By Linnie W. Phillips 
The steady rise of the Boomer shooter was chosen something very special, a conscious return to the time when FPS games were focused not so much on realism as on pure fun. There are many elements that make a game a boomer shooter, from the graphic style that apes the classics, to running and shooting with weapons. Make no mistake: Phantom Fury is a sniper. Unfortunately, it is not one of the best.
It’s actually a sequel to Ion Fury, itself a sequel to 2016’s Bombshell, which was released in 2021 and features Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison and her robotic arm. While Ion Fury was inspired by Duke Nukem 3D and DOOM, Phantom Fury focused on the late 90s and early 2000s. Think about Serious Sam: the first meeting and you are in the right stadium.
However, it is important to know that although the well-received ion fury was developed by Voidpoint, the Phantom fury was made by SlipGate Ironworks, who also made the original bomb, which was not so well received.
But even though it’s a sequel, you don’t have to have played Ion Fury to get involved in Shelly’s recent adventure, because honestly, the plot feels more like background noise anyway. Waking up from a coma, Shelly finds herself in an underground base, grabs the nearest weapon (a paralyzing baton) and embarks on a journey to save the world from one or another nonsense. She will throw a few lines and jokes along the way, none of which captures Duke nukem’s rudeness or charisma. The casual character also shows up and tries to justify her shenanigans and all the explosions, but without ever achieving this.
Phantom Fury is all about filming much more than just telling a coherent or interesting story. There is none of this nonsense about primary and secondary weapons here: Shelly is old-fashioned and can magically put her entire arsenal of firepower, of which there are many, in her non-existent pockets. That’s it or she installs them somewhere else, but I refuse to venture down this rabbit hole. There is the typical selection of a shotgun, an assault rifle and a rocket launcher, complemented by more spicy instruments of destruction like an alien tentacle that spits acid err err, ding, a photon rifle and bowling ball bombs. Although I admire the idea of letting players decide which weapons they want to take, there is something nice about having every weapon immediately available.
The thing with a large arsenal is the overlap, and this is something that Phantom Fury suffers from. The standard pistol is completely useless compared to the Loverboy revolver, which also has an absurdly mastered locking ability, while SMGS are largely usurped by the ASSAULT RIFLE. The paralyzing stick has no reason to exist, except to occasionally power an electric box, and the same applies to the circular saw, which they sometimes throw to grind through a locked door, but which is otherwise useless against enemies due to the lack of ammunition for it.
Along the way, you will have the opportunity to upgrade your weapons and give them additional abilities that serve no purpose compared to superior combinations and weapon upgrades. The shotgun’s blind flashlight, for example, is fine, but it’s not really worth spending improvement points on.
The Action is pretty fast-paced, focuses on a lot of strafing and dodges protection and protection whenever it’s available, while waves of bad guys try to turn you into a fine pink mist. Its very basic action, which has somewhat no reaction from the enemies you shoot, and suffers from anemic weapons. It’s not bad in itself, but I can’t say that I enjoyed the shooter either – it’s fixable, sometimes funny, but mostly memorable and needs more hostile variety to keep things fresh.
One thing that Phantom Fury isn’t pushing as hard as it should is Shelly’s robotic arm. You can smash enemies to mush with it, hence a decent cooldown, but with the abundance of weapons available, I hardly used Shelly’s handy ram. It is also not used much in puzzles or explorations, which is surprising. Considering that this is his only defining characteristic (his personality does not have much to offer), one would expect it to be integrated into the gameplay.
One of the fun little ways Phantom Fury mimics his inspirations are heaps of interactive objects that remind me of the days of Duke Nukem 3D, when you could rinse, drink alcohol and press every button. Most of them are completely useless, but this does not prevent them from feeling strangely satisfying, and sometimes this leads to cool mini-games like a light gun arcade game. In other matters, this can be a little confusing, because objects that seem interactive, including doors, are not always. Honestly, I thought we went beyond the time when some doors were real doors, others were not, but here we are. Mind you, Phantom Fury hasn’t quite gone beyond the idea of invisible walls either.