Comic reality
In the Fury Unleashed platformer, we get to go through as many as three colorful volumes of comics depicting the Amazon jungle, a Nazi military base and a spaceship, and finally a black and white sketchbook with a haunted castle. The boards are generated automatically by algorithms each time. Similarly, bosses are selected randomly from a pack of about forty available. Thanks to this, the game is always a bit different. This makes it more interesting, but also more difficult, because we cannot train ourselves exactly the mechanical movements needed to pass a given level.
The map consists of comic frames, which can be traversed in a traditional way, or teleported between them (probably inspired by Rogue Legacy ), if we have already visited the given locations and have the ability to do so. It adds dynamics to the game, because we don’t have to wander around the previously cleared areas again.
An additional comic flavor to the game is given by the characteristic, graphic onomatopoeias of explosions such as “Boom”, “Jebud” and the fact that we collect ink balls as experience points. Typical pills falling from enemies or smashed objects are very similar to the solution from the Dead Cells platformer (one of the games on which the developers took their inspiration). In our shooter, we also have other borrowings from it, such as the way the characters move: accelerate, double jump and crush enemies. We can also expand the hero after each death. Interestingly, the acquired skill points can be freely distributed between the available skills before each game.
The character we play is Fury, the main character (or heroine or other creature, depending on what appearance we choose in the settings) of the Fury Unleashed comics by the fictional author John Kowalski. The history of his creative crisis accompanies us as a kind of interludes in killing enemies. We see a phone call with his messages full of regret and frustration, as well as uplifting fan letters that just cover the comic we’re going through. From time to time, we are also visited by the lost Mr. Doodle, about which I will not reveal more.
Killing frenzy and blood as currency
The title “fury unleashed” also refers to the real killing frenzy that our hero must fall into to achieve a combo in eliminating enemies. We are made more pleasant by the energetic, growing rock music composed by Adam Skorupa and Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz (creators of soundtracks for The Witcher , Bulletstorm and Shadow Warrior games ). To prevent the screen from glaring at us during the slaughter, we can turn off the blood view in the settings (although it does not look realistic anyway, but more comic-like, so it is not very glaring).
Combs are necessary to complete the game, because they cause the defeated opponents to drop healing orbs, and from time to time they also give us an additional, temporary cover. The amount of our life is very important here because it does not regenerate between comic book chapters. Initially, we do not have too much of it and then it is worth using the blood transfusion that is sometimes available on the board, in exchange for the collected yellow balls. Over time, as we gain development points, we can increase our starting HP in the hero’s parameters. For the price of our blood, we can also sign favorable pacts with the devil or buy additional rare equipment from the vampires we meet. Personally, I use it quite sporadically and fortunately it is not the only way to get better weapons or armor.
Indiana Jones on a spaceship
We find random equipment on the board quite often in square frames called portals. As a rule, there are two random items from weapons or clothing / armor to choose from. We have a very wide range of firearms in the game: submachine guns, shotguns, lasers, flamethrower, grenade launcher, as well as space technology, blasters, soul weapons, dark energy launchers. We unlock the more advanced ones later.
Each of them has its own specificity: different power, range, splash and firing speed, and sometimes additional properties, such as setting fire / freezing, or sticking projectiles to enemies or surfaces and exploding with a delay. So it’s a lot of fun getting to know all of them.
In addition to guns, we also get a large selection of melee weapons: machetes, a sword, a baseball bat, clubs and even a frying pan.
There are also grenades and superpowers – by default, we have the ability to temporarily freeze enemies visible on the board, but sometimes we can also find, for example, a special cannon that temporarily sticks to the ceiling and supports us with additional arrows.
The acquired equipment goes with us to the next comics. Unfortunately, even the one found on the board is not stylistically related to the world we are currently in. We can, therefore, fight with the use of space technology against the Aztec gods, or travel through the military base in knightly armor or the outfit of a traveler who has just left the jungle. Although, of course, the hero skin that we choose in the settings has the greatest impact on our appearance. You can change not only the sex, color of skin or hair, but also play the role of a skeleton, robot, Cthulhu or furry animal.
What am I clicking?
Interestingly, each type of weapon (firearms, white weapons, grenades) is controlled by a different button. Added to this is the activation of superpowers, sprinting, action key, switching weapons and opening the map, plus moving and taking enemies at gunpoint with the mouse. The amount of all these knobs can therefore be quite problematic in a cooperative game when trying to play with the pads. Automatic aiming comes to the rescue, which unfortunately takes half the fun.
Mastering the controls is also a challenge in solo mode. Even though I’ve been playing for the second week and I’ve already done the whole thing twice, I still sometimes accidentally drop a grenade when opening the map (luckily, it only hurts enemies). What I do not like when using them is the fact that they pass through thin platforms, occasionally landing in a different frame of the comic (i.e. a separate location where they do not even kill enemies, but simply disappear). That’s why I usually leave them for bosses who are big enough that there is no chance to miss them.
We can practice motor skills in small dexterity tasks, which we sometimes find on the board, where we additionally win lofts or more ink, as well as playing on a low level of difficulty, where it is possible to modify individual parameters, such as the pace of the game or the endurance of enemies. I admit that it was thanks to this that I finished the game so quickly. Although I have been a fan of hack’n’slash platformers since I was little, Fury Unleashed can also be a challenge for me. Especially when suddenly there are enemies from everywhere, such as deadly plants and spider robots emerging from the walls, or armed Nazis suddenly emerging from the door in the background. These are the moments when it is difficult to put your foot anywhere without getting hit.
There are four difficulty modes available: Easy and Hard (you can choose them from the beginning) and Amazing and Legendary (they are unlocked after completing the entire adventure on subsequent levels). On each of them, we can gain slightly different achievements on Steam and sign up for subsequent rankings, and such awards are always a nice motivation to play longer. A wide range of levels will surely satisfy both beginners and more advanced players.
