The interaction of an intense femtosecond laser field (∼10¹⁶ W/cm²) with argon clusters in a dense jet has been studied by measuring the energy and angle distributions of emitted ions. A directional anisotropy in the ion explosion energies is observed. The experimental results indicate that the average ion energies are up to 40 in the detection direction parallel to the laser polarization higher than that perpendicular to it. The measured ion yield increases about 80, correspondingly. The findings are interpreted by charge-dependent ion acceleration and explosion of elliptic microplasma spheres.