Review: Guns Of Icarus Online

Rating: 0
Author: Jim Smale

by Jim Smale · Published January 15, 2013 · Updated January 15, 2013

Guns of Icarus Online is a team-based multiplayer online airship combat game. Captain or serve as crew aboard an airship with your friends and fly into battle against other ships in a steam/dieselpunk-inspired, post-apocalyptic world. Each player takes on one of the three roles aboard the ship—Captain, Gunner, or Engineer—and must work together to take down enemies and keep the ship flying. The game is all about teamwork, tactics, and fast-paced action.

Pros:

Be captain of the ship and command your men, Or take on a member of the 4 man crew and be in charge of repairing the guns or better yet firing them!
Being Captain doesn’t limit to you just flying the ship, oh no, you also shout out orders and “spot” enemy ships for your team.
Each of the 3 roles is unique and brings with it a whole new experience of playing the game. Roles are captain,gunner or engineer.
Pick a ship that best suits your style, there’s a fair few to pick from and each have good and bad points.
Easy to remember control scheme. And is compatible with the 360 controller.
Sleek dieselpunk influenced graphics that have an amazing level of detail, whether it be the ships itself or the explosions of gunfire strewn over the battlefield.
A full on adrenaline pumped soundtrack that keeps you on your toes, which you need to be in order to win.
Full upgrades for both your character and the ship are available through play and really can change the tide of the fight.
Some truly great level backdrops from ruined cities covered in sand, to a snow blasted icy landscape. The apocalyptic ravaged worlds really are a feast for the eyes.
There is a offline or bot only type option, which you can use to hone your skills. You can even invite friends to the game so you can brush up on tactics or run through strategies.
Game is built with online multiplayer being the huge draw to the game.(clue is in the title)Matchmaking is handled with a lobby type system, pick a crew or even start your own if your feeling brave enough!. Teams as said are split into 4, so once enough players join the game will begin.
Guns are not just key to victory in the normal sense. You need to carefully plan how you are going to not only use them in a attack, but also how best to upgrade them. For every gun, like the classes have unique traits. They do this by having different shooting styles like reloads or have huge recoil effects. A strong discipline is also required to get that all important shot off.
A shop is available to buy premium goods but to be honest its all mostly cosmetic, not giving any advantage to the buyer. In doing so dispelling the myth of pay to win.
A really nice feature is the ability to spectate. This may sound boring but in terms of learning the game…..what better way eh? or you could use this to spy on how other players operate and use this knowledge against them? sneaky no? love it!
Constant updates and bug fixes give the game a new breath of life with every release. I like developers that do this and most bug fixes are player feedback responses.
The satisfaction of taking an enemy ship down is a true high air fist pump usually followed by a stupid high pitched phrase. The harder the fight the better the rush. For you know you helped in the victory even if it was just fixing up the engines or guns. It takes team work and without it comes only defeat.
Game has its own achievements.
Full customize option available for you to create your own unique look.

Cons:

New players coming straight in may feel a bit like a spare part online, even more so if you dont ask for help. Lets be honest not everyone likes asking for help.
Not every role is for you so learn to experiment, not really a bad thing but picking Captain for instance and not knowing what your doing can create issues with your team. As I can confirm by fighting a battle on my own. My fault but still.
The game can occasionally suffer from lag which is inevitable but annoying all the same.
With only online PvP and bot matches, the game needs more gametypes.
A proper separate tutorial section would be a nice addition.
Had a few fall through the floor glitches or spwaning with no items/weapons.

In summary the game still has a few kinks, but to be brutally honest, gives gamers an excellent chance to grab a crew, a ship and rule the skies. Once you are accustomed with your chosen role and how the game plays, the game does nothing but thrill you and pull you back in for more sky based shoot em up action! The one thing that impresses me most about the game is the level of support Muse Games gives it. With their constant presence on the forums both official and Steam, you know whatever you have to say they are willing to listen. Use the feedback option and you can bet your bottom dollar you will get a reply. With this in mind you know your in good hands, the vision they have is getting there update by update. So what are you waiting for? grab yourself a copy and get involved both in game and in the forums. Yes a few things may not sit right with you at first but stick with it. For the gamer that thinks hes seen everything the game world has to offer, think again. War just changed and your role in a victory is needed!