The fast and the FURYous.

Fury Preview - E3 2007

by John "Boomjack" Hoskin

My invitation to meet with the Auran team at the GameCock compound started out something like this (Note, video and sound). These guys took over a hotel on the beach called The Hotel California. Upon arrival the Eagles' song immediately began to play in my head. I was worried that we might be able to check-in, but never leave. As Jeff and I hopped out of the cab we noticed a bunch of vehicles with GameCockSucks.com stickers all over them. The hotel looked like it might disintegrate into rubble at any moment and there didn't appear to be any way to actually get inside to see the good folks for Auran, which was ironic given the hotel's moniker. Eventually I noticed some attractive women wearing tiny kilts and skin-tight shirts that read "A GameCock Taught Me To Yodel". We either had the right place or didn't care. We weren't sure.

A dashing young GameCock staffer was waved over to usher us in, offer us food, booze and the run of the place before introducing us to our hosts from Auran. Bing, bang, boom and before I knew it I was plunked down in front of a machine to take on three of the Auran devs. Mike Hampden (Content Designer), Peter Hodge (Software Engineer) and Connie Hewitt (Lead QA) had obviously dealt with the press all day because they weren't taking any prisoners. It was like a car wreck. I wanted to look away as they took me out behind the shed and stripped me of my gaming pride, but I kept my eyes glued to the screen and my cursor glued to the "Respawn Now" button.

While I was trying to figure out what the heck each hotkey represented they were rushing past, around and over me like Paris Hilton at "Free Dog in a Purse Night". To say that I got beaten up would be like saying that Jessica Alba is winsome or Mike Tyson is a bit of a psycho. Regardless, the game was an absolute blast to play. I'm not sure quite how to describe it in reference to other titles you may have played, but it is truly unique. My best stab would be Unreal Tournament meets Hexen mixed with four parts of all-new gameplay and ten parts of fun. Seriously though, Mike, Peter and Connie were charming, explaining to me the nuances of the game with such zeal that it was impossible not to see how much they loved it.

The Death and Life schools (left and left-center) in Fury, plus "between the horses" and a look at the intro Sanctuary.

Now for the nitty and the gritty...Fury has four different game types. Bloodbath, which much like my bachelor party is a 32 player free-for-all. Players must not only attempt to kill their opponents while staying alive themselves, but they must collect the blood tokens that the fallen enemies drop to move up the leaderboard.

Vortex is a 16 versus 16 group battle. Think of it as capture the flag on steroids. Players attempt to bring vortex crystals back to their base, but unlike CTF those crystals must be defended. Coordinated teamwork is the key to victory.

Elimination is a 4 versus 4 battle with simple rules; eliminate the other team. It's a best of three "Last Man Standing" competition. Cowards need not apply.

Fortress is a game type that we didn't get to discuss at length other than it will be the more "epic" type of game that could last up to 45 minutes with up to 32 players per side.

All game types have time limits. You will never need to worry about that nasty opponent hiding the final flag to annoy you! A medium sized game of 16 versus 16 would normally last for 15 minutes, perfect for a break at lunch or while your staff are rushing to get that last piece of coding done and you need to look busy.

A hybrid first person shooter / massively multiplayer online game is difficult to wrap your head around at first, but the most basic premise of Fury is this, you fight other living breathing, or in my case gasping, wheezing human beings to gain levels. As you advance in level you gain access to new spells and skills which you can then put into play against even more living, breathing human opponents.

But what if I get matched against much better players you ask? Auran is testing no less than three different means of calculating relative player skill levels including the ELO and Glicko rating systems to ensure that their match making is both fair and fun for the players. Better yet, even though Fury is a skill based game and not a class based game the ranking systems pick up on the types of spells/skills that you have loaded and rate you as a healer, nuker, etc. Players need not worry about hurting their rating by playing a healing archetype to help their guildmates for instance. At the end of every week and the end of every season the top players, guild and even servers will win special awards.

The maps are filled with powerups that like in most first person shooters can be used to either boost the players damage dealing potential or heal their wounds. Knowledge of the maps will be a great advantage.

More screenshots from Fury.

Targeting is sticky, like in most MMOs. You lock on to an opponent and fire away without worrying about continuing to keep your target in your sights, while strafing and constantly being on the move to avoid melee attacks is a carry-over from the game's FPS roots.

A player can have a weapon plus up to 23 abilities loaded at once, most of which can be fired while you are on the run. There are over 400 abilities to choose from giving players abundant choices when it comes to selecting their loadout.

Each account is allowed only one player slot, which sounds like a bad design decision at first, but it truly makes sense. The character name that you choose will be unique across the entire game. Nobody else will share that name on any server, and because each character can learn every ability and can loadout any abilities that they know there is really no reason to have an alternative character other than to sequester yourself from a bad reputation.

Thanks to Mike, Connie, Peter and Adam Carpenter for patiently answering my questions.

Would I recommend this game? Absolutely! It's a game that I will buy when it is available and with the amount of games that I have placed in front of me that is a large endorsement.

Questions, comments, gifts? Fire away...

John "Boomjack" Hoskin


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Fury Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Dissecting and distilling the game industry since 1994. Lover of family time, youth hockey, eSports, and the game industry in general.

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