Announced briefly last year and shown off in a recent Nintendo Direct, IRONFALL Invasion certainly turned some heads. It's one of the very few third person shooters available on the 3DS, developed by the relatively unknown VD-Dev - although it's been around for almost two decades and has developed several good games, it's yet to truly strike gold thus far. When Nintendo pushes an announcement like this it's typically something very much worth getting excited over, so will this title join those ranks?
Interestingly, the game is technically free to download. Doing so will let you play the campaign, as well as online multiplayer, though you'll be limited to the first stage of each. The developers have cleverly divided the rest of the content into two packs of DLC; one will give you access to the remainder of the campaign, while the other will unlock all stages, weapons and characters in multiplayer.
The game's campaign is fairly straightforward - aliens have invaded the planet and you, a heavily armoured soldier, are sent in to try and stop them. There are 11 stages, which typically just make you go from room to room fighting enemies until you reach the end. You've got the usual options to go about doing this - you can run, take cover, peek over walls or around corners, vault over walls, quick turn, and so on. The multitude of different control inputs can be tricky to get used to at first, but once you get the hang of it the gameplay becomes quite smooth. If you're playing on a New Nintendo 3DS, meanwhile, you can also use the C-stick to move the camera around a bit more easily - we should note, however, that it's quite sensitive, so precise firing can still be a little tricky. Interestingly, instead of having actual health you've got a heartrate - this'll go up by being fired at, but also by running, so don't overdo it!
For each stage you beat you'll unlock a set of challenges pertaining to that stage, which are more like survival missions - you'll be thrust into a section of the stage with the goal of either using the least bullets, surviving the longest or not allowing your heartrate to reach critical levels. Each of these has three difficulty levels, which all put you in a different part of the stage - this essentially makes each stage have 9 challenges.
Clearly, however, the meat of the game is the multiplayer. This uses essentially the exact same gameplay as the campaign, except with players fighting each other in one of several rooms taken directly from the campaign, each fairly decently sized and with several ammo pickups - whenever you pick one up, a message will be displayed on the screen so everybody has an idea of where you are. Before starting you can select one light and one heavy weapon, and then you're thrust into battle.
Aside from the standard free for all mode, you can also team up, either with teams of two or teams of three, but the maximum amount of players is six. Winning matches will get you credits, which don't really do much more than increase your displayed rank - however, if you're feeling particularly confident you can bet them away before you start a match to try and earn even more.
It must be said that for a downloadable 3DS game, IRONFALL Invasion looks quite good. Levels have a fair amount of detail and, despite this, the game manages to keep a consistently smooth framerate, even when playing online. The music doesn't really stand out from other similar games, but there is a sound test mode where you can listen to all of it if you choose to buy both the campaign and multiplayer packs.
Conclusion
IRONFALL Invasion is a technically impressive 3DS title, though unfortunately it doesn't really stand out for those familiar with the genre. The campaign never really mixes things up, and while the multiplayer is quite fun it can occasionally be quite a hassle to get a full game going. On top of that - since most stages must be bought - the free stage will likely end up being the one that will be played almost exclusively, which can be frustrating. Overall, however, the experience is still fairly solid, so we recommend giving the free content a shake and then deciding whether or not you want more of it.
Comments 71
Sweet Imma check this game out. I really wanted this game!
So, they make a new IP with a rather bland single player portion and think its a good idea to load the game with multiplayer DLC ?
Not the wisest aproach if you ask me...
How about raising the games prise by a fiver and sell the full package, to avoid the inevitable sour aftertaste ?
@Einherjar Single-player campaign is also a DLC, so there is no "main" or "additional" mode - everybody chooses (and pays) for what they want.
Is this actually an FPS or an over-the-shoulder shooter? Those are two different things.
Hmmm... I will consider it. I still want to applause and support the effort of three people to develop such an ambitious shooter. It might all have been done somewhere else, but guess what, it hasn't been done on 3DS before and that's a real plus to me.
@Kat
It's over-the-shoulder (Third-person), you can see by the screenshots.
I really like the look of this game, plus it'll actually be pretty good to play a multiplayer game on the 3DS that I'm interested in.
@Kat
It is mentioned in the first paragraph that it is a third person shooter. So that would indeed be your standard cover based over-the-shoulder shooter.
@Einherjar
"They" are VD-Dev. If you look at their previous offerings, they are more about impressive technical achievements than reinventing the wheel or adding bucketloads of personality.
I'll be buying this when it hits NA.
@Einherjar The impression I get is actually more clever than it seems - if you're only interested in playing solo, you only pay for the campaign, making the game half as expensive. Giving this option to 3DS owners seems clever to me considering it's not generally a massive multiplayer system
@Einherjar Compared to Renegade rereleasing the same games that was not any good last time I think these guys did a much better thing.
I'll probably download the campaign out of curiosity, so the option to leave the multiplayer is welcome, for me!
7 does mean 'good' after all The free trial option at least opens up the chance to see whether it pushes your buttons, though.
@ThomasBW84 can you give us some sort of review if it's worth it or not?
@Mega719 Our review is above! It'll likely be a while before I really get into it, because of Majora's Mask...
Hmm, 7/10 is good, but I'm all about the singer campaign than multiplayer. I'll give the demo a go, and maybe wait for a sale in the summer or something.
I will support this but I will skip the mp. Whenever it hits NA of course.
Seems like a pretty solid third person shooter, though I will have to try out the free trial to be sure. If I like it then I may pick it up for when I want some shooter action.
@kingc8
Just pay £17.98 and get the full game.
@ylitvinenko Huh ? So whats the 10€ pricetag for ? The Framework ? Or do i simply get a nice Title screen to look at ?
@Pod I never questioned that. They produced some of the most technical stunning games out there. One of my favourites being the GBA V-Rally, which is still impressive.
What i was questioning is, why "shoehorned in DLC" is necessary. A solid game doesnt need to hide behind a bargain pricetag. Sure, it might be bland and unimaginative, but that could be said about the entire top 10 software sales charts too.
Nowadays, DLC comes with a very bitter aftertaste. So why go that route ?
People waited quite some time for this game, its technically impressive and its genre is totally underrepresented on the system.
There is no need to hack the game apart.
Dont get me wrong, this doesnt make the game bad or anything. Thats not what im trying to say. For me, its just an unnecessary thing to do. Nothing more.
@unrandomsam Same answer as above, except that your comparison is entirely opinion based. Wether or not Moon is more enjoyable than Ironfall is up for debate. Fact is, i think both business practices, meaning th episodic release and unneccesary DLC, are utterly unneccessary and rarely do the product in question any favours.
Hmm, I'd like to try this when it makes it over to 'Murica.
@MoogleMuffins @Pod @BarryDunne They changed it since I commented. The article said it was an FPS before.
I'm not playing Majora's Mask, I'm playing this. MM comes afterwards.
Anyway, there's no way giving a choise to not buy the mode you dislike is bad. There are lots of people who play only for multiplayer. There are also lots of people who play singleplayer only, as seen here in the comments. The split is absolutely brilliant, and that is not an opinion, it's a fact.
Sone decent gfx for a 3DS game, but other than that, utterly unimpressive. Well, I guess, if you don't have any other system in your possession and crave some TPS than it will fit the bill.
This isn't riddled with DLC! It gives you a free trial, and then you can pay for the rest if you want: if you don't want the multiplayer, just buy the campaign, and vice-versa. That's not DLC, that's being generous...
I am definitely buying this. The review said it has some impressive visuals for a download game, but I'd argue the visuals are some of the most impressive on the system as a whole by those screenshots!
If I had my New 3DS today I'd have bought this already. Can't wait.
I was hoping for a slightly meatier main campaign, but I will still probably get at least the single player potion. As mentioned above, the fact there is one multiplayer stage that is free to play means most people will play there anyway and im not a massive fan of online anyway
COME TO USA DANG IT!
This is about what I expected, but there's literally only one other good multiplayer portable Shooter out there, so I'll probably get this. Of course I'm gonna try it beforehand, though.
@Mega719
You clearly do not understand the the actual way they've released the game, and not every other shooter is loaded with DLC.
That correction noted, I'm getting this when it hits North America. The 3DS needs some shooting action.
I have really enjoyed the Gears of War series on the Xbox and I think these developers have done a good job of making what seems to be a portable version of the game. The controls work well and it doesnt take long to pick them up, infact I was going to dig out my circle pad but I dont think I really need to, using my thumb on the touchscreen to control my aim works just as well. Gameplay wise its not ground breaking but technically I think they have done an amazing job and would love to see them using this engine to make a fresh and unique game but I understand why they would have used a tried and tested kind of game to start with (gears of war, shadowgun, etc.)
The free base game is a good idea for a game obviously wanting to push multiplayer because they will ensure there will be plenty of online players albiet on the free stage but hopefully the paid levels will eventually pick up some steam. The single player campaign plays well although its not the most imaginative but as an optional DLC anybody only interested in multiplayer doesnt need to pick it up. I think 7 out of 10 is exactly the right score for this game.
I played the free version yesterday. The online seems OK for a pastime but I imagine I'll get tired of it soon enough.
But what I really hate is how I can't find control settings for left-handed people anywhere, even though they were supposed to be adding that. Or are you telling me I need to buy the full version to access that mode and not get carpal tunnel syndrome in the process of playing this game?
@CapnDrake hi, nice review. Do you know ifonline matchmaking will be worldwide once the game releases in NA?
@Einherjar
I see what you mean, but I don't particularly see this as being traditional DLC, or the game as being a cheap pocket farmer meant to rip people with the additional content.
The demo of the game is free, it's not cheap. And you buy ALL of the single player campaign, or ALL of the multiplayer, depending on what you think is interesting.
You don't just buy expansions to either one.
If people like both, they can buy both, and still have paid what is fair for a downloadable title, and not expect to be heckled into buying anything more.
Getting it, feels like a decent game
Question: Can someone with the full version of multiplayer play with people who only have the demo?
I wanna support these guys, so I'll buy myself a copy but I won't be buying it again for my younger brother.
Well hey, a 7 is still a very respectable score! Still gunna snag the multiplayer!
Hmmm, not bad, I might pick the campaign when it hits NA.
And I'm really curious to see the graphics, they look even better than those of Shin'en's games
Third person cover shooters like this are not my niche at all, but this is a competently designed game with working and reasonably intelligent AI and well designed stages, from what I can tell from the demo.
It's not perfect, the player can get disoriented easily because triggering a cutscene can outright reset your position on the map, which can actually push you away from your next objective despite having killed the last enemy right next to it.
Where this game absolutely shines is its technical and graphical prowess. By the magic of coding in assembly and with custom drivers written, they've squeezed every bit of juice from the system to get dynamic lighting, high resolution textures, anti-aliasing, particle effects and reflective surfaces, at a full 60FPS in 2D or 30FPS in 3D.
The actual character animation and modeling, as the face is concerned can look very lifeless and uncanny though, that's all. The rest is a visual feast for 3D gaming.
For that reason alone I'm considering buying the single player campaign and playing through that on easy.
I don't like the controls though. Touchscreen Pointing is slow, even at fastest settings, I would like to double tap for hiding behind the wall.
So this is like those tons of generic cover shooters on iOS? I don't have much problem with that. I also don't see the problem with their business model. For a small 3rd party dev, it's probably the best move, especially considering how we Nintendo owners rarely buy other games.
If this were just a $20 package with no demo, then it probably wouldn't see much success. This model gives it a fair chance (not unlike Nintendo's own Steel Diver: Sub Wars in fact) and more people will probably end up buying multiplayer because of it.
Looks fun, I'll bite
Saying that this looks "quite good for a downloadable game" is a bit of an understatement. It's pretty easily the best looking game on 3DS, downloadable or otherwise.
some people complain about it being freemium or DLC ridden. when in reality its not. it says clearly in the E-shop that you`re downloading a demo version with only the first level so its not like its fooling you into thinking its free just to scam you like mobile games tend to.
secondly, the split between multi and single player makes sense. some people buy shooters solely for multiplayer while others never touch multiplayer and only wants singleplayer.
thirdly, its reasonably priced. there is no microtransactions or other DLC at least not at this time and the 2 modes are 9$(roughly) each. 18$ for a good looking gears of war clone sounds reasonable to me. its hardly trying to milk you out of money. i have seen many 3DS games at higher price with less effort put into them than this game, not to forget that this is the best looking 3DS game i`ve seen and it was made by 3 people.
now to be honest, its a bit repetitive and wonky(think kid icarus just slower) its not super long, its not particularly innovative in the gameplay area either. but i still think its worth my time and i think everyone else should at least try the demo
i'm interested in this game , i want to play a TPS on my 3DS.
Does it support the Circle Pad Pro?
I like the idea of a one level demo to try and splitting up single & multiplayer, choice is always good.
Just a clone of Gears of war but harder to control. Cant wall bounce like in gears of war. It's like gears of war to a tea but slower. I wis they had put co-op campain in the game.
I'm sure this game will please those people waiting for a mmo shooter. It looks good. To bad its not setup for a 5 on 5 online. The more the merrier!
Would like to try this out once it comes to NA....apparently it might be here at the end of the month.
@Undead_terror I got an email from the devs saying Feb. 26th is the day it -should- be on the eshop!
@MakeMyBiscuit I read on another article (on another site) that it does. I'm thinking of catching it on the US launch so I'll find out for myself then.
@kupo
Thanks man. That's what I loved about the Moon Chronicles. It would have been such a shame to leave out CPP support. I will just have to check this out when it comes out.
Just beated the single player demo. I agree, it has very impressive graphics. Especially the enemies and the explosions look gorgeous. The background graphic is solid and doesn´t react to bullets. I didn´t expect it anyways.
The voiceover is a little cheesy. The music is good and dramatic. There are many control options: play with the c-stick, the CPP or with the stylus like in Dementium. I have the CPP, so that was my choice. You can change the sensivity and invert the aiming, so gameplay gets smooth the way you want it.
The game plays like a little brother from Gears of War and that smartphone game "Shadowgun". I like the metallic look from those alien robots.
To me a 10 €-Firestorm sounds good when you compare it to all those silly looking 3DS-games. I will buy the singleplayer for 10€. I expected more because of the MP, but the moment I heared about the "buy what you prefer" I was in.
It´s not the best game of the world, but a very solid shootout.
I was really forward to this game, but now that I tried the demo, I'm not impressed. I don't think the graphics are that impressive and the gameplay felt a little shallow to me. Also, I do not own a New 3DS, but I played it on an original Nintendo 3DS XL and I didn't really like the controls - stylus in the right hand for sliding and changing camera and controlpad in left hand for steering, it just felt awkward. All in all, I'm disappointed.
Great game but a c stick or circle pad a must
I want to try this but I'm sure it's a nightmare without the N3DS thumb nipple.
@Luna-Harmony it also cost a 1/3 of GoW price
Or a 1/6 if you only care for one part
"For those familiar with the genre." That's just it. This is the first of its' kind on 3DS.
I want to slap the developers in the face, by the way. Why release it in Europe first? Action/War/Shooter games have always sold better in North America than Europe. Europe's obsessed with FIFA and PES, anyway.
I think it's because the devs are from Europe, that's quite usually.
Not all of us in europe are obsessed with fifa, pes.........
europe is still waiting for moon chronicles....
so we dont always get the releases that NA gets.....
isnt NA obsessed with NBA,MADDEN and NHL Games??
liking ironfall its a good game thats fun to play.......
"Huh ? So whats the 10€ pricetag for ? The Framework ? Or do i simply get a nice Title screen to look at ?"
You see this way too much. Expecially on NL. So incredibly much ignorance among nintendo fans. I mean that is just laughably bad. I've pretty much noticed that nintendo's community is also quite bad. We don't have the worst, the bad ass kids of nothing, but still.
I don't understand people picking a game to pieces and complaining about a free demo it seems like a good jester to me to try before you buy , this game looks really really good graphicly and got a exceptional review not to mention the lack of this type of a title on the 3DS . Thank You VD-Dev I'm glad there are publisher and developers like you out there Thank You.
I tried the demo. Considering I was super excited for the game ever since I heard about it, I close the game feeling so disappointed. It just felt boring and the characters and voice acting has to be a special kind of awful. I'm sorry, VdDev, I really wanted to love this game but I don't think I can bare playing this.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned how the framerate is seemingly cut in half when 3D is enabled. It's pretty darn bad, imho.
I have the new 3DS, and can't stand the control layout for dual thumbs (want to match it more to Mass Effect 3 for the WiiU). Do you get more options to customize if you pay for the full version? Do you get a gyro aiming option (the best way to play on the 3DS anyways)?
@MC808 That's bad? It's 30fps with 3D on, that's dang impressive, actually, and you just have to play for a bit and you'll be used to it. Yes, as soon as you enable it, you notice because you were just playing at a solid 60fps in 2D. Either way, it's a technical masterpiece that this runs at the rates it does.
@dronesplitter You misunderstand me. That's an impressive technical achievement, without a doubt. All that aside it's still a massive drop in framerate. That's really all I was saying.
Perhaps you'd get used to a 50% drop in framerate, but I won't, and I doubt that I ever would.
While I will never buy any stages for this, this is not a 7/10 game. 5/10 at best.
Ironfall was a great effort...but I just didn't like it...at all. Idk why exactly, but def the lack of alt control options was a huge factor. Stylus controls are fine but just didn't feel right on this game and there's no alternative. Def 5/10 overall wld b accurate in this case. I know it's different type of shooter, but moon Chronicles remastered is better imo
First shooter I ever played
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