A completely okay game that is at fault for being a subpar follow up to infinitely better game.

Phantom Fury is the follow up game to the Retro FPS pioneer Ion Fury. Developed by Slipgate Ironworks and not the original developers following Shelley Harrison as she's back at it again. The game is most notable for being styled like the linear narrative FPS games of the late 90s and early 20s, such as Half Life. Much like how Ion Fury mirrors other Build engine FPS game. However it often feels like a imitation that references bits and pieces of those games rather than using it as a basis and expanding upon that already solid framework. Nevertheless the game functions and other than a few minor gameplay bugs is completely playable and fun in it's own way. But is still a subpar follow up to such a innovative first game, even it's Aftershock DLC.

Gameplay of Phantom Fury is honestly really solid but needed more polish. As stated before it's in the more linear narrative style with games like Half Life, specifically the second is where the game is pulling it's inspiration but mixed in with mechanics from other games and of course drawing from the original Ion Fury. Gunplay is fairly standard you have a variety of weapons from pistols, shotguns, rifles, and unique weapons to play around with. Weapons carried over from Ion Fury work 1:1 with their Build counterparts like the Loverboy and it's incredibly useful Altfire. While the new weapons range from non-original but also very useful or weird and unusual. Shelley also has a brand new mechanical arm which allows her to punch really hard. Which is helpful occasionally in combat but I mostly found use of it since you can get some really good momentum off of it. This leads into the other notable part of the game, the upgrade system. Hidden throughout the game's level are these.... Nanoite? canisters that allow you to upgrade some of your weapons, arm, and your suit. They range from really useful like a stun flash for your basic Shotgun to completely useless like a projectile shield that prevents you from attack. Personally I was able to get enough canisters by playing normally and looking for secrets to get way more than enough to get all the upgrades I wanted. Enemy combat however is probably the most halfbaked, practically every enemy beelines to you like a moth to a light, like Half LIfe 2 Combine AI but even less sophisticated. Normally this isn't a issue since at the start a lot of the level design is hallway-like inside of buildings but once you get to the more open areas of the game it starts to crack. The drone enemies are simply annoying cause they're not that strong or deal that much damage but they almost always explode after a few seconds on death which got me a few times. Mutant enemies are okay with the right upgrades but seem to have a lack of polish, like how the zombie-esque mutants casually jog to run after you. Really as a whole is a bunch of familiar mechanics that feel like they're there just to be like "Hey remember that thing" rather than taking it and putting it's own spin on it to be unique.

Style wise, Phantom Fury is back at it with that Slipgate Ironworks' artstyle that was also used in Graven. Lowpoly models with a high density of visible pixels but combined with modern aspects like a large level scope, physics engine, and lighting. For the most part the game is well detailed throughout it's various levels which span across a huge variety of locations. The only exception is the final act of the game where the level design a lot more open and plain. I think the reason why the other parts of the game were able to look pretty good for what this game is, is simply because of the smaller scope that's given with stuff like interior rooms and the sort. It's pretty evident when the Mall and the final area of the game has clearly more time and care put into them. Otherwise, game looks good, just wish the game was better.

Overall, Phantom Fury simply exists. It's not a great sequel to Ion Fury and looking at it on it's own it doesn't do THAT much that other games released back then and very recently do better. However I would be lying if I didn't have fun with it. It thankfully holds together enough to be worth at least one playthough, if you can get it as cheap as possible cause 25$ could be spent on a better game, like Ion Fury. Since as this game didn't do well for obvious reasons, we're likely not getting any more "Fury" games unless a miracle happens. Heck I didn't even mention that John Blade from SiN shows up just because, considering his remaster of the first game is still in development limbo. As a whole treat this game like a Phantom it's up to you if you interact with it or not.

It's no Ion Fury but Bombshell wasn't either. It's actually pretty fun, flawed but a fun ride with lot's of different weapons. Reminds me something like Duke Nukem 3D cross with Half-Life 1 but not as good as either of those.

Phantom Fury doesn't deserve the terrible rap it gets.

8/10

Great game