombies and weird flamethrower guys with tank treads for feet. As for your weapons - there’s a lot of what you’d expect from a classic FPS, but Ion Fury switches it up a bit so it doesn’t feel too familiar.
For example, you have a shotgun that also doubles as a grenade launcher, an SMG that also sets your opponents on fire, and there’s a strong chance you’ll be using your starting pistol (which is of course called “The Loverboy”) throughout the entire game, because its alt fire has a lock-on feature that makes taking out enemies from afar a whole lot easier. Every weapon feels unique, and can be handy in different situations, so you’ll want to experiment with every death-bringer that gets added to your arsenal.
So Much Pixelated Blood
The graphics are about what you’d expect from a game that’s clearly emulating titles like Doom or Duke. In fact, this game actually uses the exact same engine that was used to make Duke Nukem 3D, so Ion Fury scores big points on the authenticity scale. Everything looks so much like it came straight out of the 90s: flat as paper enemies, pixelated gore, and even a little bloody, visual representation of Shelly when she takes too much damage.
The level design is solid and each level has various side areas and secrets for you to discover. There were a few times where I got a little lost - each level can be so huge that you might miss a keycard, or button you had to push, but you move so fast that you can practically sprint across an entire area in no time. The levels are varied, incredibly detailed with plenty of interactable objects (and yes, that does include flushable toilets), and wide open enough to allow you to strafe around during massive firefights.
I Do Have Some Issues (Please Don’t Hurt Me Shelly)
As this is a tribute to the classic first person shooters of the 90s, it makes sense that it also contains some of the flaws of those games. It is very easy to walk into a new room, and be welcomed by an onslaught of bullets coming from every direction before you’ve even found your bearings. Ion Fury is generous when it comes to providing you with plenty of ammo and healing items, but sometimes you get shot so quickly that you don’t even know where all your new bullet holes are coming from.
The enemy A.I. is pretty good, although they have a few dumb moments here and there. There were some cases where some bad guys got stuck on doors, causing them to glitch out a bit. Some of the enemies also can be really annoying to try to shoot, as they’ll be flying above you, or be tiny little jumping spider things with human heads. Thankfully you have the aforementioned lock-on feature with your magnum, but they can still be a pain.
The sound design is mostly fine, and Shelly has a multitude of swears and one-liners to spew so she never gets too annoying. Unfortunately, a lot of the enemy sound effects can get pretty repetitive. This is probably by design since certain enemy types have distinct sounds, so you’d be able to tell which baddies are in the room with you. But some of the sounds can be really irritating, and there’s a strong chance you’ll quickly be sick of hearing the skittering and screeching sounds of the little human-headed spiders (I hate those things). The music is also alright, although no tune is really all that memorable.
Forget The Duke, All Hail The Duchess
It really is a good time to be a fan of retro first person shooters. We’ve seen the re-releases of the Doom games on just about every console, and we’ve already seen some modern developers try to invoke the feelings of these games this year with titles like Dusk, or Amid Evil. Ion Fury is another one to add to that list, as it feels so legitimately like a game that could have followed Duke Nukem 3D or Quake. While it’s not perfect, the shooting, the level design, the guns, and the attitude of the game are all on point.
Ion Fury feels like the Duke Nukem Forever that we should have gotten, instead of the 2011 debacle that we did get. It may taken them a couple of decades, but 3D Realms have finally made another great FPS.
4 out of 5
A review copy of Ion Fury was provided to TheGamer by 3D Realms. Ion Fury is available on PC.
