Fury Unleashed (PC) Preview

Fury, the hero of this tale, will have to kill all kinds of baddies, in what seems to be a world comprised of multiple panels that in turn are part of a bunch of pages. Similar to Mega Drive's cult not-that-classic brawler, Comix Zone, Fury Unleashed takes place inside a comic book - three of them, in fact, which see this badass hero fight through Aztec gods, Nazi soldiers, and aliens. In other words, this is Serious-Sam-meets-Wolfenstein-meets-Contra! Surprisingly, there's a story here, which, rather than the simplistic tale of Fury, actually deals with the one who crafted everything.

This, once passionate artist, seems to be going through a rough period, slowly losing faith in his creation due to the online community's toxicity. No doubt an interesting idea, and one pulled off might fine, with just a few snapshots showing everything that's going on behind the scenes, and without ever ruining the gameplay's pace. Of course, make no mistake, this is all about the action - and action is what this is good at.

Fury is super fast, can double jump, dash, stomp, shoot in all directions, throw grenades, use his trusty sword, or even unleash a recharging super move. More importantly, doing all this feels great, whether one is having fun via gamepad (dual analogue-style), or a keyboard/mouse combo - controls being fully customisable. What makes everything even better, however, is how Fury Unleashed has a very DOOM-like mindset when it comes to pushing the combat forward.

More specifically, killing foes increases a combo counter that in turn increases 'Ink' drops; black Ink acting as EXP for the skill tree, and gold one as currency for the can be used during a play-through for better weapons, armour, etc. What's great about it is that, while combos force an aggressively style of play, one has to be careful not to play recklessly, in fear of the combo counter going to zero upon damage. Moreover, combos are tied to many skills, with higher combo counters increasing everything, from the reload speed, to the critical rate or damage output.

It's important to note that, behind the veil of a mindless shooter seems to be something which, agility and reflexes aside, requires a more tactical approach. Levels might be simple in their design, as they are just a bunch of rooms connected together, but how you move through them separates newcomers from pros, as the latter will have to try raising the combo number as high as possible, keep it activated while at it, and, of course, gather everything that can be gathered before moving to the next page - essentially the next stage.

Yes, Fury Unleashed is a rogue-lite, and as one, its level design is courtesy of a generator. The good news is that it's a rogue-lite done right. The randomised level design, combined with how the player must plan each move right on the spot, guarantees that the player is always concentrated at what's going on, and the gameplay always feels fresh, despite the lack of a more "tangible" replayability, in the form of additional enemies, items, or environments.

So far, it has been made abundantly clear that this is very enjoyable - addictive even. The action is way above average (especially in local co-op), the visuals are simple, yet make excellent use of the Blizzard-esque colour palette, and thus, make it easier to handle the on-screen mayhem, and the audio, while certainly the least impressive aspect, helps with immersing you into the adrenaline-pumping action. Fury Unleashed very, very good... but it's not without flaws.

Fortunately, the problems at hand are mainly of the easy-to-fix variety; mainly balance issues regarding the damage of weaponry, or the stats (and price) of gear. There are some rough edges as well that aren't just balance issues, like how dashing and stomping have no invisibility frames (a must in many occasions), and how some bullet-hellish bosses don't leave much (or any) space for the player to move and avoid a projectile, but, otherwise, this surely feels that it's on the right path of being something truly great.