Ikaruga (JPN) Review
In a genre that is all but dead, Treasure continues to innovate. Ikaruga, the spiritual successor to the legendary Radiant Silvergun, is Treasure’s latest masterpiece. With incredible depth and replayability, as well as fantastic visuals and spot-on control, this one unquestioningly belongs on the shelf of every action gamer.
Ikaruga is a top-down two-dimensional shooter, like Capcom’s Mars Matrix or even the arcade classic Galaga. Players assume the role of Shinra, the only survivor of a group of freedom-fighting rebels. After being shot down by the evil Tenro Horai, Shinra takes to the skies once more in his new ship, the Ikaruga. He is the last hope for his people, and must face the Tenro Horai Empire alone. However, none of this really matters once the game starts. There are no cut scenes or character development here. It is a shooter, after all.
At first glance, Ikaruga is merely a standard shooter with a gimmick: the color system. The Ikaruga ship can change from black to white and back again on the fly. Every enemy is also colored either black or white, and fires bullets of their color. The Ikaruga has the ability to absorb bullets of it’s own color, storing that energy up for screen-clearing laser attacks. However, bullets of the opposite color will destroy the Ikaruga in a single hit. Colliding with any enemy or a wall will also destroy the ship. Furthermore, attacking an enemy of the opposite color will deal double-damage; this is especially important for bosses and larger foes. Finally, destroying an opponent of the same color will release a small group of like-colored bullets from the exploding enemy, just in case the player didn’t already have enough to deal with. After a short while, it becomes apparent that the color system is essential to Ikaruga's gameplay, and is not just a gimmick.
At times, the screen will be completely filled with bullets of different colors and the only way to survive is by switching back and forth at just the right moments. Bosses will often create a maze of bullets in their color, shooting just a handful of opposite-colored bullets. If the player is bold enough to navigate the bullet maze, he can cause double-damage to the boss with his opposite-colored bullets. Otherwise, one can play it safe and change colors so that the maze of bullets is simply absorbed and only a small fraction of the boss’ attack needs to be dodged.
To add further depth to an already complicated shooter, Treasure has created a combo system. By defeating enemies in like-colored groups of three, one creates a combo. As one continues to destroy them in like-colored groups of three, the multipliers keep increasing. At the end of each level, the game grades the player based on a number of factors, but the scores earned from high-chain combos are the best way to rank well. Pushing for just a slightly higher score creates tons of replay value, and players can even enter their high scores online into the world ranking with a special password system.
Surprisingly, there are no power-ups or upgrades in Ikaruga. The ship is armed with a set of rapid-fire lasers, and a massive homing laser attack. As mentioned before, the homing laser attack charges up with each bullet absorbed by the Ikaruga. Despite the lack of different attacks, it never feels as though the game is missing something. Perhaps it’s the color system that keeps players too involved to wonder about alternative weapons.
Each level, of which there are five, is markedly different from the last. The first level is pretty standard as shooters go, with lots of ships to blow up and a fairly fast pace. After that, however, things become wildly different. The second level sees the player through an underground factory, requiring the player to both maneuver through tight spaces and deal with the Tenro Horai. Further levels continue to mix things up, and each one has a different feel to it. Each level is masterfully crafted to take full advantage of both the color and combo systems.
2D shooters aren’t often known for amazing visuals, but Ikaruga manages to pull off some serious eye candy. Everything except the bullets are fully rendered in gorgeous 3D, and it pays off. Flying high above the 3D landscape is a nice visual treat, and the explosion effects are fantastic. The game also runs at a solid 60 frames per second, with dozens of ships and hundreds of bullets on screen at any given time. If there’s a downside to the visuals, it’s that things aren’t terribly colorful. Expect to see lots of whites, blacks and grays.
Depending on the player’s television, there may be another problem with the visuals. Since it was originally an arcade game, built for arcade-screen dimensions, the default play mode forces ugly black borders along the sides of the screen, shrinking the play field dramatically. Thankfully, by turning the TV onto it’s side, one can play the game in full screen. There is also the option to play the game as if it was a horizontal shooter, which works for those who can’t turn their screens and want the full screen effect.
The orchestrated soundtrack isn’t very memorable, but it is of a high quality. During the game, it adds a fair amount of intensity to the goings-on, but few gamers will be humming the Ikaruga themes later in the day. Sound effects are standard fare for the genre, with lots of convincing explosions and some underwhelming gunfire.
Ikaruga supports two players, but strangely, the two player ships can actually interact with one another. One player can physically push the other’s ship across the playing field. This is incredibly dangerous, especially when carefully maneuvering through the tight spaces between enemy fire. However, two players also have an advantage in that one can easily provide cover for the other. If a boss is shooting swarms of white bullets, player one can become white and block all the bullets while player two blasts the boss with the opposite color.
There are only five levels in Ikaruga, and once the player is skilled enough to make it through, the whole game can be “beaten” in under half an hour. However, this isn’t one of those games to play with the goal of just killing the final boss. Each difficulty setting, of which there are three, significantly changes the way the game plays. Even the most skilled gamer will really be put to the test when trying to complete hard mode with a single credit. On top of that, mastering the combo system and getting high scores, or even managing a “perfect round,” can provide dozens of hours of replay.
Overall Value - Ikaruga is one of the best shooters out there, hands down. Games like this simply aren’t made very often, especially not of this caliber. It has incredible depth for a shooter, replay value through the roof, and most importantly, it’s fun to play. Those that like action games even a little bit should consider snagging Ikaruga when it’s released in the US this April.
Importing Ikaruga: Ikaruga is very import friendly. All of the menus are in English, and what little Japanese text exists isn’t required to play the game.
Gameplay 10
Graphics 8.5
Sound 7.5
Control 9.0
Replay 8.5
Challenge 10
Overall 9.4
Zeer nice dus.
En nog gelukkig nieuwjaar voor de chinezen onder ons.
Omae wa mō shindeiru.
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Of is de huidige markt (tieners) zo bekend met Sony dat het bij voorbaat al gedoemt is te mislukken .... bweh /u/35371/crop5a38c6f305163_cropped.png?f=community)
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ik zit gewoon te glunderen achter mijn pc :strip_icc():strip_exif()/u/59106/crop56e14689c9211.jpeg?f=community)
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hebben jullie me gemist?
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(ook al speelt er niemand SMB 
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Panacube 
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.... niet zo negatief plz ok ? ThnX wij STEUNEN masaal nintendo GC toch ? ikke wel 
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