Phantom Fury Review (PC)

The snipers are a bit much. I can deal with fast-moving drones that avoid bullets and then tend to explode once shot. Normal soldiers, with their limited body armor and tendency to move more than they shoot, are also easy prey. The zombies, despite their weird ability to throw things at my character, also don’t pose much of a problem as long as there’s space to maneuver.

But the long-range attacks coming out of the darkness are annoying. I’ve already navigated a big mine area, apparently for nothing, because Shelly has to move through open ground, with no support, to get to a hidden facility where I will be able to upgrade her bionic arm. So it’s time to focus less on pumping lead into enemies and more on finding cover to make sure the snipers do not get her before she can get up close and deliver some righteous justice.

Once that’s done, it’s time for a more traditional first-person shooter experience, with rooms loaded with enemies and both ammunition and health pickups spread around. I really want to use the boost and bash ability of the arm more, but it is more efficient to hang back, deliver headshots, and conserve ammunition as much as possible.

Phantom Fury is developed by Slipgate Ironworks and published by 3D Realms. I played on the PC via Steam and gamers can also pick it up on the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 5 from Sony, and the Xbox Series X and S from Microsoft. The title delivers a retro take on the first-person shooter, with a few interesting tweaks.

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The protagonist is Shelly Harrison aka Bombshell. She previously starred in Ion Fury and is an accomplished special agent, with a bionic arm and a fondness for explosives. The game’s story hits all the beats of an 80s B action movie. Shelly needs to go across the United States, visiting a variety of environments and facing a ton of enemies, to secure something called the Demon Core.

The writing is over-the-top and cheesy, which makes it perfect for the setting. Bombshell’s one-liners (their frequency can be tweaked) tend to become annoying after a while but the plot is only a way to get players from one level to another. I stopped listening after a few hours and there was no moment when I felt confused.

Phantom Fury is a first-person shooter designed to evoke the classics of this genre. Shelly starts off in a medical facility, forced to rely only on her bionic arm at first while learning to navigate the environment. She can jump and crouch, moves needed to solve some environmental puzzles. Crawling through tunnels and ventilation shafts, sometimes with a flashlight aiding navigation is sometimes required. The sprint is also important to avoid damage.

But players will mostly move through relatively large areas, fighting against a wide range of enemies, replenishing health and ammo, and finding the keys and cards required to get to a new level. Phantom Fury is fast and violent, with no way to get into cover or peek around corners. Bombshell quickly gets access to classic weapons like a shotgun or bowling bombs and using them feels good.

The bionic arm is cooler as a concept than a weapon. Sure, players can use it to close the distance the quickly pulverize someone. But shooting from a distance is a better idea 99% of the time. And the game never makes up its mind about how powerful it is. Shelly uses her bionic strength to accelerate minecarts through obstacles but cannot break open flimsy metal gates.

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Phantom Fury breaks up the FPS action with some environmental puzzles and sequences during which players use a piece of machinery to create new paths. There’s a sequence in a bar where I spend too much time on a claw machine, trying to retrieve a certain item. These sections do not add much to the experience, mainly because the physics system is often erratic.

The game’s world is littered with objects Shelly can interact with. I get why computers, storing relevant information or a way to open up the world, are highlighted. But players need to quickly start filtering out things like pads, clothes, and other small objects. They can be picked up but there’s no reason to interact with them.

The fast-paced FPS sections that make up the title’s core are good. It’s fun to see groups of enemies drop in, execute a choreographed tactical approach, and then drop all of them in five minutes, aiming for nothing but headshots. Unfortunately, the rest of the game often gets in the way of its solid shooter loop, making the entire experience less enjoyable.

Phantom Fury does not aim for realism but still looks weird at times. I understand that the idea is to create a presentation that matches how players remember the graphics of favorites from the 90s. And the game looks decent when players are moving fast, firing weapons, and looking for secrets. When the game forces players to sit through short narrative moments, limited textures stand out. Enemies also have a tendency to move in twitchy ways and clip through their cover spots.

The game’s user interface is decent, although scrolling through weapons can sometimes feel weird. The voice acting matches the title’s cheesy narrative tone and I like the weighty sounds of all the weapons. Enemy barks rarely match what’s actually happening to them. The soundtrack comes across as a little generic.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion