Ion Assault

About

Ion Assault is a fast-paced arcade-style space shooter. Players maneuver through intense enemy waves, using a unique ion particle system to split and redirect bursts of energy. The game offers various modes, including a campaign with boss battles, survival, and online multiplayer. Success depends on speed, strategy, and precise control of the ion assault.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

68%

Audience ScoreBased on 111 reviews

graphics5 positive mentions

music5 negative mentions

Visually impressive with great particle effects that enhance the gameplay experience.
Unique gameplay mechanic where players collect particles to shoot, adding a strategic element to the classic Asteroids formula.
Fun and engaging for short sessions, with challenging boss fights and a decent difficulty curve.

Repetitive gameplay that can become dull quickly, with a lack of variety in levels and objectives.
Technical issues such as crashes and poor optimization, particularly on newer systems, leading to frustrating experiences.
Awkward controls and aiming mechanics that detract from the overall enjoyment, making it difficult to hit targets effectively.

gameplay
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
58%
21%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it repetitive and underwhelming, often comparing it unfavorably to classic titles like Asteroids. While some appreciate the unique mechanics and visual appeal, others criticize the controls, lack of variety, and a frustrating charge-based shooting system that detracts from the overall experience. Overall, the gameplay is seen as a weak point, with technical issues and a lack of engaging content leading to a disappointing experience for many players.
- “The gameplay is more or less an updated version of asteroids, with the twist being that you have to charge your attack by absorbing the energy that is spread out across the map, and then releasing it.”
- “+ constantly engaging gameplay keeps you on your feet.”
- “I found it to be quite enjoyable, with the different levels becoming more difficult as I went along, even as I learned new tactics and techniques for manipulating the particle cannon mechanic.”
- “Moving to the gameplay itself, 'irritating' and 'underwhelming' probably describe it best for me.”
- “The gameplay gets boring very quickly as you'll be doing the same thing over and over again.”
- “Unfortunately, neither of these do much in particular to offset the annoying gameplay and aggravating controls.”
graphics
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
60%
15%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the modern visuals and particle effects, while others criticize performance issues, including frame drops and freezing. Although the aesthetic is noted as a strength, many feel that the overall graphical quality is merely acceptable and does not significantly enhance the gameplay experience. Additionally, the game is compared to older titles, suggesting that while the graphics are appealing, they do not elevate the gameplay beyond that of a typical clone.
- “Graphics is this game's main strength.”
- “Pretty asteroids-type shooter with lovely particle effects and graphics.”
- “I would definitely recommend it but make sure your computer meets the minimum specs because the graphics take up a lot of memory, it seems.”
- “I have a high-end computer and the frames would drop dramatically on lowest and highest graphics, plus when I closed the game it completely froze my computer.”
- “Horrible tutorial and even worse visuals - there isn't any gameplay - don't waste your money on this garbage.”
- “This game is a 100% Asteroids clone, adding nothing new aside from graphics.”
music
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
31%
38%
The music in the game has received mixed to negative feedback, with many players finding it repetitive, bland, and uninspiring, which detracts from the overall gameplay experience. While some appreciate the ambient and techno elements, the general consensus is that the looping tracks contribute to a monotonous atmosphere. Overall, the soundtrack is seen as a missed opportunity to enhance the game's appeal.
- “Complementing that, Ion Assault supports the Steam overlay and widescreen modes, has an excellent ambient/techno soundtrack, and has native gamepad support.”
- “Turn up your volume and prepare to be mind blown by the exceptional soundtracks found in this game.”
- “Although the music is fine, it could be improved to enhance the overall experience.”
- “I do not remember anything about the music except finding it repetitive and annoying while playing.”
- “The music is bland and uninspiring, which takes away from the gameplay.”
- “Each sector (consisting of 6 levels each) has its own music, which consists of the same 30 seconds looped over and over again.”
story
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
33%
33%
The game's story is largely criticized for being either nonexistent or extremely minimal, with many players noting a lack of engaging narrative or depth. While some enjoy the gameplay mechanics and replayability, the overall consensus is that the campaign is short and uninteresting, failing to provide a compelling storyline.
- “The improvements to the experience are simple, with a variety of enemies and boss fights in the story mode.”
- “It won't take you long to get through the story mode (honestly, it's pretty short), but it's still fun to replay, trying different techniques and mastering the control of your particle weapon to achieve bigger chain combos.”
- “This game is like the original Asteroids meets Hellshooter; very intense, and while it will really test your hand-eye coordination and reflexes if you're trying to get a high score or survive, it's easy and fun if you just want to stroll through story mode.”
- “The particles are the only thing going for this game, but between a short and uninteresting campaign with no story and little variety, the core gameplay being hampered by the gimmick, and technical issues on Windows 11, I can't recommend it.”
- “There is no storyline to the game.”
- “There was no story; if there was, I missed it completely. I think your job is to destroy asteroids that threaten Earth; if not, then I lied because I'm a liar!”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, particularly for users with newer hardware, leading to stuttering and performance problems even on capable systems. Players have reported difficulties with visual clutter making it hard to spot enemies, and some have had to resort to compatibility settings to mitigate these issues. Overall, the game's performance does not meet expectations, detracting from the overall experience.
- “This could be because I'm using a 13th gen CPU and the game isn't optimized for it, but I haven't had issues in any other games. The trailer basically gives you the same amount of enjoyment you will receive from actually playing the game.”
- “Alright, and secondly, it is poorly optimized, not with the look and feel, but the tendency to jump across the levels stagnates, attributing to the fact that the particles or lighting effects themselves become so overwhelming. Eventually, you will realize that enemies become impossible to spot amidst the chaos.”
- “I had to run it with Windows 7 compatibility, or else the game would start stuttering due to what I think might be a memory leak.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
While the boss fights were praised as a highlight of the game, players reported significant stability issues, experiencing over 10 freezes during just 1.7 hours of gameplay.
- “The boss fights were the highlight, but I experienced more than 10 freezes in my 1.7 hours of playtime.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the game's strong replayability, driven by its visually detailed design and engaging mechanics that encourage them to strive for improved combos and scores.
- “Visually very detailed, with great particle effects and animations, and excellent replayability as you keep pushing for better combos and scores.”