Ion Assault
- November 17, 2010
- Coreplay
- 7h median play time
Get on SteamIon 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.
PC
Xbox
Xbox 360
Reviews
- Visually appealing with impressive particle effects that enhance the gameplay experience.
- Unique gameplay mechanic that requires players to gather particles before shooting, adding a strategic element to the classic twin-stick shooter formula.
- Challenging and fast-paced, providing a fun twist on the classic Asteroids gameplay.
- Controls are awkward and frustrating, making it difficult to aim and shoot effectively, which detracts from the overall enjoyment.
- The game suffers from technical issues, including freezes and poor optimization, especially on newer systems.
- Repetitive gameplay with a short campaign and lack of variety in levels and objectives, leading to a monotonous experience.
- gameplay20 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 55 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it repetitive and underwhelming, hampered by mediocre controls and technical issues. While some appreciate the unique mechanics and visual appeal, others criticize the lack of variety and engaging content, leading to a monotonous experience. Overall, the game struggles to balance its interesting concepts with execution, resulting in a gameplay experience that fails to consistently entertain.
“The game does have power-ups and some interesting scoring mechanics on its surface.”
“Whereas most shmups are about precision movement with wildly imprecise shooting of bullets everywhere, this changes it up with its mechanic wherein you need to gather up enough matter from the map to shoot out.”
“The gameplay feels much more fluid than what you'd imagine from the videos; the game is fair; doesn't feel punishing or annoying even if I die.”
“Moving to the gameplay itself, 'irritating' and 'underwhelming' probably describe it best for me.”
“Unfortunately, neither of these do much in particular to offset the annoying gameplay and aggravating controls.”
“The gameplay experience overall was boring and repetitive.”
- music8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews; some players find it repetitive and annoying, with a monotonous 30-second loop for each sector that detracts from the gameplay experience. In contrast, others praise the ambient and techno soundtrack as exceptional, enhancing the overall atmosphere of the game.
“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.”
“I do not remember anything about the music except finding it repetitive and annoying while playing.”
“To make things worse, the music is terrible.”
“Each sector (consisting of 6 levels each) has its own music, which consists of the same 30 seconds looped over and over again.”
- graphics7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally described as pretty, featuring lovely particle effects that enhance the visual experience. However, some users note that the vibrant visuals can be overwhelming, potentially hindering gameplay, and that the game demands significant memory resources. Overall, while the aesthetics are appealing, they may come at the cost of performance and clarity in gameplay.
“Pretty asteroids-type shooter with lovely particle effects and graphics.”
“Lovely particle graphics.”
“It is kind of like Swarm Arena but has better visuals, more/different action.”
“Not much worth noting about the graphics and sound.”
“For this game to really be playable, you'd have to either reduce the vibrancy of the ions, which would probably kill the aesthetic, or come up with some creative way to make dangerous things stand out from the background of moving particles.”
“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.”
- story4 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game's story is criticized for being short and uninteresting, lacking depth and variety, which detracts from the overall experience. While the campaign can be completed quickly, some players find replay value in mastering gameplay mechanics and achieving high scores, despite the narrative shortcomings.
“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.”
“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.”
“It won't take you long to get through the story mode; honestly, it's pretty short.”
“There is also a risk/reward system that informs the quest for high scores.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game appears to suffer from optimization issues, as users report stuttering and performance problems even on capable hardware, such as a 13th gen CPU and an i7 7600 with a GTX 1070. Many feel that the experience does not significantly differ from the trailer, suggesting that the game's performance may not meet expectations.
“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.”
“I don't understand why, but Ion Assault was stuttering on my i7 7600 with a GTX 1070.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
While the boss fights are praised as a highlight of the game, players have reported significant stability issues, experiencing over 10 freezes in 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.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
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.”
