Review
Ion Assault Review (Xbox360)
Coreplay, the developer of Ion Assault, has delivered a fantastic top-down shooter that shmups (a.k.a. shoot ‘em ups) fanatics should adore. Taking a few cues from Asteroids and Geometry Wars, Ion Assault is a fast-paced multidirectional shooter that concentrates on destroying asteroids that are thrown at the player from all angles to keep the action intense. It is fun, it’s somewhat addicting, and, oh boy, was it thrilling when the gameplay was at its peak.
As an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive title, Ion Assault does a lot of things right that any gamer should thoroughly enjoy. The visuals and particle effects are psychedelic. They are done effectively to the point that it’s a pleasure on the eyes and players will want to press on to finish the short single-player campaign. Exploding asteroids, glowing rocks, and a ton of chaos fills up the screen to showcase the beautiful graphical effects. The only issue with the graphics is that when the action gets frenzied, players will most likely end up losing sight of their ship – not the best attribute when players are trying to stay alive.
The objective is to destroy each and every asteroid on the map. Many of the asteroids will break off into smaller pieces, so it’s essential to finish off the asteroids before the screen is overwhelmed with countless enemies. Driving a spaceship around maps as they collect ions to shoot at asteroids, players should have a rousing time zipping around the map dodging objects set before them. When an enemy ship or an asteroid is destroyed, players are able to collect the Score Orbs that are left behind. The ship’s tractor beam ray pulls in the Score Orbs to increase the score. The bigger asteroids aren’t easily obliterated, so the power-ups, such as seeking drones, chrono stasis (slowing down time), and vortex grenades will come in handy in situations where players encounter the larger-based enemies.
The user-friendly controls assist in creating an environment that is ever-inviting to the player to put forth to dedicating their free time to Ion Assault. Players are tasked to hold the left trigger to charge their ion cannon and utilize the right thumbstick to aim the shots. Instead of firing a steady stream of shots from the ship, players need to charge up the ion cannon to eliminate the enemy threats. Since the action is lightning fast, the controls do tend to become a little bothersome due to the manual aiming. Still, there are special maneuvers to take advantage of by using the right and left thumbstick at the same time.
The single-player campaign is shorter than expected, but the boss battles at the end of the levels are rather entertaining. Though, by the end of the campaign, players may wonder what happened to all the offline replay value. To address this situation, Coreplay has added in a cooperative mode that allows players to team up and play through the five levels in the campaign with a friend. Sadly, the cooperative mode is only available offline through local play. Luckily, the competitive versus mode permits four players to combat against one another via Xbox Live. Players guard their bases and send friendly ships to attack enemy bases in a frantic race to prove who the best is. While the online mode won’t impress everyone, it at least offers a new gameplay experience separate from the single-player campaign.
Ion Assault is a superb addition to the Xbox Live Arcade library that is full of shoot ‘em ups. It’s a smart purchase for any Geometry Wars fan that is dying to fill their time with a similar title. The controls could’ve been tightened up and the single-player campaign could’ve been longer, but in the long run, Ion Assault is a surprisingly great title for 800 MS Points.
Top Game Moment: When players see the beauty of the particle effects as an asteroid blows up into chunks.
As an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive title, Ion Assault does a lot of things right that any gamer should thoroughly enjoy. The visuals and particle effects are psychedelic. They are done effectively to the point that it’s a pleasure on the eyes and players will want to press on to finish the short single-player campaign. Exploding asteroids, glowing rocks, and a ton of chaos fills up the screen to showcase the beautiful graphical effects. The only issue with the graphics is that when the action gets frenzied, players will most likely end up losing sight of their ship – not the best attribute when players are trying to stay alive.
 |
 |
|
| The action is frantic. | Boss battles cap off each level. |
The objective is to destroy each and every asteroid on the map. Many of the asteroids will break off into smaller pieces, so it’s essential to finish off the asteroids before the screen is overwhelmed with countless enemies. Driving a spaceship around maps as they collect ions to shoot at asteroids, players should have a rousing time zipping around the map dodging objects set before them. When an enemy ship or an asteroid is destroyed, players are able to collect the Score Orbs that are left behind. The ship’s tractor beam ray pulls in the Score Orbs to increase the score. The bigger asteroids aren’t easily obliterated, so the power-ups, such as seeking drones, chrono stasis (slowing down time), and vortex grenades will come in handy in situations where players encounter the larger-based enemies.
The user-friendly controls assist in creating an environment that is ever-inviting to the player to put forth to dedicating their free time to Ion Assault. Players are tasked to hold the left trigger to charge their ion cannon and utilize the right thumbstick to aim the shots. Instead of firing a steady stream of shots from the ship, players need to charge up the ion cannon to eliminate the enemy threats. Since the action is lightning fast, the controls do tend to become a little bothersome due to the manual aiming. Still, there are special maneuvers to take advantage of by using the right and left thumbstick at the same time.
 |
 |
|
| Bring your "A" game. | This wormhole looks so tempting. |
The single-player campaign is shorter than expected, but the boss battles at the end of the levels are rather entertaining. Though, by the end of the campaign, players may wonder what happened to all the offline replay value. To address this situation, Coreplay has added in a cooperative mode that allows players to team up and play through the five levels in the campaign with a friend. Sadly, the cooperative mode is only available offline through local play. Luckily, the competitive versus mode permits four players to combat against one another via Xbox Live. Players guard their bases and send friendly ships to attack enemy bases in a frantic race to prove who the best is. While the online mode won’t impress everyone, it at least offers a new gameplay experience separate from the single-player campaign.
Ion Assault is a superb addition to the Xbox Live Arcade library that is full of shoot ‘em ups. It’s a smart purchase for any Geometry Wars fan that is dying to fill their time with a similar title. The controls could’ve been tightened up and the single-player campaign could’ve been longer, but in the long run, Ion Assault is a surprisingly great title for 800 MS Points.
Top Game Moment: When players see the beauty of the particle effects as an asteroid blows up into chunks.
Videos
-
Ion Assault Trailer
01:29 | 717 views | 0 comments
