Ion Fury (PC)

Developer:

Voidpoint

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Release Date:

2019

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Systems:

PC, Mac

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This month on Super Adventures, I've only got the one game for you, and it's been reviewed and streamed by everyone else already! In fact it was in Early Access for months, so a whole chapter of it's been around for everyone to play for ages. What I should've done is hang on for a couple of decades until the game's properly retro and write about it then, but I'm impatient.

Ion Fury is the second Duke Nukem spin-off starring Shelly Harrison after 2016's Bombshell, except not really as the character never actually turned up in any of the Duke Nukem games she was intended to appear in. This worked out for 3D Realms though as it means they got to keep her when they sold the rest of the Duke IP to Gearbox a few years back. They can't make Duke Nukem games anymore but they can make all the Bombshell sequels they want. Or a prequel in this case.

Bombshell was a top down shooter, but this is a bit more like Duke Nukem 3D. In fact it's a lot more like it, as it was made using the Build engine that powered the last of the great 2.5D games like Duke 3D, Shadow Warrior and Blood. Why did they go back to such an archaic game engine? Same reason that Baldur's Gate got an expansion made recently in the Infinity engine I guess: because the developer had already updated the engine for new systems and knew people were nostalgic for it (Voidpoint is run by the guy who made the EDuke32 source port). Plus they wanted to.

I'm immune to nostalgia though, as I never really left the 90s (or the 2000s). In fact I played a few levels of Doom II, Quake and Duke 3D while I was waiting for the final version to go live and the download to start, so all it has to do is be better than them and I'll be impressed.

Blood (MS-DOS)

In 1996 a video game called Quake was released that changed first person shooters forever, inspiring the genre's evolution to true texture-mapped polygon 3D graphics.... though it didn't happen right away.

You see, there was another game released in 1996 called Duke Nukem 3D and it sold a whole lot of copies, so developers were keen on getting their own Build Engine powered games onto shelves before 2.5D sprite-based first person shooters disappeared forever. Blood actually began development at Q Studios, an independent developer funded by 3D Realms, but the studio and rights were bought by Monolith, who finished the game themselves after 3D Realms let it go to focus on Shadow Warrior and their big fully 3D super project... Duke Nukem Forever.

I've already played both Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior, but it didn't seem right somehow to leave out the other famous Build Engine game, so I'm giving this quick look as well.

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting to see me play Redneck Rampage though.

Shadow Warrior (MS-DOS)

Today I am finally taking a look at Shadow Warrior or (Shadow Warrior Classic as its now been rechristened), 3D Realms' second game after the legendary Duke Nukem 3D and also the last they ever finished. Though to be fair they'd already spent a decade making games as Apogee.

This came out in the wake of Duke Nukem's epic success, when games based on the Build engine were coming out every two weeks or so. No seriously, Redneck Rampage hit shops a fortnight before this and Blood came out 18 days later. After Quake these 2.5D sprite based shooters had been made obsolete overnight, so they had a limited window of opportunity I guess.

I've played this one before and though I can't remember how it plays or even if it's any good, I promise you that I will be 100% biased towards it due to nostalgia. But I'll certainly do my best to criticise it anyway.

William Shatner's Tekwar: The Game (MS-DOS) - Guest Post

Hey everybody, I'm playing something that isn't Captain America related!

Let's approach this with an open mind.

Duke Nukem 3D (MS-DOS)

GOOD RETRO GAME WEEK, day 4.

I've dragged Quake out of the warm fuzzy embrace of rose-tinted nostalgia, now it's Duke Nukem's turn to face the harsh light of reality.