Game Card
Ion Assault (Xbox360)
- Publisher:
- Black Inc.
- Developer:
- Coreplay
- US Release:
- 23.09.2009
- EU Release:
- n/a
- Number of players:
- n/a
- Type:
- Action
- Reality Factor:
- Science Fiction
- Age:
- Futuristic
Preview
Ion Assault Preview
The Xbox Live Arcade has become the home for multidirectional shooters – otherwise known as shoot ‘em ups or shmups – and Coreplay is ready to unleash their shooter on the service titled Ion Assault. Concentrating on gameplay that revolves around destroying asteroids, players are in for a surprise as the visuals are electrifying and the gameplay is addictive.
Players won’t feel out of place in Ion Assault since the controls are easy to pick up and play. Moving the ship with the left thumbstick and aiming with the right thumbstick, players shouldn’t have any difficulty adjusting to the fast-paced gameplay. When the left and right Thumbsticks are used in unison, they provide advance maneuvers to outflank the enemies and incoming asteroids. To fire away at the enemies, players must use the Left Trigger to active the ship’s mass reactor to attract Ion Particles, the matter/object that is fired away at the opposition. Releasing the Left Trigger will shoot all the collected particles at the target and, hopefully for the sake of the gamer, have the target blown to smithereens. When using the ship’s mass reactor, the ship will slow down and become susceptible to attacks, so it’s best to attack when the opportunity arises and then speed off to put distance between the target and the ship.
After destroying an enemy ship or an asteroid, players are able to collect Score Orbs that are dropped by the recently disposed targets. The ships tractor beam ray will attract the Score Orbs once players stop using the mass reactor. The more Score Orbs players collect, the more points they’ll gain to post on the leaderboards. If players are able to destroy two objects at one time, they’ll be able to increase their multiplier which is essential for high scores. For every 100,000 points, players are granted an extra life for their deeds.
Troubles may arise with blowing up bigger asteroids, so destroying a rival ship that is carrying a power-up is useful to take advantage of. There are two different kinds of power-ups: Active and Passive. Passive power-ups are used once they are picked up and Active power-ups are stored for later use. Passive power-ups include the following: Gravity Boost (increases radius of mass reactor), Power Shield and Chrono Stasis (slows down time and enemies). As for the Active power-ups, they include: Seeking Drones (which will attack nearby enemies and collect Ion Particles), Plasma Torus (a ring of fire), and Vortex Grenades (creating a powerful Particle Storm). Players are able to toggle through the power-ups by pressing the left and right bumper; it’s essential to understand which is best used in each unique situation.
Fans of cooperative play should be happy to hear that Ion Assault permits two players to tag-team through the levels. There’s offline and online versus modes for up to four players to battle if cooperative play isn’t their type of thing. As predicted, Ion Assault supports online leaderboards for the hardcore gamers who have something to prove. As for the achievements, many of them are time-based (finish a stage in less than 90 seconds) and score-based (score more than 1,500,000 points in a single game).
Lastly, the production values are so-so with a monotonous soundtrack and vivid graphical effects. There’s a woman commentator who will inform players when they’ve achieved a new high score. Not the most enthusiastic commentator, but it does help skew an arcade-like presence on top of Ion Assault. Graphically, the ships aren’t gorgeous to look at; at least the graphical effects make up for the shortcomings with the art style.
Be prepared to destroy asteroids and enter worm holes on September 23 when Ion Assault launches on the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 MS Points.
Players won’t feel out of place in Ion Assault since the controls are easy to pick up and play. Moving the ship with the left thumbstick and aiming with the right thumbstick, players shouldn’t have any difficulty adjusting to the fast-paced gameplay. When the left and right Thumbsticks are used in unison, they provide advance maneuvers to outflank the enemies and incoming asteroids. To fire away at the enemies, players must use the Left Trigger to active the ship’s mass reactor to attract Ion Particles, the matter/object that is fired away at the opposition. Releasing the Left Trigger will shoot all the collected particles at the target and, hopefully for the sake of the gamer, have the target blown to smithereens. When using the ship’s mass reactor, the ship will slow down and become susceptible to attacks, so it’s best to attack when the opportunity arises and then speed off to put distance between the target and the ship.
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After destroying an enemy ship or an asteroid, players are able to collect Score Orbs that are dropped by the recently disposed targets. The ships tractor beam ray will attract the Score Orbs once players stop using the mass reactor. The more Score Orbs players collect, the more points they’ll gain to post on the leaderboards. If players are able to destroy two objects at one time, they’ll be able to increase their multiplier which is essential for high scores. For every 100,000 points, players are granted an extra life for their deeds.
Troubles may arise with blowing up bigger asteroids, so destroying a rival ship that is carrying a power-up is useful to take advantage of. There are two different kinds of power-ups: Active and Passive. Passive power-ups are used once they are picked up and Active power-ups are stored for later use. Passive power-ups include the following: Gravity Boost (increases radius of mass reactor), Power Shield and Chrono Stasis (slows down time and enemies). As for the Active power-ups, they include: Seeking Drones (which will attack nearby enemies and collect Ion Particles), Plasma Torus (a ring of fire), and Vortex Grenades (creating a powerful Particle Storm). Players are able to toggle through the power-ups by pressing the left and right bumper; it’s essential to understand which is best used in each unique situation.
Fans of cooperative play should be happy to hear that Ion Assault permits two players to tag-team through the levels. There’s offline and online versus modes for up to four players to battle if cooperative play isn’t their type of thing. As predicted, Ion Assault supports online leaderboards for the hardcore gamers who have something to prove. As for the achievements, many of them are time-based (finish a stage in less than 90 seconds) and score-based (score more than 1,500,000 points in a single game).
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Lastly, the production values are so-so with a monotonous soundtrack and vivid graphical effects. There’s a woman commentator who will inform players when they’ve achieved a new high score. Not the most enthusiastic commentator, but it does help skew an arcade-like presence on top of Ion Assault. Graphically, the ships aren’t gorgeous to look at; at least the graphical effects make up for the shortcomings with the art style.
Be prepared to destroy asteroids and enter worm holes on September 23 when Ion Assault launches on the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 MS Points.
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Trailer
Posted 06.09.09
Length 01:29 Views 244
