Ion Fury review: a retro FPS that you will fall in love with

Retro lovers are in luck, a game completely developed in Build Engine in 2020? Something that seems impossible becomes a reality, with a result that will fall like a direct bomb in your most nostalgic gamer.

A city under siege

We will play Shelly "Bombshell" Harrison in her mission to save Neo DC from Dr. Jadus Heskel, an evil transhumanist scientist who has decided to unleash a cybernetic army on the city.

From the hand of Voidpoint and published by 3D Realms, Ion Fury proposes a fast-paced FPS full of action and flat enemies and low quality textures and although this in principle is something that could not be considered good, in Ion Fury converge in a masterful way touching the fiber of our inner child.

With an aesthetic that reminds us a lot of the cyberpunk of the 90s, Ion Fury is a game that does not skimp on difficulty making it a real challenge to end waves of cultists and cybermutants.

But we will not go empty-handed because we have a varied arsenal of weapons which have a second fire mode to give us more creativity in our massacres, from electric batons, various explosives and of course heavy weapons that allow us to get rid of the numerous waves of enemies who will try to kill us.

Reminiscent of 90's action

Almost all aspects in this game are remarkable, a level design of great detail where we can enjoy very large non-linear environments that add depth to the game and that will force us to scrutinize every corner in search of access cards to move to the next to the next area.

In the sound section, loud gunshots, explosions and the sound of viscera accompany the sublime soundtrack composed in FastTraker2 by Jarkko Rotsten, transports us directly to a Neo DC of neon and pixels, in which it is difficult not to get lost sniffing through the huge amount of details of the environment.

Full of Easter Eggs and secrets, Ion Fury is a pleasant trip to the past in which it has been carefully tried to replicate the experience of the genre at the time, and although 3D Realms does not currently own the rights to Duke Nukem, it has not been necessary to show who was the reference at the time.

And it might seem that Ion Fury plays it safe appealing to the nostalgia of all those who enjoyed Duke Nukem , Blood or Redneck Rampage, but far from reality what Ion Fury brings to the table is a masterpiece of retro style genre, which combines all aspects to achieve a good level of immersion creating tension, panic, chaos and even fear in some phases of the game.

Build Engine hitting the mark

And although visually it may lag behind in the new wave of retro style FPS, somehow it stands out, as it is the only one developed in the same engine that these games were made 25 years ago, the Build Engine, making it shine in the middle of 2020.

With 7 chapters long, 3 alternative game modes and the promise of an online mode in the future, Ion Fury assures us many hours of gameplay and nostalgia.

All in all Ion Fury is a great game with a clear objective , reminiscent of old school shooters, but this won't stop any newcomer from getting hooked right away because it's an honestly fun game.

The best thing about it

• Masterful level design.
• Frenetic action.
• The boss battles are epic.
• A very high quality soundtrack.

The Worst

• The diversity of enemies is not very high in the first part of the game.

We have made this analysis thanks to a download code for Nintendo Switch provided by Meridiem Games.