Ion Assault is a little bit of a surprise, going into it I didn’t know what to expect, a retro inspired game, or some silly faux futuristic shoot’em up, the result was not something I had anticipated and yet perhaps it was the most obvious result, a top down space game with powerups and an interesting firing mechanism.
Each level is set within the confines of a border and the objective is, much like Super Star Dust HD, to destroy the space rocks and incoming enemies. To fire you hold down the left trigger to collect dust from around the stage, when you let go of the trigger the The firing ability is only as strong as your collected dust. Destroying more rocks in the shortest time possible creates larger amounts of dust which also increases your destructive capacity along with boosting your scores.
It’s presentation is very reminiscent of the previously mentioned SSDHD but is set on a single plain withing a square box, the graphics are sharp and the effects, such as the debris blast cast off, are also well polished to reflect the rest of the experience.
The boss battles are impressive, the size and difficulty is nicely varied and I found some of them challenging in an enjoyable way. Perhaps not as inspired as you would see in Shatter, but functional and well designed.
My main concern with Ion Assault is simply that it doesn’t have anything to draw me back to it. I enjoyed what I played, and would recommend that initial experience to anyone in at least its demo form, but I can’t say that the purchase is totally merited without some serious reflection on the price and alternate games that you could be spending your time on. Perhaps if someone on my friends list had it I would recommend it on its merit of having cooperative play, but alas, I am alone in my rock destroying ambitions.
