goated series. shelley is the baddest mf in the galaxy!

It's like they made an expansion to Duke Nukem 3D and threw in Bombshell and made her very angry at everything (she was actually suppose to be in Duke Forever before they ruined it and now she was reused as the protagonist in her own game) and then just laced the entire game with crack... and then made all kinds of weird interesting weapons and laced THOSE with crack!

Ion Fury is a fantastic shooter that really delivers on its goals.

Pros:
-Great gunplay, weapons are punchy and every one stays useful 'til the end (except the stupid stun baton)
-fantastic visuals
-impressive amount of environment interaction and detail. really can't stress enough how much of a difference this makes in a shooter. This is the first time I've ever gotten zapped by touching a wall outlet in a game.
-really cool voxel-based models for guns/health/interactables/etc.
-plays like a dream on gamepad, bullet magnetism is nice
-perfect length, 10 or 12 hours.
-great sense of humor
-soundtrack is good
-exploration is a blast, hidden/secret areas are top notch!
-perfectly nails the late 90s PC FPS vibe, channels that classic shooter feel

Cons:
-levels are VERY long and can be taxing to navigate. Lots of time spent on "where is the door/key/where do i go, wait i'm all the way back at the start of the level"
-based on my experience, CLOUD SAVES DO NOT FUNCTION although this feature is listed on the steam page. saves did not transfer to another PC or to my steam deck.
-SFX (particular enemy noises) are extremely repetitive and uninspired, a real shame
-some poorly communicated mechanics or controls. This would've been a non-issue with the mere inclusion of input glyphs (button icons) on the HUD.
-although it's a modern feature, would benefit greatly from a weapon wheel or cross menu for weapon selection.
-levels feel a tad interchangeable in the game's progression, new enemies are slow to be introduced and largely the increase in intensity/difficulty is not very noticeable.
-sort of comes with the territory, but sprite-based enemies become very difficult to see/hit when you are directly above/below them. Due to the verticality of Ion Fury, this becomes an issue a bit too often.

These cons are mostly just minor flaws.

All that said, I definitely recommend Ion Fury, It is vastly superior to many of its boomer-shoot counterparts, and delivers a smooth, detailed experience. It's fun, it's polished, it's worth your time and money. 9/10