Phantom Fury is a mere phantom of the classics – Review

                             

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       Phantom Fury is a mere phantom of the classics – Review

    Phantom Fury, created by Slipgate Ironworks, is a shooting game inspired by old-fashioned games like Serious Sam and Half-Life. However, it doesn't quite capture the excitement of those games.The main character is "Bombshell" Harrison, with her robotic arm. Unlike Ion Fury, which was influenced by Duke Nukem 3D and DOOM, Phantom Fury takes its cues from games of the late 90s and early 2000s, like Serious Sam: The First Encounter.

Ion Fury was liked by players, but it was made by Voidpoint. Phantom Fury is made by SlipGate Ironworks, known for not doing so well with their previous game, Bombshell.

Even though Phantom Fury is a sequel, you don't need to have played Ion Fury to enjoy this new adventure. The story is more like background noise anyway. Shelly wakes up in an underground base, grabs a stun baton, and sets out to save the world from some kind of trouble. Along the way, she makes jokes and one-liners, but they aren't as funny or memorable as Duke Nukem's. Sometimes other characters show up to explain why everything is exploding, but they don't do a very good job of it

Like its inspirations, Phantom Fury is about shooting far more than telling a cohesive or interesting story. There’s none of that primary and secondary weapon nonsense here: Shelly is old-school and can magically fit her entire arsenal of firepower, of which there’s a lot, into her non-existent pockets. It’s that or she’s fitting them somewhere else, but I refuse to venture up that rabbit hole. There’s the typical choices of a shotgun, an assault rifle and a rocket launcher, augmented with a spicier implements of destruction like an acid-spitting alien tentacle…errr, thing, a photon rifle and bowling ball bombs. While I admire the idea of making players decide which guns to take, there’s something beautiful about having every weapon instantly available.

The thing about having a big arsenal is overlap, and that’s something Phantom Fury does suffer from. The standard pistol is completely useless compared to the Loverboy revolver which also boasts an absurdly overpowered lock-on ability, while the SMGs are largely usurped by the assault rifle. The Stun Baton has no reason to exist aside from occasionally powering up an electric box, and the same can be said for the circular saw which you’ll sometimes whip out to grind through a locked door but is otherwise useless against enemies due to a lack of ammo for it.

Along the way you get a chance to upgrade your guns, giving them extra abilities that serve no purpose compared to the superior suit and gun upgrades. The shotgun’s blinding flashlight is fine, for example, but not really worth spending upgrade points on.

Phantom Fury's combat is fast-paced, with lots of strafing and hiding behind cover while you battle waves of enemies. The action is basic and lacks good feedback when you shoot enemies, and the weapons feel weak. It's not terrible, but the shooting isn't very enjoyable either—okay at times, but mostly forgettable. The game could use more different types of enemies to keep it interesting.

One thing Phantom Fury doesn't focus on enough is Shelly's robotic arm. You can use it to smash enemies, but I rarely used it because there are plenty of guns available. It's surprising that the arm isn't used much for puzzles or exploring, even though it's Shelly's main feature (since her personality isn't very strong).

Phantom Fury pays tribute to its inspirations in fun ways, like having lots of things you can interact with, similar to Duke Nukem 3D. You can flush toilets, drink booze, and push buttons, even though most of it doesn't do much except feel satisfying. Sometimes it leads to cool mini-games, like a light gun arcade game. But it can be confusing when things that look like you can interact with them, like doors, don't always work. I thought games had moved past the days where some doors open and others don't, but this game still has that issue. Also, Phantom Fury still has invisible walls, which feels old-fashioned.

The game gets better after the first few hours of linear levels. Later on, the levels become bigger and more complex, with multiple doors that need color-coded cards to open. Navigating these bigger areas requires exploring and remembering where things are, since there's no map to help you. It feels good to figure out what to do next on your own, but sometimes the game doesn't give enough hints, and I got stuck for a while not knowing what to do.

Phantom Fury has a few bright spots like jungles or a fun pub area, but overall, there are too many dull corridors, military bases, and dark interiors that remind me of old-fashioned shooters in a negative way. The game even forces a dreary sewer section into the mix, which looks pretty bad graphically. While it makes the occasional colorful outdoor area stand out, I'd prefer less time spent exploring concrete bunkers, especially in the last part of the game.

Phantom Fury tries to mix things up with different activities, like driving a 4×4 along boring roads or shooting down enemy aircraft in an on-rails helicopter section. These parts vary in quality, offering some diversity at least. The same goes for the boss fights, which usually involve battling a huge enemy with a massive health bar using lots of ammo and explosives. These fights aren't very original; you've seen them all before.

Weeks after its release, I encountered several technical issues with Phantom Fury, the most significant being frequent crashes on my PS5. At times, the game would crash multiple times in a single section, interrupting my progress just before reaching the next checkpoint. This forced me to restart the console entirely to continue playing. Other issues, while less frustrating, included bizarre physics interactions like getting unexpectedly launched into the air by a rolling barrel, and enemies seemingly oblivious to my presence, persisting as if hoping I'd disappear if they ignored me long enough. They were mistaken.

conclusion

I’d be more willing to ignore these issues if the gameplay was stronger, but it isn’t. It’s not a bad game, but there are plenty of other boomer-shooters out there – like Boltgun, the excellent Selaco or even Ion Fury, for that matter – that do it so much better.