Ikaruga

"Splendid. Excellent."

Too much is sometimes made of a particular game's popularity. Whether it's a cult favorite or a widely-played commercial success, what really matters is whether a game is enjoyable to the person who buys it. And that's why I want to start out by saying that Ikaruga isn't for everyone.

You've probably seen people in arcades who will buy their way to the end of an apparent coin-muncher. It's the kind of gamer who will play through to see what's in the game, then rarely, if ever, plays it again. And why would they? Spending 5 or 10 dollars at once on something they've already seen is just a waste.

On the other hand, there are people who play the game in order to get better at it. The kind that isn't satisfied until they get as many points as possible, until they can beat that boss without dying once, until they can beat the game on one credit. Ikaruga is for those kinds of people.

Before I scare away everyone reading this review, I should mention that Ikaruga is more accessible than I just made it out to be. Just stay with me and I'll elaborate more on this, section-by-section.

Gameplay: 10

Simply calling this an old-school shooter is perhaps a bit of a misnomer. It's true that you use a tiny yet powerful ship to destroy all comers in a 2-D fashion, but this game adds several new features to the genre so calling it old doesn't seem to fit.

Ikaruga's system is reasonably simple in concept. Your ship is either black or white, and can be changes from one to the other by the push of a button. Enemies and destructable objects also come in black and white varieties. Your ship absorbs shots of the same color and deals double damage to enemies of the opposite color. Shots of the opposite color kill you. Killing three enemies of the same color yields chain bonus points and is the best way to get a high score.

Your offensive abilities are also fairly simple. You have a standard double laser, though if you just tap the fire button you get single shots for greater precision. When you absorb shots of the same color you charge energy for a powerful homing laser attack. Note that unlike many other shooters of this type, this special attack does not clear the screen of enemy shots. This keeps with the theme of surviving on personal skill; there is no panic button to save you when you get in trouble. Ikaruga has no power-ups in the traditional sense; only absorbing same-colored shots will boost your offensive power.

The reason that this system works so well is that it allowed the designers to put together the entire game based around your ship's base capabilities. Dying in this game does not reduce your power, unlike for example the Gradius series where dying once is likely to end the game for you completely.

The lack of power-ups aside, the black-white game system gives the game unusual depth. Becoming completely immune to one kind of firepower sound great until you have volleys of both colors coming at you at once, forcing you to re-focus on what's coming every time you switch colors. Furthermore, the game's stages are designed to challenge the player to chain as much as possible. You can certainly die in the game's stages, but even when frantically weaving, dodging, and switching colors, it's hard to resist going for three of a kind here and there. The real test of survival comes in the form of the game's bosses. They do their job quite well, and are complex enough to warrant specific strategies other than ''Dodge and shoot''.

Even though the game is short, the stages and bosses are so complex that you'll want to play them over and over until you've got the hang of it, which leads to the next aspect of the game.

Options:10

Extras can contribute a lot to an action game, and the developers of Ikaruga took full advantage of this. You can tweak the game display to reduce the letterboxing effect of this vertical shooter, or even use an option to take advantage of a special vertical monitor. There's also a tutorial that explains the basics of Ikaruga. The big bonus, though, is the practice/conquer option.

If you've reached a part of a stage on one credit, you can practice it normally, practice it in slow mode so you can better see what's going on in a stage, or even watch demonstrations to see how to best survive the stage, or more advances recordings on how to get more chains in a stage.

This is the big encouragement to work on improving Ikaruga skill. First of all, it encourages the player to get as far as possible without continuing. Secondly, it allows you to experiment with the stage and try all sorts of things without worrying about losing too many lives. It's a great feeling when after trying again and again, you finally manage to max chain your way through an entire stage. The game capitalizes on the feeling of a job well done like no other shooter I've ever played; this is the main reason I play it. In Ikaruga the main reward for continuous play is that you get better at Ikaruga, and the game is so deep that this reward is worthwhile.

Graphics: 9

Graphics in a game like this are more important than just eye-candy. The most important function of a shoot-em-up's graphics is to allow you to see incoming attacks clearly; little is more aggravating in such a game than getting killed by a shot that was concealed by power-ups or a bright background or exploding enemies.

The black-white system of Ikaruga makes this task easy; The background, enemy explosions, and such are designed specifically to let the black and white ships and shots stand out clearly. You will die often in this game, but at least you will see what hit you.

As far as visual quality goes, Ikaruga is a lot of fun to watch. It's probably best to look when someone else is playing, because when you're playing you'll probably be too busy concentrating on survival and chains to notice.

Sound: 8

The sound isn't so irritating that it distracts you from the action, so that isn't too bad. Actually, the music works pretty well with the themes of the stages, but it's not the sort of thing you'll want to hum when not playing. All in all it's not a big part of the game.

Replay: 10

A lot of shooters don't offer much in the way of replay, but Ikaruga gives lots of incentive to play over and over in hopes of getting better at it. The good level design is certainly part of this, but the game also offers bragging rights; you can play a 1 credit normal game and get a password comparing your score to those of other U.S. players. As if personal satisfaction wasn't enough, if you get good enough you can show your friends your standing in a whole nation of players, providing a competitive element other shooters lack.

Overall: 9 (not an average)

If I sound like a fanboy, it's probably because I'm part of this game's target audience. It gets a 9 rather than a 10 because even with all the help the game gives you, it can frustrate people unable to dedicate the kind of time this game requires, thus restricting its audience. I'd recommend a rental first, if you can find a place that has it available for rent.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/18/03, Updated 04/18/03