Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
DooM_RO

Ion Fury, a new Build Engine game out now.

Recommended Posts

2 hours ago, KVELLER said:

@JohnnyTheWolf Have you played Blood and Shadow Warrior, by any chance? Because Duke Nukem 3D is arguably the easiest of the three (or the least hard).

Shadow Warrior, yes, and indeed, I really struggled with the game; I believe I made it to Level 6 (the one after you finally kill the Serpent God) and then gave up, as it was getting just too damn frustrating. I have never played Blood, only a bit of ZBloody Hell and Blood CM; like Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior, the arsenal looks fun, but it also seems to feature some of the things that I dislike about the other Build games. Plus, until the recent announcement of a proper remastered version by Nightdive Studios, it was only available as a DOSBox port.

 

And just to be clear, I did beat Duke Nukem 3D as well as Duke It Out In D.C. and Nuclear Winter on "Come Get Some". I remembering starting Duke Caribbean: Life's a Beach too, but I do not think I have ever finished it, as I was getting kind of tired of playing Duke Nukem 3D at the time.

 

I am really curious to see how Ion Maiden is going to turn out; I can only hope it will avoid the bullshit design decisions found in its inspirations.

Share this post


Link to post
Just now, JohnnyTheWolf said:

Shadow Warrior, yes, and indeed, I really struggled with the game; I believe I made it to Level 6 (the one after you finally kill the Serpent God) and then gave up, as it was getting just too damn frustrating.

 

I haven't played SW yet but it is worth mentioning to try a game on easier difficulty if it is too frustrating.

 

Just now, JohnnyTheWolf said:

Plus, until the recent announcement of a proper remastered version by Nightdive Studios, it was only available as a DOSBox port.

 

There are 2 ports of Blood (I mean source ports, not TCs) currently existing. These are BloodGDX and NBlood.

Share this post


Link to post

Well, that is the thing; the aspects that I tend to dislike, which include not only the irritating enemies but also the death traps and platforming segments, are still present. And maybe it is a matter of pride, but I cannot shake the feeling that I am missing out whenever I play on lower difficulty settings, as those come with less enemies to fight and thus less opportunities to use the weapons and tools I am given; after all, I am the kind of player who will deliberately shoot Babes in Duke Nukem 3D so that more enemies get spawned in the process... :/

 

Never heard of NBlood, but I am aware of BloodGDX, as it is made by the same person who made BloodCM. However, with the announcement of an official remaster, it may become obsolete, unless of course the author is now working with Nightdive Studios.

Edited by JohnnyTheWolf

Share this post


Link to post
18 hours ago, JohnnyTheWolf said:

One thing I worry about Ion Maiden is that the first episode might end up being the only one I sort of enjoy, as following episodes start introducing enemies and level designs that I just cannot stand, e.g. Duke Nukem 3D's Lunar Apocalypse with its Sentry Drones and Protozoid Slimers. That is why I hesitate to get the game in Early Access, as much as I want to support Voidpoint.

 

If I'm being honest, I think the enemy design can only improve. The enemies in the preview/early access campaign leave a lot to be desired and what has been teased seem like much fresher additions to the bestiary.

The levels I don't know, I liked the levels in what I played (although they were a bit too detailed making it harder to quickly read the geometry than the minimal designs of Duke3D, Blood, et al) and there's some good level designers working there. I have enough faith, here.

Share this post


Link to post

Does the game have a wiki or something? I would like to learn more about the game's features, but searching "Ion Maiden wiki" on Google just gives me results related to Iron Maiden... :/

Share this post


Link to post
9 hours ago, JohnnyTheWolf said:

Does the game have a wiki or something? I would like to learn more about the game's features, but searching "Ion Maiden wiki" on Google just gives me results related to Iron Maiden... :/

Using quotation marks helps most of the time, in this case:

"ion maiden" wiki

To answer: unfortunately it seems that no, there is none as of now.

Share this post


Link to post

Would you believe me if I told you that I did use quotation marks and yet somehow I still got results about Iron Maiden? :/

 

Anyway, I started replaying Duke Nukem 3d and Lunar Apocalypse is definitely better than I remember. That being said, fuck Sentry Drones; should Voidpoint developers read this, please, PLEASE, I beg of you, do NOT introduce an enemy like that in Ion Maiden!

Share this post


Link to post
1 hour ago, JohnnyTheWolf said:

Would you believe me if I told you that I did use quotation marks and yet somehow I still got results about Iron Maiden? :/

 

Anyway, I started replaying Duke Nukem 3d and Lunar Apocalypse is definitely better than I remember. That being said, fuck Sentry Drones; should Voidpoint developers read this, please, PLEASE, I beg of you, do NOT introduce an enemy like that in Ion Maiden!

 

Doubt they will introduce such an enemy. I could be wrong, but I think the Sentry Drones are almost universally hated, and for good reason. They're as much "fun" as the Lost Souls in Doom... 

Share this post


Link to post

I actually do not mind Doom's Lost Souls, probably because they are fairly easy to dispatch, their behaviour is predictable and also they do not explode in your face - although I hear they now do the latter in Doom 2016, which I guess is one more reason for me to not bother with the full game... :/

 

Anyway, I really wish there were a mod that simply removes Sentry Drones from Duke Nukem 3D...

 

Just now, wheresthebeef said:

Ion-Maiden.jpg?fit=600%2C316&ssl=1&resiz

 

  Hide contents

They aren't as annoying as the drones from Duke3D

 

Oh god, no.

Share this post


Link to post
47 minutes ago, JohnnyTheWolf said:

I actually do not mind Doom's Lost Souls, probably because they are fairly easy to dispatch, their behaviour is predictable and also they do not explode in your face - although I hear they now do the latter in Doom 2016, which I guess is one more reason for me to not bother with the full game... :/

 

There was like maybe five encounters with Lost Souls in the entire campaign and even then they were negligible. They felt more like cameos than anything.

Share this post


Link to post
45 minutes ago, JohnnyTheWolf said:

they do not explode in your face - although I hear they now do the latter in Doom 2016, which I guess is one more reason for me to not bother with the full game... :/

There are very few lost souls in the entire campaign, and none of them sneak up on you, really.

 

Also, prefixing quoted phrases with + helps force search engines to stop taking so many liberties with your queries.

Share this post


Link to post
3 minutes ago, wheresthebeef said:

 

There was like maybe five encounters with Lost Souls in the entire campaign and even then they were negligible. They felt more like cameos than anything.

Oh. Well, that is a relief, then!

 

What about Ion Maiden's Sentry Drone-like enemy, though? Is it also a kamikaze or does it bump into you like Classic Doom's Lost Soul?

Share this post


Link to post
6 hours ago, JohnnyTheWolf said:

Oh. Well, that is a relief, then!

 

What about Ion Maiden's Sentry Drone-like enemy, though? Is it also a kamikaze or does it bump into you like Classic Doom's Lost Soul?

 

My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I'm sure they just have a ranged attack, or at the very least they don't rush at you. They're not an annoyance at all, except for the fact that they're a bit hard to hit.

Share this post


Link to post
9 hours ago, seed said:

Doubt they will introduce such an enemy. I could be wrong, but I think the Sentry Drones are almost universally hated, and for good reason. They're as much "fun" as the Lost Souls in Doom... 

 

Nope. They r much much worse than Lost Souls. Atleast Souls don't just kaboom and take away 40-50 hp. Duke3D's E2M3 is what made me HATE those things.

 

Also did I mention how annoying their sounds are when in pain state.

Share this post


Link to post

At least, if the Sentry Drones had a clear weakness and did not have such an erratic behaviour, I do not think they would be as irritating as they are.

 

Just what the hell was 3D Realms thinking when they designed that enemy? Which reminds me: is there a developer commentary about its conception in 20th Anniversary World Tour? I have not played that one, as I am not interested in buying the same game for the third time and I read it is not a particularly good port to begin with, although I do have to admit, Alien World Order looks kind of cool, to be honest.

Edited by JohnnyTheWolf

Share this post


Link to post
3 hours ago, Cage said:

Hey guys, you can talk about the game now! ;)

Especially, since it's coming out Soon. ;)

 

 

Quoting Cage from the other thread. I guess it makes more sense to continue the discussion about the game in the thread that is actually dedicated to it rather than the lawsuit.

 

Anyway, I'm pretty damn hyped for it. I've had the game on Steam ever since it came out in Early Access but I've also recently ordered the big box physical copy just for the hell of it. Can't wait for Thursday.

Share this post


Link to post

Just bumping this thread for visibility.

 

I'll post a proper review once I've finished a full play through. But yeah, Ion Fury is pretty awesome, with some outstanding design work.

Share this post


Link to post

Here's some quick impressions:

 

Weapons:

 

The Loverboy is a weird weapon. It's very powerful but the animation feels stiff and the sound is really weak. It's more of a plop than a loud bang. Meanwhile the alt-fire is very powerful and the increased ammo usage doesn't seem to balance that. I would have made the alt-fire a hard to find upgrade instead.

 

Shotgun is great but the sound is a bit weak. It takes a bit long to switch to grenade mode though.

 

The Uzis (forgot their name) are very powerful but the ammo is very rare for some reason. Takes a long time to reload too.

 

Crossbow is a great weapon, especially if you hold down the alt fire button.

 

Chaingun is pretty powerful too.

 

They changed the Bowling Bombs. They no longer stick to enemies that much. I did complain about them being too powerful but I'm not sure how to use them anymore.

 

Only used the Clusterpuck a couple of times but they are very powerful.

 

Level Design:

 

Hands down the best I have seen in any recent classic shooter. Long, epic and very beautiful. They are chock-full of secrets, many of which are really hard to find and I am usually quite good at finding them. I only found about half. Lots of interactivity and variety too. It's like the culmination of 20 years of mapping. Some levels are better than others but none of them are bad. The level with lots of cargo and warehouses was really great but the one with the GDF headquarters was kind of mediocre. Not bad but not that great.

 

Enemies:

 

This is where all build games suffer a bit. There are no annoying hitscanners like in Blood or Duke3D but the balance is not quite as refined as in Doom and Quake. As said before, there are not really any annoying hitscanners but the projectiles are quite fast maybe a bit too fast to comfortably dodge. Some of the enemies, like the flying drone that fires small projectiles are needlessly annoying. The projectiles are small, fast and make no sound but do a lot of damage. It's not bad or anything but nowhere near Doom or Quake.

 

Shelly:

 

I really like her design. I'm glad they ditched those weird semi-nude concept arts. She actually looks like a cop. She is not a supermodel but she's pretty. She looks like those cute girls you see at the gym and I kinda like that. Too bad her personality is a bit bland and try-hard though.

 

So yeah, this is a great game that everyone should get. I remember years ago when I was hoping for a retro revival and this is it. I would have called you crazy if you had told me there would be another Build Engine game.

Edited by DooM_RO

Share this post


Link to post

I'm really enjoying the game. I'm currently in Zone 3 so I have ways to go before I beat it. I'll wait with posting my impressions until then but for now I'll just say that this is easily shaping up to be my second favourite Build game next to Duke3D.

Share this post


Link to post

Ion Fury is awesome, because it was made slowly by part timers over 5 years and so has a lot of refinements to it. 

 

Example: Hit scan enemies. They aim where-ever the player's position was .25 seconds ago and telegraph their attack. Makes it so that they can be countered with the same FUN strafing behavior like like Projectile Enemies, while still retaining as different attack behavior. 

 

Another example: The gun's secondary attacks. Duke Nukem didn't have any, and while Blood and Shadow Warrior did, they were generally abusive enough to my ammo pool that I never used them. Ion Fury on the other hand, the secondary fire modes very much feel like an important part of the weapon. 

 

The level design, is just out-of-this world awesome. Everything has that meticulous hand-crafted feel of games in the 90s which had to use each polygon sparingly, except this time the polygon limits have been shattered and it allows for amazingly detailed urban and residential environments.

 

Also the music, just awesome. I love the Tracker Music soundtrack. Fits in with the time period perfectly, while offering more flexibility than Midi. 

 

I've played the game half a dozen times and its just as near perfect as I think you can reasonably get. 

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah. They worked on the game part time unpaid until they could sell it on Steam. You don't get any more indie that guys who aren working on their own time to get a game realized. 

Share this post


Link to post

Would it be possible to demake the game so that it can be run on a 486? I wonder how much effort that would involve.

Share this post


Link to post
1 hour ago, DooM_RO said:

Would it be possible to demake the game so that it can be run on a 486? I wonder how much effort that would involve.

I suspect there's too much going on in this version of the engine for a 486 computer to run. Maybe a solid Pentium from the same era...

Share this post


Link to post
7 minutes ago, GoatLord said:

I suspect there's too much going on in this version of the engine for a 486 computer to run. Maybe a solid Pentium from the same era...

 

I mean downscale the textures and sprites, simplify the geometry. 

Share this post


Link to post
23 minutes ago, DooM_RO said:

I mean downscale the textures and sprites, simplify the geometry.

so, basically, recreate everything from scratch. yeah, it is certainly possible -- just spend another 5 (or more) years on it.

Share this post


Link to post

I have played a few levels so far and really enjoying it. The amount of detail in the levels is more than I expected. Hopefully I will find time to finish the game

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×