What is Ironsight?
Ironsight is a free-to-play (F2P) online first-person shooter (FPS) developed by Korean developer Wiple Games and published in the west by Aeria Games. The game is based on a proprietary game engine called IRON Engine, also developed by Wiple Games.
The game is set in a war between two fictional factions, the North Atlantic Federation (NAF) and the Energy Development Enterprise Network (EDEN). After a cataclysmic event, the two factions become embroiled in a battle for Trinidium, the last remaining natural resource on Earth.
Players can choose from a variety of game modes suitable for both casual and ranked play. These game modes include Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, Capture the Flag, Duel, and more. Ironsight offers a wide range of weapons, including 38 primary weapons, which are highly customizable in terms of functionality and aesthetics. Different bullet types can be used for stopping power, armour penetration, and more.
The impressive level of customisation continues across the gear selection, with secondary weapons and character models all offering a wide range of skins. If players wish, they can use the base player model to unlock and equip individual clothing items such as face coverings, gloves and shirts.
Gameplay
Ironsight borrows heavily from the Call of Duty school of game design, resulting in relatively fast and fluid close-quarters combat in a realistic near-future map setting. Weapons have a wide variety of stats, but almost all weapons are controllable and predictable under constant fire, especially with mods. This ensures fast, precise combat that allows for impressive multiple kills in a short time to kill (TTK) that is more than possible.
Similar to Killstreak, Ironsight allows for the use of drones that can be acquired during the game. As players perform actions, for example completing objectives or killing enemies, they earn points that help unlock pre-selected offensive and tactical drones. These come in the form of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for spotting enemies, small flying explosive devices called Spider Drones, attack helicopters, and large and powerful Metal Reapers. Drones complement Ironsight’s action in a variety of ways, such as throwing up a deployable shield when you see multiple enemies coming your way, or placing Gorgon Drones to blind anyone who sees them.
The majority of drones can be destroyed with conventional weapons and drone-specific EMP weapons. This is effective in preventing imbalance and snowballing for those who have achieved enough points to use drones. Ironsight is clearly inspired by the “killstreak” of the Call of Duty series, but spreads out the drones enough to avoid the “killstreak spam” so prevalent in the aforementioned series.
Overall, Ironsight does an excellent job of delivering fast-paced shooter fun and an environment that allows for tactical, competitive gameplay.
Level Design
Ironsight borrows heavily from the Call of Duty school of game design, resulting in relatively fast and fluid close-quarters combat in a realistic near-future map setting. Weapons have a wide variety of stats, but almost all weapons are controllable and predictable under constant fire, especially with mods. This ensures fast, precise combat that allows for impressive multiple kills in a short time to kill (TTK) that is more than possible.
Similar to Killstreak, Ironsight allows for the use of drones that can be acquired during the game. As players perform actions, for example completing objectives or killing enemies, they earn points that help unlock pre-selected offensive and tactical drones. These come in the form of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for spotting enemies, small flying explosive devices called Spider Drones, attack helicopters, and large and powerful Metal Reapers. Drones complement Ironsight’s action in a variety of ways, such as throwing up a deployable shield when you see multiple enemies coming your way, or placing Gorgon Drones to blind anyone who sees them.
The majority of drones can be destroyed with conventional weapons and drone-specific EMP weapons. This is effective in preventing imbalance and snowballing for those who have achieved enough points to use drones. Ironsight is clearly inspired by the “killstreak” of the Call of Duty series, but spreads out the drones enough to avoid the “killstreak spam” so prevalent in the aforementioned series.
Overall, Ironsight does an excellent job of delivering fast-paced shooter fun and an environment that allows for tactical, competitive gameplay.
Level Design
Ironsight does an excellent job of providing players with diverse, well-designed, and decently sized maps. The locations of these maps range from cruise ships to bio labs to train stations and more. All 17 maps have interesting areas of focus and a good mix of indoor and outdoor areas.
IRON Engine also gives dynamic effects to some cards that open new routes during the game, the most dramatic of which are sandstorms that knock down windmills and break through walls to create new tunnels.
Despite these positive aspects, some maps in Team Deathmatch mode can make for a frustrating experience. Ironsight’s team deathmatch does not have fixed spawn locations, but will move spawns to specific areas of the map if there are enemies on the currently used map. This is a method commonly used in games to prevent a team from becoming dominated and being unable to leave their spawn area (often called spawn camping). Some maps only offer two spawn locations, which means that if a team is particularly aggressive, they will have to make multiple trips back and forth from one end of the map to the other.
When comparing Ironsight to its competitors, especially in the Free2Play market, especially in the East, it does a better job of offering a variety of fun maps to play on.
Visuals and Sound Effects
The IRON engine ensures decent graphics in Ironsight, providing good visual effects and physics. However, Ironsight’s engine is targeted at older computers to make it playable for a larger audience, and that’s evident when compared to other games on the market.
With all graphics options set to maximum and effects enabled, Ironsight doesn’t impress, but it’s good enough to not be annoying. The settings are realistic, but the graphics are clean and simple, so there’s no visual noise or distractions.
Ironsight has decent sound effects that are reminiscent of Call of Duty Black Ops. Weapons seem powerful, even if they lack variety. Environmental cues such as footsteps on various surfaces help you figure out exactly what’s going on.
User Interface
Free2Play FPS games have always had a checkered history when it comes to networking, as they are often created using a peer-to-peer (P2P) configuration. Like any well-configured shooter, Wiple Games decided that Free2Play shooter should be built in a peer-to-server (P2S) configuration. Unfortunately, this decision did not produce the desired results, as delayed damage while turning and the peaker advantage are still present.
Ironsight uses Easy Anti Cheat to prevent the use of cheats in the game. This, along with the proprietary game engine, seems to work well to protect Ironsight from hackers, as no obvious cheating occurred during playtesting.
Shop
Like many free2play shooters, the Ironsight Shop disappoints, but not for the reasons you might expect. Aeria Games did a great job ensuring that Ironsight is not “Pay2Win” (P2W), as you cannot buy anything with real money that gives you an advantage over other players. All you can buy are cosmetics or boosters to gain experience or gold.
Unfortunately, Aeria Games failed to give players anything they would want to buy. The character models are good, but they rarely stand out enough from the rest to make you want to buy them. Weapon skins vary widely in quality, and only the really good ones are very expensive.
So, is it worth playing?
Ironsight’s development has been slow and it falls into the trap of being in a perpetual open beta. However, for those looking for a free-to-play old-school, military, CQC shooter, Ironsight is one of the best games on the market right now. The combination of fast-paced gunplay and fun, well-balanced drones is what sets Ironsight apart.
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