Written By Shaun McCracken
I put off getting Ikaruga not because I didn't want to, but more of the fact
that I think it was a little much to pay for a shooter that seemed short in
length. I mean, for the same price, you can get Burnout 2, which is a great
game with a ton of replay value. If it were $10 less, I probably would have snapped
it up sooner. So when I recieved $100 for my birthday a few weeks ago, I finally
decided to get Ikaruga. After all, what did I have to lose?
While I think Ikaruga still has a fairly high price point, I think the game
is still worth getting for a number of reasons. For one, how often does a company
take a risk brining a cult game to the U.S.? If Atari was willing to bring Ikaruga
to Europe and the states, and on the Gamecube, they must have known how good it was.
Second, there is a suprising level of depth to the game that you usually don't
see in typical arcade shooters. Third, it's hard. Very hard. You will not beat
the game on the very first try, believe me. Even on easy, the game is suprisingly
difficult. You'll try over and over to get further each time you go, untill you
finally reach the end. And for me, it took 7 hours (game time) to finally beat
the game. For a game with five stages, it sure is a long road that is laid out
in front of you.
Oh, I forgot the details of the game! For those who don't know what Ikaruga is,
it started out as an arcade shooter based upon Sega's NAOMI hardware. In 2002,
it was ported to the Dreamcast, and sold only in Japan. I guess the game had such
a great following, Infogrames (Atari) decided to bring the game to the Gamecube in
Japan, then later to the U.S. The game is pretty much a standard plot for an
arcade shooter. You are the last hope for mankind, and you must shoot EVERYTHING
IN SIGHT. But really, we don't play these games for the story, now do we?
The game design, at first seems like an oridinary shooter. Enemies apporach
you, and you shoot to kill. But there's a twist. Your ship has two different
"polarities", white and black. You can change your ship's polarity at anytime
with the press of a button. This helps and hinders in a few ways. If you are an opposite
color of the enemy (which are also broken down to black or white shades), you inflict
twice the damage and you get twice the score. But, if you take the enemie's fire,
you blow up. However, if you are the same color as the enemy, you absorb the enemie's
shots, which can increase a meter on the side of your screen that is meant for
the use of a special homing missile attack.
Of course, you can't just go around shooting everything in sight. Well, you
could, but you won't score as many points. To get a higher score, you need to
go for the chain bonuses. Destroy enemies of the same color 3 times in a row
for 1 chain. Keep shooting 3 enemies of the same color, and you increase your
chain and your score. Your chain never ends until you shoot an enemy out of sequence.
For instance, if you already destroyed 2 white enemies, and then destroy a
black enemy, the chain is broken. Again, this isn't easy, as it takes perfection
to master the big chains. If you think you can score big, you can go for the challenge
mode, which after you're done, you'll be given a password to enter on the Ikaruga
world rannking site (located at www.ikaruga-atari.net).
There's also a technique called "bullet-eater", which you do not fire, but only
absorb the enemies shots. I'm not sure what the benefits of the technique are,
since I've never really tried it out. The manual mentions the technique, and
there are some tutorials that show how it's done. It's surely a different way
to play, and will challenge those who try the technique.
Graphically, Ikaruga is a nice looking game. While you're pretty much "on-rails"
in terms of how you play, the action sweeps around with great motion. The backgrounds
are subtly colored, but are seemingly effective, and look very sharp. I'm not sure if
it's pre-rendered or real time, but it's very clean and looks great. And Ikaruga
never slows down, no matter how many bullets or enemies are on screen. This is
a big plus.
The sound matches the game pretty well. The music keeps up with a dramatic
score, and never becomes abnoxious or irritating. The sound effects, while just
mainly consiting of explosions and gun fire, sound pretty good. Theres not much
to be annoyed with in terms of sound, unless you can't stand the robotic voices.
Ikaruga may be short, but it's very, very difficult. While most games today
rely on huge environments and exploration, Ikaruga keeps it simple while adding
as much depth as possible. I think many would have a hard time accepting the
fact that this is just an arcade shooter, and this only has five stages, but
trust me that once you get into this game, you will not only have your ass
handed to you many times, but you'll also find yourself playing this game
many times over again. While I wouldn't say Ikaruga has unlimited replay
value, it will surely be played many times, and is a great game to keep around
in your collection when you're looking for something simple yet tough to
play when you're bored. Games like this do not come around often, especially
in this paticular genre. If you love arcade shooters, or just want a really
challenging game, Ikaruga may be worth a purchase. It gets better each time
you play.
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Ikaruga
