Incline Ion Fury (formerly Ion Maiden) - Build Engine powered FPS by Duke Nukem 3D mappers - now with Aftershock DLC

[Valestein]

I never had such issues myself, as it was easy to see the glowing eyes of the enemies from a distance.

 

[Mikeal]

LMAO this game is bad

Spoiler

I can't kill myself with doors. 0/10 not true Build Engine experience.

 

[Curratum]

Bonus points for Darth - Zone 3 / The Six Underground is really the worst part of the game.

 

[Jezal_k23]

I didn't have problems there. I used the radar to anticipate where the enemies were.

 

[Sodafish]

The radar is possibly the most pointless pickup in any FPS. I used it once just to see what it did, then never again.

 

[Dayyālu]

I already tried Ion Maiden/Fury, but this thread made me remove from inventory the full version and give it another try.

You know, it's not bad. But it's mediocre, and while I have the greatest opinion on modders and honestly think they are far better than stock game devs in understanding how to build fun levels, Ion Fury falls into a peculiar subset of modders that are in love with the pointless. It should be judged as all shooters are judged, thus graphics, sound design, level design, enemy design, weapon design.

+ The graphics of Ion Maiden are very very pretty. A shitton of work of very skilled people went into 'em, and some gorgeous spritework for the enemies. I have the nagging feeling that I am fighting the Cult Mechanicus all the time though, and there is the problem that sometimes you find in mods: the devs are so in love with their love for detail that everything is so charged, so detailed, that it becomes almost dazzling. There's almost too much shit on the screen at once, a problem I found for example in the infamous Blade of Agony mod for doom. Sometimes less is more.

+ Sound design is mixed. The music is nice, the enemy sound design is a disgrace (you can barely pinpoint them and it's all meaningless grunting) and the weapon feedback is fairly weak. I wonder why such magnificent sprite work didn't get meaty sound effects. The voice actress doesn't deserve a single thought: as the ancients said, screaming something doesn't make it funny ot badass, it's merely someone screaming stuff.

+ The level design is.... weird. I mean, it's somewhat well made but it feels finetuned to death, like someone lost a shitton of time trying to make the best level they could and forgot to make it fun. Yes, I understand you like random respawns (like clockwork). Yes, I understand you like secrets so much that you make them outright asinine and after a while I stopped even trying to get them because why the fuck I should bother considering the weaponry is mediocre.

+ Enemy design is ....well, I have never been the greatest fan of the Build engine games. But here the enemy types are few, the majority of them are thrown out directly at the beginning and then repeated until you are sick of them. Again, when a player is tired of your enemy variety that aint a good sign. Someone sure loves pseudo-hitscan humanoid enemies, tho.

+ Weapon design is perfunctory and boring. I am not asking for Russian Overkill, I am asking for weapons that are fun to use and don't sound like a wet fart. Yeah, pistol, shotgun, SMG, grenades, crossbow, mines, minigun. Doom has a more creative gun selection. Doom.

In short, not worth the time. If you want a weirdo shooter that tries to ape old games but at least manages to be competent (despite weirdo level design and the dev putting his fetishes right on display for everyone to see) I'd suggest Hedon instead, a commercial game on the GZDoom engine. Art it ain't, but I am having more fun with it compared to Ion Maiden.

 

[Siveon]

This is honest advice, Blood really isn't fun for a first-timer on the hardest difficulty - unless they like very harsh trial and error. The sweet spot is the second or third hardest.

I don't see any reason to use official difficulty presets when custom option is available. Why would you ever not want highest possible enemy count? Highest cultist accuracy and aggression, however, can go fuck itself. But nope, gotta soldier on and then write shit like "I much prefer Ion Fury to Blood".

Oh I forgot about that. Yes, I would encourage people to use the custom options to tailor the game as much as they could. The accuracy of hitscanning enemies is a bit much, and is a barrier for playing a very well crafted game.

 

[Goi~Yaas~Dinn]

I don't get the whinging about hitscan enemies.

The radar is possibly the most pointless pickup in any FPS. I used it once just to see what it did, then never again.

Is it the "Beastvision" of Ion Maiden?

 

[Valestein]

As far as enemy variety goes, my only real gripe is a curious lack of some kind of water enemy. A few underwater areas could've used at least something as basic as the fish enemies from Shadow Warrior.

 

[Durandal]

I never had such issues myself, as it was easy to see the glowing eyes of the enemies from a distance.

Bro, we're talking about three pixels on screen at most here. Overload had the same glowing-eyes-in-the-dark approach for its visual enemy design to compensate for the dynamic lighting where you have to move through total darkness at times, but Overload actually made the eyes both noticeable and distinct for each enemy type from long ranges. On top of giving you an actual fucking flashlight.

 

[Durandal]

Me standing behind an unbreakable glass wall while the enemy is trying to move towards me.
The enemy pathfinding is

 

[Lyric Suite]

Shouldn't be an issue on a game of this type. Enemy placement should be the important thing they shouldn't live long enough to try to go after you.

 

[Valestein]

I had an issue during the Gunship boss battle when it would drop a pack of those red crossbow cultists they would just stand around without even being aware of me.

Also, just finished the game on Ultra-Viscera.

 

[Curratum]

Shouldn't be an issue on a game of this type. Enemy placement should be the important thing they shouldn't live long enough to try to go after you.

In a game where you can move at 1000 mph and they're not hitscan, so you can effectively run-dodge past their "placement", they certainly need AI that can come after you and they lack that.

 

[HansDampf]

I've played up to the Warmech on Ultra Viscera, and I have to agree with some of the criticisms. This is a fantastic looking Build engine game, and the first hour leaves a great first impression. But the farther I get, the more small annoyances creep up. It's like a potentially great game that is held back in every aspect.
While I don't like to pass judgement on the game before I finish it, one thing that certainly won't change for the rest of the game are the weapons. The shotgun is just meh. The SMG is fun to set enemies on fire, but it sounds like it's shooting hot air and burns through ammo so quickly I'm hesitant to use it. I also can't find a good use for the crossbow so far, except to supercharge it (which takes a while) to fight big hordes and bosses like the Warmech. Individual arrows are too weak. It's better to just rely on the Loverboy for long-range. The secondary fire mode seems almost op, in the sense that it's making me lazy. Anybody else have this problem that after you have been using the revolver for a while and then switch to a different weapon you can't aim anymore? I'm also missing one or two Überweapons with rare ammo that can tear through everything, like BFG or Duke's Devastator. Maybe the chaingun is going to take that job, I don't know yet. Another thing that annoys me is how input is ignored during weapons animations. Example, when I'm swinging the Elecrifryer and press 2 I instinctively expect the game to buffer the input and switch to the Loverboy as soon as the swinging animation is finished. But it's just ignored. And overall with those animations and reloading, weapon switching feels so slow that I don't even want to use the Electrifryer for anything.
Weird game.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I finished Ion Fury a week ago and have been sitting on my thoughts for a while. Good thing I don't need to write them up, because the people ITT have already done that and I'd just be echoing their gripes. It starts off promising, but I had to force myself to finish the game after the halfway mark. It gets incredibly repetitive to the point where it becomes an aggressive chore to play. Overall I'd rank IF way below Blood and Duke 3D, and somewhere above NAM, Shadow Warrior and Redneck Rampage. Too many things in IF are just uninspired, like the boring ass special pickups. A fucking radar? Really? It's easy as shit and the only challenge is when you get shot by enemies who blend in with the environment and are hiding in the shadows. The giant boss was a huge turd as well and an extremely flaccid way to end the game.

 

[HansDampf]

I also can't find a good use for the crossbow so far, except to supercharge it (which takes a while) to fight big hordes and bosses like the Warmech.

I take that back. Secondary fire rips through everything in close quarters combat. In fact, most weapons seem to be better suited for close quarters combat, not the open level design at the beginning. I'm enjoying it a bit more after the Warmech.

 

[Valestein]

Apparently, there's a "definitive edition" of Bombshell that's still being worked on as per a dev posting on the steam forum about it: https://steamcommunity.com/app/353190/discussions/0/2763442118822511313/

 

[Ash]

I finished Ion Fury a week ago and have been sitting on my thoughts for a while. Good thing I don't need to write them up, because the people ITT have already done that and I'd just be echoing their gripes. It starts off promising, but I had to force myself to finish the game after the halfway mark. It gets incredibly repetitive to the point where it becomes an aggressive chore to play. Overall I'd rank IF way below Blood and Duke 3D, and somewhere above NAM, Shadow Warrior and Redneck Rampage..

"Wah wah Shadow Warrior is unplayable"
"Blood is best, shadow warrior lest..."
-One third of the Codex if not more...

...and it makes fuck all sense and is simply wrong. The quality of design is obviously there. Now if we're talking plain personal preference because you don't like the theme/setting/Americanised-Asian stuff, sure, but that's not what it looks like.
Shadow Warrior teeters somewhere around the same quality level of Blood and Nukem 3D (e.g very good, classic gold standard FPS gaming). This is simply the truth.
A re-run of the Build trinity is long overdue for some of you.

That said it seems like the fresh criticism of Ion Maiden seems spot on. Based on what I've seen and read I'm not rushing to buy it, though it looks worth a play. It's just seemingly not quite monocled enough. The AI/enemy and weapon design looks kinda shite. Weapons alone there's Lock-on gunz, reused sprites for nade launcher, only 8 weapons and they're pretty unoriginal and lack punch...
30+ secrets per level seems beyond dumb, I called it. Obviously that's going to influence resource distribution in a negative way.

AI, level design, blah blah I'll hold off from saying more till I play it but this shit, NOT some sociopolitical nonsense, is putting me off from day 1/early purchase. Something I do purposely to support devs who know their game design, which is hardly any these talent-less days.

 

[Jezal_k23]

To be fair the levels are massive, so given their greater than usual size it makes sense that they'd have more secrets than usual.

 

[Valestein]

Speaking of the holy trinity...

 

[Unkillable Cat]

"Wah wah Shadow Warrior is unplayable"
"Blood is best, shadow warrior lest..."
-One third of the Codex if not more...

...and it makes fuck all sense and is simply wrong. The quality of design is obviously there. Now if we're talking plain personal preference because you don't like the theme/setting/Americanised-Asian stuff, sure, but that's not what it looks like.
Shadow Warrior teeters somewhere around the same quality level of Blood and Nukem 3D (e.g very good, classic gold standard FPS gaming). This is simply the truth.

Prove it. Cite examples, give references, show us how Shadow Warrior is of the same quality of Blood and Duke3D. Or fuck off.

That said it seems like the fresh criticism of Ion Maiden seems spot on. Based on what I've seen and read I'm not rushing to buy it, though it looks worth a play. It's just seemingly not quite monocled enough. The AI/enemy and weapon design looks kinda shite. Weapons alone there's Lock-on gunz, reused sprites for nade launcher, only 8 weapons and they're pretty unoriginal and lack punch...

And here you are, judging something without having played it, yet berating players who have played it and compared it to your little waifu-game. Talk about the pot calling the kettle nigger.

 

[Melan]

So I played through the game while the fury ranged around it in multiple waves, and now that I'm done, here are my impressions.

• Overall, it is a lot of fun. It stands heads and shoulders above most modern shooters (although not Dusk). Compared to Duke Nukem 3D and Blood (I did not play enough of Shadow Warrior), it falls short, but that's falling short of the best.
• Level design didn't have the variety of the old Build classics; there were a few too many research labs (although some of them were quite cool, like the underground habitats), and too few off-the-wall ideas like Heskell's House of Horrors. I expected crazy gimmicks like a moving metro or a level where you have to put your demo skills to test. Blowing up shit is Build's big, unique joy that has never been properly equalled in FPS design. Maybe in an extra episode with thematic levels like Duke's? Perhaps a few ruined or bombed out city blocks would have been good, too. However, what was there was quite good, and took good advantage of Build's suitability for decaying urban environments. In any case, there were a lot of levels; this is a properly long game, a modern rarity.
• Excellent weapon variety. I did not abuse the Loverboy, and ended up using most of the arsenal. There is a great grenade launcher, and those are always more fun than basic rocket launchers. The crossbow may be a little OP due to the abundance of ammo; it became my default weapon to pick off distant enemies for the second half of the game. Proximity mines are a bit fiddly, at least I ended up getting blown into chunks fairly often. Shotgun's cool. The bowling bombs are hella useful, and are a high point.
• Combat: many of the encounters are set up similarly; relatively few had rich tactical situations like the shipping containers fight. However, I found after a while that it gets a lot more entertaining if you go for mobility and rushing enemies instead of picking them off at a distance - inherently risky, but satisfying.
• Enemies: The game is a bit back-loaded WRT enemy types - Duke (which has surprisingly few basic types in hindsight) drops them earlier and them keeps using them to their fullest. I was okay with the basic cyborg types. The skulls, yeah, there were too many of them, and they had bad feedback. I don't care much for where HL has gone, but HL's headcrabs are scary when they sneak up on you. Here, you just notice you have lost a lot of health due to a little guy you didn't notice. The flying kamikaze skulls were funny, and the advanced AI types were not bad. Interesting choice to introduce zombies so late, but it shook up things a little.
• Boss fights: I loved these! Properly difficult and intense. This is where combat shines - if you aren't on the move and exploiting opportunities, you get pinned down and killed. This is where we see the proper potential of the combat engine, which is a bit underutilised in the other levels. I did have to cheese the helicopter boss with the duct / ammo crate trick. The final one was tremendously entertaining and a proper sendup to the rest of the game.
• Style: good in-jokes and references. OGAY is life (perhaps a little less sophomoric humour than ideal, but still fairly neat). Some decent visual storytelling; it is good that this kind of game can't rely on readables or audiologs. Heskell is present as much as he has to. I like that he is just a basic evil scientist without a gimmick tragic life story. Before his current position, I bet he was just an evil associate professor, and before that an evil lab assistant. He crops up where he has to, and speaks as much as he has to.
• **Music** is top-tier retro stuff.

I wouldn't mind seeing an extra episode or Ion Fury II: Ion Vengeance (or some such). Best of all, fanmade levels. I might make one or two myself if I have the time.

Rating: /

 

[HansDampf]

AI flaws, you say?

Spoiler

 

[Melan]

Nice view.