after so many years I still think these graphics look gorgeous. This game is one of the best fps I ever played, when I saw the 90 Mb download I couldn't believe it. Hope 3D Realms has not finished with this engine.
The Bitchin' Fast laptop poster says "P6 chip: 3X Pentium speed!" which is a nod to the 1995 movie 'Hackers' when Dade sneaks into Kate's bedroom to try out her new laptop and Kate finds him. He comments about how fast the computer is, and she says "P6 chip. Triple the speed of the Pentium."
@@djrkzr because back then(when Duke Nukem Forever was in early development) it was a arms race to have the most advanced engine on the block mostly due to Id cranking out a new tech pushing engine every new game and you had Epic about to come along with the Unreal engine. So if you wanted to get by you had to be up to snuff engine wise but since it was still the early days of FPS's ideas were changing too because it wasn't long before you had stuff like Deus Ex and Half life changing how a First person shooter plays and is designed. In short Duke Nukem Forever was a victim of trying to be cutting edge in a period of rapid change in the genre.
Sorry to be off topic but does anybody know a tool to log back into an instagram account? I was dumb forgot the login password. I appreciate any tips you can give me!
Voxel objects aren't new for Ion Fury, they were supported by the Build engine back in the day. They didn't quite make it in time for Duke 3D, but were used in Blood the following year.
I wasn't expecting for them to appear in Ion Fury. I remember one of the devs said they don't know if voxels make it into the game as very few people have the skill set to make / implement them properly.
I always go back to Duke Nukem. The first 5 or 6 levels have incredible level design and I can just play them again and again. So hopefully this game will have some amazing level design. Any Duke fan should be excited about this game.
Duke 3D still holds up as one of the best FPS games ever created. I feel like it doesn’t get enough credit nowadays, you can owe that to the colossal fuck up that was Duke Nukem Forever.
@@madfinntech agree with that too! All these cinematic games are great but they just don't have the same level design that allows players to fully appreciate and explore the environment
Uncharted series comes to mind as much with their setpieces. While great to look at, there is no replayability for interactive scenes that are meant to wow you only once.
I don't know why he's referencing Doom 2016 as a modern game that's got things right though, the levels are linear for the most part, from what I've seen.
Build Engine games always have that very specific 'crisp' feeling. The amount of detail and all the little breakable objects and colorful sprites on the walls really make those games pop. Other 2.5D games like Doom had this as well, but games on the Build Engine always had that little extra amount of detail. When we first stepped into 3D it felt like a step back because textures were blurry or very low res. Just compare the amazing crisp, colorful graphics of HEXEN to the blurry, brown mess that was HEXEN2.
This game hits a sweet spot for me. I was introduced to video games by my stepfather with Duke Nukem 3d and Doom. He would boot up his old PC on DOS and showed me the ropes. He passed away last year, and I'm 100% sure he would have LOVED this game, as he was such a fan of old-school games like Duke Nukem, Monkey Island and Grim Fandango. I bought this game this morning in his memory, and fully intend to beat it.
9:29 if you're interested: the technique for faking the look up/down is called Y-Shearing as the viewport is translated in a screen-space vertical shear, rather than a perspective 3D tilt, to cheat a pseudo look up/down. Bungie's Marathon on the Mac was the first FPS game to do this.
Yeah, you just offset Y coordinate of a thing by your view angle multiplied by distance to that thing. Totally makes sense to do this, as original "software" renderer, as far as I know, rendered in columns - so a proper 3D tilt would result in a single column covering geometry at an angle, and maybe even having to draw stuff behind!
I'm playing Quake and Turok for the first time this summer in my spare days and after work and I regret nothing. It's truly eye-opening to see how these games feel fresh now in comparison with all the modern cookie-cutter shooters of today, and I'm really enjoying this trip to the mid-'90s :D
It's still Pathetically sad they had to change the name from Ion Maiden to Ion Fury over bullshit Legal nonsense all because _"It's too close to _*_Iron Maiden."_*
MadFinnTech Iron Maiden’s holding company filed the lawsuit, when the band noticed how close the name is and the logo font, the band Iron Maiden is British and they issued the complaint and lawsuit in California, has nothing to do with America’s choice, it was the choice of a British band, so curb your elitism bud. All your hate and foul personality it’s no wonder your channel is a flop.
They are morons for attempting to name it so closely to Iron Maiden the band. Any lawyer could have told them that. Especially as Iron Maiden have a game too so are in the same market.
The "blackout hallway" from Unreal is genuinely on the most amazing FPS set pieces ever created. I've seen other games over the years reprise it. FEAR: Extraction Point, I believe, has a version in the subway, where you walk down the corridor and then the lights begin to go out. Then you stand there in the darkness for a moment, before Alma appears at the far end walking towards you.
Just wanted to say the quality/depth of DF videos are simply amazing, watching this felt like I was reading a 4 page long article in a gaming magazine in 1995.
"The quality of the assets created for this game cannot be understated" That means they're shit beyond description. You've either gotta say "the quality cannot be OVERSTATED", meaning it's exceptionally good, or "the quality should not be understated" meaning they deserve to be praised highly.
Sense of location and remembering where you are in a video game is a refreshing throwback. Especially in a age where we always stare down at the phone when you are moving and use GPS to get to unknown places.
I would love a feature on first Unreal. The dx10 fan made rendered restores the original look only achieved with vodoo. The skies and transparencies all look correct
Love how levels makes sense rather than being a doom clone 'get red key from a contraption and head towards the door back where you started'. There is a sense of exploration in this
John.. your reverence for the old, enthusiasm for the new, and obsession with tech absolutely blows my mind and keeps me coming back for more. I played all these as a kid. It’s awesome watching now and hearing the tech breakdown! This wouldn’t have been on my radar without this vid. Keep up the good work!!
amongst the other easter eggs mentioned here,at the beginning of the game there are some screens with the Guru meditation error from back in the Amiga days
I found most of the modern shooters frustrating. I always feel, as if I "could not breath" when playing them. It took me some time to realize that the problem is not me, but the design of the "corridor levels" combined with the "cover shooting" mechanic. I want to run around the level, dodge projectiles and explore at my own pace. This game announcement made my day. I hope, there will be a Switch version of it soon.
15:58 Not only does this make you feel disconnected from the maps, but it also makes the maps completely forgettable. There is a reason why 30 years later, I can still remember the layout and names of maps in retro FPS games; but after playing through a typical COD or Battlefield single-player campaign, all of the levels blend together in my mind. Absolutely nothing is memorable or sticks out. And within days of completing the game, the levels and plot details are already fading from my memory.
I like the point about being more connected to the environment. The simpler map building and visual methods present a set of rules and constraints to the player. The original Doom is a good example of this, where the player can develop an understanding of how their environment is built, and what can and can't happen, even without the technical knowledge. My parents became fans of PlayStation Doom in the 90s, and they quickly learned how triggers work, how to spot them, how to find secrets, etc.
when i clicked on the video i was expecting an interesting retro-inspired game; but as of the end of it i'm having a huge nostalgia-crush on ion fury. the art-style and level design bring back soo many memories from fps-past...
You've really sold me on picking this up. I was already pretty much on board but that's amazing how far they took that classic engine. And wow FastTrackerII I've not seen that in probably 15-20 years as I used to use it to make some fun stuff. MOD style music has always impressed, as far back as the Pinball Fantasies tracks over a PC speaker so clear over the bleeps and boops.
@@jamieisjabba I wonder if they will port it to iOS and Android. Shouldn't be hard right? Looks like it should be able to run on an iPhone 5S/Apple A7, or Xiaomi Note 4/QSD 625 (or better). Basically any phone, tablet, or tv box after 2016. While people will pay on iOS, I think it might get pirated on Android, so probably better to just have it Free with Ads/In-App purchase to remove Ads. That extra cash could be useful to the project or DLC or maybe even offering a level designer like in Mario Maker.
I know the dlc just released but there needs to be a sequel. They don’t have to change a damn thing either maybe some different weapons and enemies but engine wise just run it.
I must also notice that this game is available on Windows, Mac and Linux for those who are interested in knowing. I played the Linux version (on Ubuntu), and I gotta say, it's amazing!
You can actually do rooms above rooms by simply cutting the room horizontally and connecting the roof of one map to the floor of another (example a cube levitating in the middle of a room)
Thank you Voidpoint and 3D Realms! I’ve always had a soft spot for and a deep interest in 90s fps from both a fun to play, and design points of view. Its really a topic that’s sorely lacked love on TH-cam until Digital Foundry, thanks to John.
3:25 to 3:45 Yep, yep, yep. This is so damn true. I'm a long-time map-maker (15+ years as a hobby) with UnrealEd, CS:Source's Hammer, and games programmer. UnrealEd - the first version of it - was the editor used to make the original Unreal and UT, as well as maps for the original Deus Ex, which is where I started. Around 2005 was when BSP- and sector-based maps/engines disappeared, in favor of open-world engines. In open-world engines, essentially all the mapper can do is plop down prefabricated meshes to create the level, and adjust the terrain mesh. Obviously this opens up new possibilities, but something special is also lost. In BSP-/sector-based engines, the map's aesthetic and the map's defined play area are much more intimately related. I believe this is partly because, because of the nature of the engine, the mapper is conscious (or perhaps aware, subconsciously) of how the collision system behaves, such that every surface in the level is important. So, every horizontal surface
You let anything render in 1920x1080 and it’ll look beautiful. The only major difference I see here is the lighting, other than that, it’s shockingly simple for a renderer.
16:20 I don't get how you gush about how the non-linarity nature of old school shooters makes them so fun and then state Doom 2016 as an example. That game only had very few levels with good old school level design. A lot of them were extremly linear like a CoD compaign and that's what really bothered me about this game. I only hope they correct this mistake in Doom Eternal.
Yeah, that was weird. What most annoyed me about Doom 4 was the map design and enemy system. You walk into empty arena then the game just spawns bunch of enemies all around you, it destroys all immersion from the game.
@@imrileth6618 and it lead to extremly repetetive gameplay. But at least id acknowledge the critique and said in Eternal they don't just want to put corridors between fights. I'm way more hyped for Eternal than I ever was for D2016
I very rarely buy games at launch or pay full price, but I gotta say Doom Eternal is fucking great. Way better than Doom 2016, which itself certainly wasn't a bad game. I grew up on OG Doom, Wolfenstein, Quake 1, etc. and used to do mods in my teenage years.
Best review of the game I've seen yet and possibly one of my favorite reviews of all time, especially since I really felt vindicated with the way you've described the difference between a large re-explorable set of spaces VS the more common corridor-progression. I have had a lot of heated discussions with people who really hated the Big Shell in MGS2 for that same reason, even though I finished up all the extra VR missions and Snake Tales and never felt tired myself and MGS2 is one of my favorite games of all time (along with MG2 and MGS1/Ghost Babel). The familiarity with a well designed enviroment with new spins on them makes all the difference for me. I really like backtracking when it's done competently because it allows me to breathe in the locations the same way I did as a kid where everything was new and exciting to me and I had the desider to wander more from different perspectives and give each area an identity of its own. Apparently some people really hate that they have to thread again into already walked down paths because to them it feels like it's halting their progress, but when the level and art design are so captivating, not stopping and smelling the roses is a huge disservice to what the game is providing you, and if the game itself can reward your ocd-ish tendencies by giving you added challenges that test your familiarity with the environment, then it has done enough to make that world feel alive.
Those kinds of players could never play games like old-school Resident Evil. They are Uncharted generation. They grew with games starting from A and ending to B with detours. And this is so apparent in gaming today it's really sad for us who grew up playing games that required more thinking.
I'm totally on the same page with you on the notion that the old map-based level design creates a better connection between player and environment, compared to the modern, "for dummies" linear design. Having to navigate complex, interactive spaces makes them feel more real. Sometimes the realism/reality of things depends not on the things themselves (resolution, detail...) but on the relationship that you create with them.
Imo ion maiden may think of iron maiden Metal band music that was long time ago.. And at least less copyright titles but i don't know why they changed it
John, I really enjoy your work. You are the reason I watch Digital Foundry. Great work as always and man I want to thank you for recommending Dusk. Thanks.
That will actually be a very interesting port indeed. The build engine is heavily CPU reliant and this new version of it pushing things to the limit WILL impose some serious performance issues for all consoles. GPU will be sitting idle while the poor little 1Ghz Tegra is bullied by 90's tech. I look forward to a detailed analysis on how they tackle it.
It can be Had on Steam and Good Old Games, there is also a *proper* "Big Box" Physical Disk Version available for Collectors. I also agree, Regenerating Health, along with "Cone of Fire" Shooting , Movement based Weapons Inaccuracy, Aim Down Sights, Two/Three/Four Weapon Limits, AI Squads, and all the rest of that Rubbish from Cry on Doody, Battlefailed, and the rest of their Ilk , absolutely *Ruined* the FPS Genre!
@@Techgnome21 No Problem. Indeed, between New Blood interactive and the now fully Resurrected 3D Realms, the next Few Years are going to have a lot of Great FPS Games for us to Enjoy! Its been far too long. I am looking at a Potential 3 Way Battle for My Game of the Year Gong this Year (ion Fury, Amid Evil and DooM Eternal) and I cant remember the last time I had 3 FPS Games in contention for Game of the Year! I think 2019 is going to be a good one!
You'd think with load times between zones being so brief they could've snuck in some subliminal text instead of the the boring "Loading..." message. Some easter egg 90's cyber-conspiracy text flashing on screen for a heartbeat would suit the atmo.
They can't guarantee the load will always be that fast unfortunately, so it makes sense to put "loading" there. Real Gamers would also rage if they didn't know it was loading and there was that momentary pause to load. It's too bad they couldn't add a streaming load, but that would require a lot of work since the engine doesn't already support it.
This is one special looking game. Can't really explain how it makes me feel. As someone who dearly loves nostalgic things, seeing this in motion hits me hard with times of first digging into Snatcher or Deus Ex, or fawning over the sparkling background of Casino Night in Sonic 2. I want a cyberpunk VR MMO that looks just like this. Beautiful game.
Christ... that soundtrack... it's glorious... Given how it was in fact Amiga, that really solidified my interest in gaming, Jarkko Rotsten's tracker music used in Ion Fury gave me goosebumps and reminded, once again, why I can't play DOS versions of my favourite Amiga titles (I never grew to like PC Speaker and MIDI standards). This one though, this one combines the best of two entirely different worlds and it makes me happy.
9:56 Dunno how mirrors are done in Ion, but in Duke you had to create an empty room behind the mirrored space that was as big or bigger than the area it's reflecting. Sounds like Build just renders a mirrored copy of the room you're in.
I just finished Ion Fury for the first time, and it turned out to be one of the best shooters i've ever played. Turns out old school really is just better.
While I don't care for modern FPS games, I'm not at all nostalgic for the old design of key card hunting and wall humping. Ion Fury looks fantastic, but by "old school design," I really hope that doesn't mean wandering around a level repeatedly looking for that one hidden card that I missed. I know purists disagree, but it's not an aspect of the genre that aged well at all.
I'm very excited to play Ion Fury!! But I have to disagree about Doom '16. While I think it is a good game I still feel its design is too frustrating and lopsided to be properly compared to old school shooters, it lacks flow and ends up off base from what I expected it to be. Ironically, Doom 3, though more linear, comes much closer to the joy of old school shooters than does Doom '16
I hope this comes out on PS4, as I’m currently PC’less. God I love the humor and references in this game. Tech Noir, Washington 4 Skins, Tainer Inn, MDK, just to name a few! John I can’t believe you mentioned Blood. God I loved that game. I rarely find friends that even know about this game. I wish I still had it. As usual, Bravo John.....great piece!!
after so many years I still think these graphics look gorgeous. This game is one of the best fps I ever played, when I saw the 90 Mb download I couldn't believe it.
Hope 3D Realms has not finished with this engine.
The Bitchin' Fast laptop poster says "P6 chip: 3X Pentium speed!" which is a nod to the 1995 movie 'Hackers' when Dade sneaks into Kate's bedroom to try out her new laptop and Kate finds him. He comments about how fast the computer is, and she says "P6 chip. Triple the speed of the Pentium."
Honestly this game looks more visually pleasing than most first person brown and beige shooters
And rise the question why they thought they need new engine for Duke3D sequel
@@djrkzr because back then(when Duke Nukem Forever was in early development) it was a arms race to have the most advanced engine on the block mostly due to Id cranking out a new tech pushing engine every new game and you had Epic about to come along with the Unreal engine. So if you wanted to get by you had to be up to snuff engine wise but since it was still the early days of FPS's ideas were changing too because it wasn't long before you had stuff like Deus Ex and Half life changing how a First person shooter plays and is designed. In short Duke Nukem Forever was a victim of trying to be cutting edge in a period of rapid change in the genre.
@Keaton Tucker that's kinda creepy
Sorry to be off topic but does anybody know a tool to log back into an instagram account?
I was dumb forgot the login password. I appreciate any tips you can give me!
@James Major instablaster ;)
Voxel objects aren't new for Ion Fury, they were supported by the Build engine back in the day. They didn't quite make it in time for Duke 3D, but were used in Blood the following year.
I wasn't expecting for them to appear in Ion Fury. I remember one of the devs said they don't know if voxels make it into the game as very few people have the skill set to make / implement them properly.
They always looked a bit odd in blood. Or maybe its just me, cause i Turn it off voxels too here in ion fury
They were used in Shadow Warrior as well.
12:02 Is this a goddamn loss in building's windows on the right
「Nikolas Kejdz」 holy shit
what in the goddman
😡😡😡
well spotted
A loss? What is that
I always go back to Duke Nukem. The first 5 or 6 levels have incredible level design and I can just play them again and again. So hopefully this game will have some amazing level design. Any Duke fan should be excited about this game.
If only we got the good version of Duke Nukem Forever. Duke 3d needed an amazing follow up.
Duke 3D still holds up as one of the best FPS games ever created. I feel like it doesn’t get enough credit nowadays, you can owe that to the colossal fuck up that was Duke Nukem Forever.
Almost all of the levels have incredible level design! I find episode 2 even better than episode 1.
@@chlebicek3363 Agreed, love that Sci fi vibe it has. The sentry bots however not so much... 💀
Duke.
"It's just a mindless set piece" - I absolutely agree with that about most modern games. I miss 90's games like this!
Indeed. Even though I enjoy my cinematic adventures like Uncharted here and there I really miss these real fucking games.
@@madfinntech agree with that too! All these cinematic games are great but they just don't have the same level design that allows players to fully appreciate and explore the environment
BioShock, Dishonored and Prey are what you want ;)
Uncharted series comes to mind as much with their setpieces. While great to look at, there is no replayability for interactive scenes that are meant to wow you only once.
I don't know why he's referencing Doom 2016 as a modern game that's got things right though, the levels are linear for the most part, from what I've seen.
Build Engine games always have that very specific 'crisp' feeling. The amount of detail and all the little breakable objects and colorful sprites on the walls really make those games pop. Other 2.5D games like Doom had this as well, but games on the Build Engine always had that little extra amount of detail. When we first stepped into 3D it felt like a step back because textures were blurry or very low res. Just compare the amazing crisp, colorful graphics of HEXEN to the blurry, brown mess that was HEXEN2.
This game hits a sweet spot for me. I was introduced to video games by my stepfather with Duke Nukem 3d and Doom. He would boot up his old PC on DOS and showed me the ropes. He passed away last year, and I'm 100% sure he would have LOVED this game, as he was such a fan of old-school games like Duke Nukem, Monkey Island and Grim Fandango. I bought this game this morning in his memory, and fully intend to beat it.
9:29 if you're interested: the technique for faking the look up/down is called Y-Shearing as the viewport is translated in a screen-space vertical shear, rather than a perspective 3D tilt, to cheat a pseudo look up/down. Bungie's Marathon on the Mac was the first FPS game to do this.
It makes me dizzy and disoriented, glad you can turn it off......thanks for the fun trivia, though!
Yeah, you just offset Y coordinate of a thing by your view angle multiplied by distance to that thing. Totally makes sense to do this, as original "software" renderer, as far as I know, rendered in columns - so a proper 3D tilt would result in a single column covering geometry at an angle, and maybe even having to draw stuff behind!
@Xilefian 3D Realms/Apogee's Rise of the Triad did it at around the same time as Marathon.
Dusk, Amid Evil and now this? Heaven.
Can you feel it?
CAN YOU FEEL IT?
Don't forget two other upcoming ones : Wrath Aeon of Ruins and Project Warlock.
@@UltramarinePrimaris Project Warlock has been out for a year, great game if you haven't played it yet
Blood
This is the only very impressive one though.
The atmosphere in this game is so DeusExy
Yes! That's actually a really good comparison!
I completely agree, visually it looks like what a sequel with a bit more horsepower could have looked like (instead of DE:invisible war)
This was the exact same thing which came to my mind while watching the video
Agreed! I'm actually finishing up a replay of the first Deus Ex with the GMDX mod. It's still glorious after all these years.
@@matternicuss Possibly my all time favorite game experience.
Loving the Amiga crash screen at 11:18. Guru meditation for the win.
I’ll still call it ion maiden
Stupid steel pipe company.
I call it "lesbo propaganda made by a manchild dev"
the dude is a power tripping incel. the company is dead to me
@@glitchyjoe64 Using "incel" unironically makes you sound like one
@@therealpizzagirl i really dont care
ion maiden would be cool, but i enjoy the kung fury reference
Meanwhile Bethesda struggles to properly port 25+ years old game.
What game are you talking about? Haven't heard that Bethesda's making smth like that
Станислав Шляхта The Doom Ports on Consoles
On purpose of course.
Doom ports on Switch
@@sunspot5 BFG Edition? It has so many issues you can write a book. Doom 3 is even more sad.
I'm playing Quake and Turok for the first time this summer in my spare days and after work and I regret nothing. It's truly eye-opening to see how these games feel fresh now in comparison with all the modern cookie-cutter shooters of today, and I'm really enjoying this trip to the mid-'90s :D
Quake is just so good, that movement flow and the enemy types. You can coop it too. Enjoy!
yeah i played some blood for the first time yesterday and wow its impressive how well some of these older fps games hold up.
They still hold up so well. A mark of a true timeless classic friend
Get yourself some Quake 1.5, It is s mighty fine way to play Quake. Proabably my favorite gaming experience this year.
@@MrHiglon is it much different from the original ?
Cyberpunk 1996
That would be TekWar
It's still Pathetically sad they had to change the name from Ion Maiden to Ion Fury over bullshit Legal nonsense all because _"It's too close to _*_Iron Maiden."_*
Indeed. Stupid America is stupid America. Wouldn't fly anywhere else.
MadFinnTech Iron Maiden’s holding company filed the lawsuit, when the band noticed how close the name is and the logo font, the band Iron Maiden is British and they issued the complaint and lawsuit in California, has nothing to do with America’s choice, it was the choice of a British band, so curb your elitism bud. All your hate and foul personality it’s no wonder your channel is a flop.
They are morons for attempting to name it so closely to Iron Maiden the band. Any lawyer could have told them that. Especially as Iron Maiden have a game too so are in the same market.
@@blarbful Iron Maiden is a torture device from medieval times. Not like that band invented that term.
Yeah big business bullies picking on the little guy.
Digital Foundry should test this game on older PC on software mode, sure, with a resolution of the 90's like 800x600..
640x480!
@@Fusren I remember 800x600 monitors being the most common.
320x240 on a high end CRT overclocked to at least 100hz or GTFO
@@WH250398 crt monitors don't have a fixed resolution.
Check out LGR's review, he briefly shows the game playing on a CRT TV, with graphics options set to low.
The "blackout hallway" from Unreal is genuinely on the most amazing FPS set pieces ever created. I've seen other games over the years reprise it. FEAR: Extraction Point, I believe, has a version in the subway, where you walk down the corridor and then the lights begin to go out. Then you stand there in the darkness for a moment, before Alma appears at the far end walking towards you.
Yeah i tought about that fear extraction bit too.but wasnt familiar w the "original" unreal One.
Just wanted to say the quality/depth of DF videos are simply amazing, watching this felt like I was reading a 4 page long article in a gaming magazine in 1995.
"The quality of the assets created for this game cannot be understated"
That means they're shit beyond description. You've either gotta say "the quality cannot be OVERSTATED", meaning it's exceptionally good, or "the quality should not be understated" meaning they deserve to be praised highly.
It’s a good day when you end up getting a DF Retro while they actually cover a new game.
Loving some of the signs here. "Thy Flesh Consumed", "Tech Noir" (the club from the original Terminator film), and probably more I've missed.
Sense of location and remembering where you are in a video game is a refreshing throwback. Especially in a age where we always stare down at the phone when you are moving and use GPS to get to unknown places.
I would love a feature on first Unreal. The dx10 fan made rendered restores the original look only achieved with vodoo. The skies and transparencies all look correct
And what they did using the software renderer was truly jaw dropping for the time.
Love how levels makes sense rather than being a doom clone 'get red key from a contraption and head towards the door back where you started'. There is a sense of exploration in this
"talk shit, get shot" I'm going to assume this is a reference to Ice-T's band Body Count? awesome
John.. your reverence for the old, enthusiasm for the new, and obsession with tech absolutely blows my mind and keeps me coming back for more. I played all these as a kid. It’s awesome watching now and hearing the tech breakdown! This wouldn’t have been on my radar without this vid. Keep up the good work!!
amongst the other easter eggs mentioned here,at the beginning of the game there are some screens with the Guru meditation error from back in the Amiga days
John's passion for retro shooters and old games is my favorite thing about this channel, love your work mate
I found most of the modern shooters frustrating. I always feel, as if I "could not breath" when playing them. It took me some time to realize that the problem is not me, but the design of the "corridor levels" combined with the "cover shooting" mechanic. I want to run around the level, dodge projectiles and explore at my own pace. This game announcement made my day. I hope, there will be a Switch version of it soon.
Probably the very best first-person game I have ever played. I really like it.
It was named ION MAIDEN until Iron Maiden's lawyers sued the authors.
15:58 Not only does this make you feel disconnected from the maps, but it also makes the maps completely forgettable. There is a reason why 30 years later, I can still remember the layout and names of maps in retro FPS games; but after playing through a typical COD or Battlefield single-player campaign, all of the levels blend together in my mind. Absolutely nothing is memorable or sticks out. And within days of completing the game, the levels and plot details are already fading from my memory.
WASHINGTON FORESKINS. THESE GUYS... @ 18:53
It's an improvement over their football team's current name, at any rate.
A perfect marriage of 90s gross-out humor and 2010s virtue signalling
Willy Wankers.
I like the point about being more connected to the environment. The simpler map building and visual methods present a set of rules and constraints to the player. The original Doom is a good example of this, where the player can develop an understanding of how their environment is built, and what can and can't happen, even without the technical knowledge. My parents became fans of PlayStation Doom in the 90s, and they quickly learned how triggers work, how to spot them, how to find secrets, etc.
when i clicked on the video i was expecting an interesting retro-inspired game; but as of the end of it i'm having a huge nostalgia-crush on ion fury. the art-style and level design bring back soo many memories from fps-past...
You've really sold me on picking this up. I was already pretty much on board but that's amazing how far they took that classic engine. And wow FastTrackerII I've not seen that in probably 15-20 years as I used to use it to make some fun stuff. MOD style music has always impressed, as far back as the Pinball Fantasies tracks over a PC speaker so clear over the bleeps and boops.
I’d been unsure about this game, but damn if it doesn’t look great.
I've played the pre order levels on steam and the game feels / plays really good, trust me worth the money mate with mod tools on day 1
@@jamieisjabba
I wonder if they will port it to iOS and Android.
Shouldn't be hard right? Looks like it should be able to run on an iPhone 5S/Apple A7, or Xiaomi Note 4/QSD 625 (or better). Basically any phone, tablet, or tv box after 2016.
While people will pay on iOS, I think it might get pirated on Android, so probably better to just have it Free with Ads/In-App purchase to remove Ads. That extra cash could be useful to the project or DLC or maybe even offering a level designer like in Mario Maker.
@@ekinteko better ask the devs, it is running on super old software so I think they could do it if time was put into it.
Play it. Its damn fun yo
It's very good, try it out. Worths the full price easily.
I know the dlc just released but there needs to be a sequel. They don’t have to change a damn thing either maybe some different weapons and enemies but engine wise just run it.
Fine I'll buy the Damn game! You win.
I like Blade Runner reference on the rooftop - the one with spinning fan and a MDK logo (in the movie it was an ad for TDK)
I must also notice that this game is available on Windows, Mac and Linux for those who are interested in knowing. I played the Linux version (on Ubuntu), and I gotta say, it's amazing!
You can actually do rooms above rooms by simply cutting the room horizontally and connecting the roof of one map to the floor of another (example a cube levitating in the middle of a room)
Ion Fury is a masterpiece.
Purchased and found this thanks to this video. Love the style. Appreciate it, John!
I'd love this to have multiplayer. Duke nukes duke match was so fun
6:15 That minigun model looks so cool.
The shotgun/grenade launcher hybrid is also very well made.
Super excited to play this on the weekend, Blood & Shadow Warrior are 2 of my absolute favorite FPS titles
Thank you Voidpoint and 3D Realms! I’ve always had a soft spot for and a deep interest in 90s fps from both a fun to play, and design points of view. Its really a topic that’s sorely lacked love on TH-cam until Digital Foundry, thanks to John.
I want someone to make a new Star Wars game exactly like this.
Medivo is one of the best tracks from Jazz Jackrabbit
Can confirm. It's a pretty awsome game. Well worth it.
Oooo, I loved the build engine, awesome it's still used
I made so many levels back in the day
Recharging health was the biggest mistake in modern shooters. I hate that.
And its only getting shittier now the standard is to at least have ONE game mode *cough* br *cough*
You'll be happy getting your ass kick in this game. Always looking for a medical kit
Like most of modern FPS designs, recharging health was done because of consoles and controllers.
3:25 to 3:45
Yep, yep, yep. This is so damn true. I'm a long-time map-maker (15+ years as a hobby) with UnrealEd, CS:Source's Hammer, and games programmer. UnrealEd - the first version of it - was the editor used to make the original Unreal and UT, as well as maps for the original Deus Ex, which is where I started. Around 2005 was when BSP- and sector-based maps/engines disappeared, in favor of open-world engines. In open-world engines, essentially all the mapper can do is plop down prefabricated meshes to create the level, and adjust the terrain mesh. Obviously this opens up new possibilities, but something special is also lost. In BSP-/sector-based engines, the map's aesthetic and the map's defined play area are much more intimately related. I believe this is partly because, because of the nature of the engine, the mapper is conscious (or perhaps aware, subconsciously) of how the collision system behaves, such that every surface in the level is important. So, every horizontal surface
This looks amazing for an old tech engine.
Its really not though, this is based on the eDuke32 engine which is a very modernized version of the Build engine.
You let anything render in 1920x1080 and it’ll look beautiful.
The only major difference I see here is the lighting, other than that, it’s shockingly simple for a renderer.
@@funposting8912 The lighting is all "faked" with the old sector lighting + transparent/blended sprites. Far simpler than it looks.
@@semvision While EDuke32 does have some "modernized" features, this game doesn't really use much of them.
todesziege rewatching now, that seems so simple it’s almost something that seems like it would have been possible back in the day, I love it!
10:56 'Who wants some wang?' is a reference to Shadow Warrior. It's one of his lines :)
This game looks incredible! I love tech noir
Tech noir. Wow, what a stupid name. Is that really a thing?
@@deadheads1352 Throw back to Terminator.
I truly enjoy every DF video, but there's just something about John's videos that I absolutely love! Another insight well done
That's because he's the most passionate about it of them and by far.
16:20 I don't get how you gush about how the non-linarity nature of old school shooters makes them so fun and then state Doom 2016 as an example. That game only had very few levels with good old school level design. A lot of them were extremly linear like a CoD compaign and that's what really bothered me about this game.
I only hope they correct this mistake in Doom Eternal.
Yeah, that was weird. What most annoyed me about Doom 4 was the map design and enemy system.
You walk into empty arena then the game just spawns bunch of enemies all around you, it destroys all immersion from the game.
@@imrileth6618 and it lead to extremly repetetive gameplay. But at least id acknowledge the critique and said in Eternal they don't just want to put corridors between fights. I'm way more hyped for Eternal than I ever was for D2016
@@lampenpam I'm not really hyped for Eternal, i'm not buying it at launch but i'll keep an eye on it and see how it turns out.
I very rarely buy games at launch or pay full price, but I gotta say Doom Eternal is fucking great. Way better than Doom 2016, which itself certainly wasn't a bad game. I grew up on OG Doom, Wolfenstein, Quake 1, etc. and used to do mods in my teenage years.
Best review of the game I've seen yet and possibly one of my favorite reviews of all time, especially since I really felt vindicated with the way you've described the difference between a large re-explorable set of spaces VS the more common corridor-progression. I have had a lot of heated discussions with people who really hated the Big Shell in MGS2 for that same reason, even though I finished up all the extra VR missions and Snake Tales and never felt tired myself and MGS2 is one of my favorite games of all time (along with MG2 and MGS1/Ghost Babel). The familiarity with a well designed enviroment with new spins on them makes all the difference for me. I really like backtracking when it's done competently because it allows me to breathe in the locations the same way I did as a kid where everything was new and exciting to me and I had the desider to wander more from different perspectives and give each area an identity of its own. Apparently some people really hate that they have to thread again into already walked down paths because to them it feels like it's halting their progress, but when the level and art design are so captivating, not stopping and smelling the roses is a huge disservice to what the game is providing you, and if the game itself can reward your ocd-ish tendencies by giving you added challenges that test your familiarity with the environment, then it has done enough to make that world feel alive.
Those kinds of players could never play games like old-school Resident Evil. They are Uncharted generation. They grew with games starting from A and ending to B with detours. And this is so apparent in gaming today it's really sad for us who grew up playing games that required more thinking.
Looks fun, be interesting if it add's coop/vs later.
Love the DF Retro series and your videos in general John!
I swear I'm somehow still hearing *"VOLFENSHTEIN!"* in the background of every DF vid I watch, but no regrets.
don't remind me lol
I'm totally on the same page with you on the notion that the old map-based level design creates a better connection between player and environment, compared to the modern, "for dummies" linear design. Having to navigate complex, interactive spaces makes them feel more real. Sometimes the realism/reality of things depends not on the things themselves (resolution, detail...) but on the relationship that you create with them.
Dusk, amid evil and now ion mai.... Fury, what a gloriuos year
I am so excited to see this art style in games come back. Love this.
The Dopefish lives.
I was never a fan of mid map or level loading.
but it helps to know when you're going to face more enemies around the next corner.
Duke Nukem is known for strong & funny one liners. Also it was hard to find some secret places.
If the preview campaign is anything to go by, the secrets in this will be a joy to discover.
you forgot the babes
I mean that's both here too
@@Cimlite This game has some of the best secrets ever.
I was wavering on picking this up, but no longer. It's now on the Steam wishlist. Thanks as ever, John!
You should really consider buying from GoG. DRM free.
Ion maiden was a better title but I still love the game
They didn't have much choice, did they.
@@The_Noticer. They did. They would've won.
Imo ion maiden may think of iron maiden Metal band music that was long time ago..
And at least less copyright titles but i don't know why they changed it
My second favourite build engine game, just behind blood.
Btw great review!
"Thy Flesh Consumed." Cute.
Where?
John, I really enjoy your work. You are the reason I watch Digital Foundry. Great work as always and man I want to thank you for recommending Dusk. Thanks.
The switch release for this will be an immediate purchase.
Helvete Ulver, absa-fucking-lutely, can’t wait for this on Switch.
Hopefully a physical copy is considered also
That will actually be a very interesting port indeed. The build engine is heavily CPU reliant and this new version of it pushing things to the limit WILL impose some serious performance issues for all consoles. GPU will be sitting idle while the poor little 1Ghz Tegra is bullied by 90's tech.
I look forward to a detailed analysis on how they tackle it.
Ryuujin1078, there is a physical edition 😁
Nah, the PC version will be that already.
"Washington 4Skins" @ 18:45 LOL! FlyEaglesFly! - Also, great video, and amazing looking game! Duke3D was one of my favorites of all time growing up :)
Regenerating health is one of the worst things to happen to modern video games. Where can we get this game?
It can be Had on Steam and Good Old Games, there is also a *proper* "Big Box" Physical Disk Version available for Collectors.
I also agree, Regenerating Health, along with "Cone of Fire" Shooting , Movement based Weapons Inaccuracy, Aim Down Sights, Two/Three/Four Weapon Limits, AI Squads, and all the rest of that Rubbish from Cry on Doody, Battlefailed, and the rest of their Ilk , absolutely *Ruined* the FPS Genre!
@@simeonyves5940 Thank you, it's now on my wishlist. I'm just glad to see some Devs going back to the old ways.
@@Techgnome21 No Problem. Indeed, between New Blood interactive and the now fully Resurrected 3D Realms, the next Few Years are going to have a lot of Great FPS Games for us to Enjoy! Its been far too long.
I am looking at a Potential 3 Way Battle for My Game of the Year Gong this Year (ion Fury, Amid Evil and DooM Eternal) and I cant remember the last time I had 3 FPS Games in contention for Game of the Year!
I think 2019 is going to be a good one!
You'd think with load times between zones being so brief they could've snuck in some subliminal text instead of the the boring "Loading..." message. Some easter egg 90's cyber-conspiracy text flashing on screen for a heartbeat would suit the atmo.
They can't guarantee the load will always be that fast unfortunately, so it makes sense to put "loading" there. Real Gamers would also rage if they didn't know it was loading and there was that momentary pause to load. It's too bad they couldn't add a streaming load, but that would require a lot of work since the engine doesn't already support it.
More importantly the game needs some weapons. For a 90s style fps it doesn't have a rocket launcher or a super powerful BFG like weapon.
This is one special looking game. Can't really explain how it makes me feel. As someone who dearly loves nostalgic things, seeing this in motion hits me hard with times of first digging into Snatcher or Deus Ex, or fawning over the sparkling background of Casino Night in Sonic 2. I want a cyberpunk VR MMO that looks just like this. Beautiful game.
do BallisticNG
Best Ion Fury review I have ever watched! congrats, the intro is amazing btw
So is this Ion Maiden?
yeah
Yeah they changed the name because Iron Maiden sued them.
Christ... that soundtrack... it's glorious...
Given how it was in fact Amiga, that really solidified my interest in gaming, Jarkko Rotsten's tracker music used in Ion Fury gave me goosebumps and reminded, once again, why I can't play DOS versions of my favourite Amiga titles (I never grew to like PC Speaker and MIDI standards). This one though, this one combines the best of two entirely different worlds and it makes me happy.
I'm gonna play this game on 640x480 resolution!
Ok..
9:56 Dunno how mirrors are done in Ion, but in Duke you had to create an empty room behind the mirrored space that was as big or bigger than the area it's reflecting. Sounds like Build just renders a mirrored copy of the room you're in.
This is a real videogame folks
Cmon gamers, get in and support these games! If we show support, they’ll do more !!!!!
Indeed. Every self-respecting gamer should buy and play this.
This is one of the best games ever made.
no its not calm down
@@TeaPotTommy wat
Amazing review John, DF killing it!
Can't wait to play this. I used to burn entire weekends growing up playing Build Engine games! I even got pretty decent at level crafting!
Maybe now's the time to get back in? I started tooling around with the editor last night, it's just like I remember...
I just finished Ion Fury for the first time, and it turned out to be one of the best shooters i've ever played. Turns out old school really is just better.
While I don't care for modern FPS games, I'm not at all nostalgic for the old design of key card hunting and wall humping. Ion Fury looks fantastic, but by "old school design," I really hope that doesn't mean wandering around a level repeatedly looking for that one hidden card that I missed. I know purists disagree, but it's not an aspect of the genre that aged well at all.
The better games in the genre didn't have a lot of aimless searching, it was mostly the lesser games. IF is pretty straightforward though.
i never played duke or the other build engine games and man this is one of the best shooters ive played in years
I'm very excited to play Ion Fury!! But I have to disagree about Doom '16. While I think it is a good game I still feel its design is too frustrating and lopsided to be properly compared to old school shooters, it lacks flow and ends up off base from what I expected it to be. Ironically, Doom 3, though more linear, comes much closer to the joy of old school shooters than does Doom '16
Yeah, Doom 4 doesn't really have anything in common with old school fps games.
I hope this comes out on PS4, as I’m currently PC’less. God I love the humor and references in this game. Tech Noir, Washington 4 Skins, Tainer Inn, MDK, just to name a few! John I can’t believe you mentioned Blood. God I loved that game. I rarely find friends that even know about this game. I wish I still had it. As usual, Bravo John.....great piece!!
Begging games for consoles? Who would have thought?
Cyberduke 2077
It's time to kick ass and chip in.
And I'm alllll outta chips...
This warms my heart, they definitely getting my support and any other team that decides to go this route 👏👏👏👏👏👏