Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2010
Ion Assault
Developer Coreplay
Ion Assault is a multidirectional shooter video game developed by Coreplay and published by Black Inc. for the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Microsoft Windows. It was released in North America and Europe on September 23, 2009. Its gameplay is similar to that of the classic arcade shooter Asteroids. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
109 reactions from 1 source (Steam reviews) · newest Feb 19, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
66
Fresh
72 positive · 37 negative
95% range 57–74%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 72 | 37 | 0 |
Steam's own rating
Mixed
123 of 181 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 109 · most liked firstPretty Asteroids-type shooter with lovely particle effects and graphics. Sadly, the novelty of the particle effects soon wears very thin and each stage becomes a chore of gathering particles and killing asteroids - not very challenging or deep at all. The add-on weapons, such as seeking drones or mines add very little variety to your shooting arsenal and are nowhere near as powerful as a full ion blast, so you end up just sticking to hoovering up particles and shooting them at rocks and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Another lazy arcade shooter. They make for lovely light shows but doesn't change how basic and boring it is. This one has the added bonus of obnoxious attack mechanics. Holding the mouse quickly gets old. Honestly it just makes playing this feel like adding an extra chore to my day. Hard pass.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have this game for PSN as well. On the surface it looks like a new school version of the arcade classic Ateroids. It is a simple mouse and arrow key game with a few special weapons. The objective of each stage is simple.... blow up all of the asteroids. There is an option to use the X-Box 360 controller, but there is no menu support for the controller which leads you having to use the mouse anyway. To top that off, the targeting is literally rotating the ship instead of just aiming at…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →81 / 100 Neat Asteriods clone updated for the 21st century with intense close combat & relentless 'bullet hell' gameplay. Visually very detailed, great particle effects & animations, & good replayability as you keep pushing for better combos & scores. It won't take you long to get through the Story mode (honestly its pretty short), but its still fun to replay trying different techniques & master the control of your particle weapon to get the bigger chain combos. Your weapon works by sucking…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An asteroid shooter where you vacuum particles out of the playing field and then shoot them around. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=386179456 This means that you have to keep moving to get enough particles, and aimed shot and deliberation are often more important than just shooting everywhere. Visually quite appealing. The shot particles bounce off asteroids and arena walls in waves and sometimes leave nice refraction patterns.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Length of Time Played: 6 Hours Distance Played: Beat the Game Personal Grade: C+ Opinion of Each Aspect Grading System - Outstanding, Excellent, Good, Acceptable, Poor, Horrendous, Abysmal Gameplay: Acceptable Controls: Good Graphics: Acceptible Stability: Acceptable Difficulty: Good Sounds: Acceptable Music: Horrendous Story: N/A Notes: + (Positives), = (Small Gripes), - (Negatives) + Constatly engaging gameplay keeps you on your feet. + Plenty of power-ups to assist you in staying alive.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice visuals and interesting firing mechanic quickly dissolve into a run of the mill twin stick asteroids clone with weak gameplay and an odd level completion requirement. Also the survival mode is not based on health but destroying ships and accumulating points to add to the clock.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At first, it can be visually overwhelming, there are particles flying everywhere on the screen. But soon, as you start sensing about where your ship should be, and master the control, that stops being a problem, and you're free to fully enjoy drifting through the "cosmic supper", in an exceptional visual spectacle. It is fairly challanging, but it's about right, just enough to give you a sense of purpose and achievement. It never went overboard to becoming stressful. I just wish it had more…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a unique and enjoyable little shoot-em up. Whereas most shmups are about precision movement with wildly imprecise shooting of bullets everywhere, this changes it up with it's mechanic wherein you need to gather up enough matter from the map to shoot out. The result is that you have to get skilled at shooting precisely, because if you waste a shot, you have to gather up particles again for the next try. Often if I wasn't sure if I could be precise enough, I would opt to move in really…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I got this game for pretty cheap and I enjoyed my time with it. To be honest I thought I was going to be playing Nano Assault ha whatever this purchase was a happy accident. It's very different from most smhups in that it is like Asteroids with a twist instead of firing infinite ammo you gather Ions (LOOK AT THE PARTICLE EFFECTS!) which are all over the field and aim them at asteroids or enemies to break/destroy them. Now this is very easy in the beginning but once enemies start spawning you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty graphics, mediocre gameplay. It's a side scrolling shooter in a box. It forces you to move around to build up ammo. Too many sparkly bits to know what's going on. Pixels flying everywhere then you die.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A twin-stick space shooter games, concept taken from the first era of the games. The game is split in 4 sectors with 5 levels each accompanied by boss per sector at the 5th level. You need to hold the left mouse button to accumulate more particles and that will yield greater damage sprinkling shimmering particle effect all across the screen and if hit on the asteroids, make it do so again and again until a big asteroid keeps on splitting into unbreakable pieces. Also, avoid gliding enemies…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's visually insane, which would be fine if the ♥♥♥♥ that killed you wasn't impossible to see. The particles are pretty and everything, but the gameplay suffers as a result. For this game to really be playable, you'd have to either reduce the vibrancy of the ions, which would probably kill the aesthetic, or come up with some creative way to make dangerous things stand out from the background of moving particles. If the projectiles and enemy ships interacted more with the particles, it might be…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ion Assault is an arcade style overhead shooter whereby you control a space ship which has the ability to aborb and move around particles to destroy rocks and enemies. Unfortunately while the game is very pretty, it grows dull far too quickly, especially if you find you're not too good at the game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Meh. Poor man's Geometry Wars if you ask me. [Rating: 60/100]
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoy this a new twist on the old school space shooter games. I would definitely recommend it but make sure your comp meets the minimum specs because the graphics take up alot of memory it seems. Totally worth giving it a shot in my oppinion,
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I remember when Astroids was a hot game and that was in the 80s. This game is a 100% astroids clone, adding nothing new aside from graphics. IMO the game is boring as hell and not worth to play.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This was a pretty good little asteroids clone that uses a charge shot as it's main gimmick. I had to run it with Windows 7 compatibility or else the game would start stuttering due to what I think might be a memory leak. Also if you press "C" for some weird reason the game crashes. (it's not a bug! It's a feature!) My only real complaints are that sometimes you shoot an enemy and have no idea if it connected or not. There's no feedback and it makes you second guess yourself all the time. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Disappointing Asteroids style shooter. Despite the impressive particle show, the shooting just seems to lack punch and excitement. Geometry Wars was an additictive Asteroids clone that nailed that sense of blasting enemies to bits through great use of audio & visual feedback to the player, but Ion Assault fails to delivery shooting that clicks in the same way. And when core gameplay lacks that essential fun factor, it doesn't take long for things to get boring. I also found the amount of stuff…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A 'thrust' style 'shoot the asteroids' arcade game with nice graphics and sound, Ion Assault's control system is not as fluid as it should be for a game of this type and having to charge your weapon over and over in the early stages doesn't allow for the frenetic gameplay a shooter requires. I'm sure it improves as you progress but I, for one, don't have the desire to find out. 40% is being generous. But I picked it up as part of a cheapy deal so I MAY look at it again - don't hold your breath.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game sucks, i payed very cheap (0.99) but still it's awful. Unless i could get some money with the SteamCroms. Don't buy it, this game was a waste of time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Simple Asteroids-style game. Very short. Boring.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Improved" asteroid shooting game so if you are into those this game might give you something. Personally I'm not a fan and I just find this game really boring. It tries to bring more depth into old school shooter but personally I don't think it works that well. For some reason aiming is tough and there's just too much going on at the screen at the same time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's not a bad concept, and it DOES work in practice, but it's unfortunately too lacking in actual substance and what makes shooters fun to be a good game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Horrible tutorial and even worse visuals - there isn't any gameplay - don't waste your money on this garbage
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game looks like a huge mess. THere is just too much things in there blocking your views. Just too much matter coming nonstop makes for an unenjoyable visual experience.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shiny, but disappointing. This game is really nice to look at, but the gameplay is just not there. It feels like Asteroids confined to a tiny box. There was very little sense of urgency, and the controls were awkward. If you're interested in shooters with good particles, I recommend Shatter or Beat Hazard instead.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Well the game itself isn't incredibly exciting but it has potential. Unfortunetly they didn't find that potential, after playing the game at a friends house for about 2 hours I have decided that this game really isn't very good. I wouldn't buy it for $9.99 but I would say it's worth the $0.99 on sale for the hour or so of fun you get out of it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I beat the campaign once and that was enough for me. You need to fly around to collect ammo (little blue dots on the screen) while dodging and killing enemies to get to your real goal, the asteroids. Destroy all asteroids in a level and move on to the next. There are powerups as well, which help, but you will mainly be flying around collecting ammo and blasting away at asteroids. I enjoyed the one play through i did, it was a fun two hours, but i would NOT pay more than $1 for this. The…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →fun arcade game, HARD!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is like Asteroids pumped full of particle physics and neon. Does that sound cool? Then I think you are probably on drugs. Don't let that stop you, though. It's kinda neat. If you are on drugs you will probably enjoy it. Otherwise, I can't promise you'll play for more than a few minutes. 3/5
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Originally released to Xbox Live Arcade in September of 2009, Ion Assault's Steam version is a solid port now that the developer has acquiesced to customer complaints and added gamepad support. The core feature here is the particle collection and firing means of attack, which employs some pleasing fluid dynamics, but this is also a very nice twin-stick shooter by the usual criteria. Unlike the cardboard cutouts of a middling game such as Beat Hazard, the objects in Ion Assault come in a wide…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is a supremely good arcade style game with utterly simple controls. If it was released in the 1980's it would have been a golden classic.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like shooters ... get it. If your blind ... sure why not. If your not into shooters made by somebody with a sense of style of a 13 year old ... pass. One thumb very very slightly up, due to the fugly factor.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is not what I expected at all (in a good way). I thought I was playing a confined space shooter. I was, but there is an interesting mechanic. Inside your confined space are small tiny "ion particles". By holding down the mouse button, you collect these particles to use as your weapons. Your bullets are around you, and you are as powerful as you are willing to collect these particles. My only complaint is that every seems to be a bit dark. It can be easily fixed, but the default…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun little twin-stick shooter. Interesting hook, where you collect the particles you fire from around the map. Short campaign, plus a survival mode.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I thought this was a great game! Very unique style, quick and fun. Not bad for the buck.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A sleek and challenging shoot 'em up with smooth graphics, addictive gameplay, and a variety of levels that keep you hooked from start to finish.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ion Assault is a pretty looking game with nice sound effects and music, but it's also repetitive and often visually overwhelming. There's an annoyingly huge difficulty spike once you reach the 1st boss and the 3rd world, which is stupidly tedious because of the endless enemy spawns. Also, the levels feel too cramped and tight with all the floating asteroids and enemies filling the screen. = 6/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun, nice smooth gameplay and graphics
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Broken achievements
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ion Assault pros: //fast game with modern day graphics with easy controls that moves from location A to B to C and so on //good amount of action and special effects cons: //a lot difficult battles //good game Personal Suggested Purchase Price: $0.49 Or Less During Sale
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Asteroids with pretty particles and more dynamic gameplay. The only real issue I have with it is that enemies don't always respond to damage dealt, so there were moments when I doubted my approach. But no, just shoot everything.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a Japanese ripoff of Asteroids from the 1970's, where you control a spaceship and need to blow up asteroids on a 2D plane. The developers added some okay (but not great) graphics and a mechanism where you need to hoover up detritus surrounding you which you hurl at your enemy, rather than just having a convention gun to shoot with. Gimmicks aside this is a fairly middling effort, it's not adding much to an old dead game format that launched in the late 70's and died in the 80s.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't understand why, but ION ASSAULT was stuttering on my i7 7600, with a GTX 1070. It would pause for 30 seconds to a few minutes, just randomly during play. Overall, the game was great except for that problem. I tried reducing the resolution, and that didn't help.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Actually I like it! You collect gallactic "dust" to kill stuff :D 7/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An asteroid shooter where you vacuum particles out of the playing field and then shoot them around. This means that you have to keep moving to get enough particles, and aimed shot and deliberation are often more important than just shooting everywhere. Visually quite appealing. The shot particles bounce off asteroids and arena walls in waves and sometimes leave nice refraction patterns. Good game for what it is.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't know if I would suggest paying full price for it, but, I bought it for a dollar. It is worth every cent, for what that's worth. It is a very fun side shooter which is reminescent of astroids. Xbox controller is a bit clunky---so, if you are a couch player, maybe you should reconsider. MK seem to work well, though.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great little game, took few hours of my life and I don't even regret it. The only downside of this game would be that it is so short
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a generic space shooter ala Geometry Wars. A generic shooter...with a twist! That twist is ultimately kind of cool, but not enough for this game to shake its genericness. The game is an inch better than a quality flash game (take this statement as you will my friends) but it seems there are only 4 worlds with 4 boss fights if you ever decide to play this mediocre gem. Still though, gotta give it props for having a sick announcer. The particle effects look cool and all, but I feel like this…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun twist on the classic Asteroids. However, the campaign is way too short. If you're hunting for achievements, you most likely won't get 100% here, since the score requirements are insany high.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great indie game. It is kinda like Swarm Arena but has better visuals, more/different action. 9/10 -1 : music could be better and levels larger/not boxy.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Plenty of eye candy and requires thought and reactions!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ion Assault is a clever twist on the Asteroids formula — vacuuming up ion particles and blasting them at enemies feels genuinely satisfying once you get the hang of it, and the particle effects are stunning. The core mechanic rewards precision and positioning over just spraying shots everywhere, which gives it a nice strategic layer. That said, the visual chaos can work against you since enemy projectiles have a nasty habit of blending into the particle-filled background, leading to some…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game crashed so hard Windows legit said "if Control Alt Delete doesn't work, use the power button"
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Interesting game idea that feels like it was built from a particle tech demo, but unfortunately crashes often enough I couldn't play more than 10 minutes.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Never did I want to play a twin stick shooter where I'm forced to solely shoot slow railgun shots after circling the stage for 8 seconds. Then I tried to alt tab and it hard locked my pc for about a minute.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unsatisfying gameplay. Game crashes to a blackscreen when you quit it and the only way to solve that is by restarting your PC. My rating 0/10, not recommended.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A glowy asteroids clone with more particle effects than substance.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One day, during the times of truly crazy Steam sales, I bought no less than 20 games for less than $80, and I just so happened to grab this one for $2.50 as part of that purchase. Of course, I then proceeded to completely forget about it and not play it, until stumbling across it in my library once again over a decade later. So, has this game aged well? Honestly, no, not at all. It tries to make a unique spin on the twin-stick shooter formula by making it so your ship has no weapon at all by…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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