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ikaruga review entry

This fast paced shooter arrived on Nintendo's latest console on April 17th. Originally a Treasure developed arcade game, Ikaruga was ported to Sega's ill-fated Dreamcast console in September of last year. The game received widespread praise due to its intense and difficult "old school" nature. In a market saturated with 3D free roam shooters, it's refreshing to see Atari take a chance in bringing this game stateside. 

Shooters from the 16-bit and early 32-bit days heavily influenced Ikaruga's style. It's development code name was Project RS-2, which is an obvious reference to Treasure's own Radiant Silvergun. One could say that Ikaruga is the spiritual successor to Radiant Silvergun, which is widely considered to be one of the finest shooters ever made. 

Ikaruga's basic play mechanics involve the traditional frenetic shooting along with a creative method of switching the polarity of your ship. All the enemies in the game are either "light" or "dark" enemies. You can tell between these two enemy types because the light enemies have a lighter color, usually silver or white. The dark enemies have a darker color, usually black or red. When your ship is set to the light polarity, it can absorb all attacks of light enemies. The opposite is true for dark enemies. If an enemy bullet of the opposite polarity catches you, then your ship will be destroyed. It's a simple concept that lends to some of the most creative strategy yet seen in a video game. This concept can also make for some intense action sequences where the entire screen may be littered with attacks of one polarity, and at the same time there are attacks of the opposite polarity floating around. You have to be quick on the analog or digital controller to avoid such attacks. The player can switch between polarities with a tap of the B button, but you have to be extremely aware of your surrounding before you do so. At certain points you must make split-second changes in your polarity to avoid enemies and attacks. Make no mistake; Ikaruga leaves very little room for error. If you're not paying the utmost attention to the activities on the screen, you will die. 

Ikaruga's brutal difficulty is a large part of the reason the game is so fun. The player can choose among many different strategies to beat the level, including the infamous "bullet eater" technique where you try to pass an entire level without killing a single enemy. 

Another great aspect of Ikaruga is it's combo system. While simple in theory (Just destroy three enemies of the same polarity in a row) it can prove to be extremely intricate. An initial combo provides you with a 100-point combo bonus. Each successive combo that you execute doubles the score until you reach the maximum combo limit of 25,000 points. After you reach the maximum, the combo bonuses start over. Needless to say, combos are vital to achieving higher scores. You can choose to ignore scoring if you'd like, but shooters are one of the last genres where a player tries for high scores. 

As an added bonus, Atari has included a password system in Ikaruga that allows you to compare your high scores with those of players all around the world. To do this, you must enter into a ranking game in Ikaruga's option menu. This mode awards you three lives to try and get your highest possible score. After your final life, Ikaruga tallies your total score and gives you a password that you can input on a specially designed website. If you make it into the top 100 scorers, you'll be honored with a mention on their top 100 list. While certainly not essential to enjoy the game, this option is a generous bonus to those who take pride in their shooting abilities. 

Graphics

The graphics in this game are truly beautiful. While Ikaruga isn't necessarily a technical marvel, Treasure's fantastic art direction makes you believe it is. As I previously stated, the entire screen is often filled with bullets of both polarities making for a truly awe-inspiring presentation. The boss fights in the game are often incredible. The bosses can take up anywhere from an eighth of the screen to nearly the entire screen. Their attacks are often simple patterns that take a few moments to figure out. That's not to say the battles are easy once you've got the patterns down because you'll still have to rely on lightning fast reflexes to have any hope of defeating these titans. 

The game moves along at a steady 60 FPS until the defeat of a boss. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not (I believe it is), but in the ensuing explosion of a defeated boss the game slows down massively. This may just be a decision on the designer's part to add a little "flash" to the defeat. At any rate, it's certainly not enough of a problem to moan about as the slowdown takes place after the player is finished fighting. 

The game doesn't appear to push as many polygons as it's 3D brothers, but it's certainly pretty to look at. Due to the small size of your ship, the environments and enemies seem all the more enormous and formidable. 

Sound

There isn't much to say for the sound. The sound effects mix nicely with the action, and the music is unimposing. Bosses are introduced with an appropriate warning siren. The sound is good at best, but I would have liked to see more use of GameCube's Pro Logic II capabilities. 

Gameplay

This is where Ikaruga truly shines. Treasure has done an absolutely fantastic job of melding its level design with the concept of polarity switching. You'll find yourself in situations where you can essentially choose between a light or a dark path to advance through the level. Neither is necessarily easier, but it is a nice touch and can often factor importantly into the combo system. 

Remember that this game certainly isn't for everybody. The extreme difficulty will be enough to turn some players away, and it's also somewhat of a dated genre. The people that will enjoy this game the most are the people that fondly remember the golden age of shooters when Gradius and R-Type reigned supreme. Ikaruga isn't a weekend rental, and it's not a game that is played only to finish. It's a game that can take weeks or even months to master. The point of Ikaruga is really to challenge yourself and to constantly improve. If you were in love with shooters in the glory days of the Super NES and Genesis then there's no question that you'll truly appreciate Ikaruga. 

Closing Comments

Ikaruga was a welcome addition to my gaming library. It was a game that came out of left field and made me remember the countless hours of enjoyment that games like 1942 brought me. While the difficulty can be a bit offsetting at first, you quickly grow accustomed to it, and you actually start to love it. You'll feel as if you actually accomplished something when you manage to weave your way through one of Ikaruga's beautiful levels. The more you play the more you start to recognize the patterns involved in Ikaruga's game play. In a sense, this game provides an endless amount of replay value because of the challenge involved. You'll find yourself constantly trying to best your previous high score. You can practice in the multitude of bonus modes included. You can practice levels that you've cleared in a practice mode, you can play the game at half speed to practice your combos and attack patterns, or you can even watch a computer controlled demo of the AI completing a level. Treasure offers you lots of ways to improve your skills. 

I'd like to commend Atari again for taking a chance and bringing this game to America. In a market where Rogue Leader and Panzer Dragoon reign supreme, Ikaruga comes out of nowhere to remind gamers that games were once based on simple game play. 

Rating 
Gameplay

10.0

The absolute embodiment of game play, Ikaruga reminds us that it doesn't take bump-mapping and 16 million polygons on the screen to have fun.

Graphics

8.5

Ikaruga is a beautiful game that does a great job of conveying the futility of one man against an army through it's creative art direction.

Sound

7.0

Decent sound effects provide the proper ambience for the game. While I would have liked full surround sound (Lasers from behind!), the sounds get the job done.

Replay

9.0

Spend weeks trying to achieve high scores, prove yourself in the scoring website, or take on the game with a friend in co-op mode. Ikaruga will keep you busy for quite some time.

Overall

9.0

Jonathan Black - GameCubicle Reader


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