Ikaruga

"Ikaruga is a very good game, and an exceptionally good shooter."

Shooters (of the spaceship-piloting, screen scrolling variety) aren't really known for their innovation. Some have implemented new ways of acquiring weapons, or allowed different ways to use them, but the original gameplay mechanics stayed intact. That is, you have to try your best to avoid getting hit by projectiles (and the occasional ship or structure) while blasting everything in your path, collecting power-ups and whatnot along the way. Ikaruga changes this formula by introducing a simple but innovative concept: polarity.

All enemies in the game are either white or black in color, some of which can alternate. These two colors represent the two states of polarity. Being a certain polarity allows the enemies to shoot projectiles of the same polarity. Black ships shoot red/black projectiles, and white ships shoot white/blue projectiles. You can also change the polarity of your own ship at any time. The magic here is that you can only be destroyed by projectiles of the polarity opposite to your ship (though any contact with ships or structures is fatal). Projectiles that match your current polarity will be harmlessly absorbed by your ship and even help to fill your special weapon bar. On the offensive side of things, shooting an enemy of opposite polarity will deal twice the amount of damage as it would if you were the same polarity as they are. The bottom line is that polarity makes for a whole new dimension of gameplay.

As far as other concepts go, Ikaruga is pretty bare-bones, though that's hardly a bad thing, as the polarity concept makes gameplay complex enough. There are no power-ups or bonuses to be collected from enemies, no upgrades to purchase for your ship, nor is there even a choice as to which special weapon you start out with. In fact, there is only one special attack in the game—a barrage of lasers that home in onto any enemies on the screen—which as touched on earlier, is only charged up by absorbing projectiles of the same polarity as your ship. Your primary weapon—a rapid, endless stream of straight-shooting bullets—will be your offensive mainstay most of the time, but polarity gives more of a tactical edge to this.

Another element of polarity (which can be changed based on the difficulty) is the emission of same colored projectiles from an enemy when they destroyed by a matching polarity. That is, if you destroy a black enemy with black shots, it will explode and send black bullets flying from the wreckage. This makes for a real challenge when playing with a partner. The two-player mode, which would otherwise make the game undeniably easier, actually requires more skill and teamwork due to this gameplay mechanic. If you aren't careful, you could trigger an enemy to explode same color bullets which would be lethal to a partner who is currently in a polarity opposite of those bullets. This often requires you and your partner to either stay the same color as each other as much as possible, or to only kill enemies of the opposite color, or simply to hone your evasive skills for when something like this occurs. Playing with another person can be good fun, and despite the ability for both of you to have the same colored ship, the differences in design of these ships are enough to prevent confusion at least 90% of the time.

This game is difficult. One hit of damage equals death. Surviving requires a lot of skill, not only in evasion, but also in the intelligent use of polarity switching and special weapon usage. Thankfully, the controls are just about perfect. The hitbox for your ship is also effectively small, allowing you to narrowly scrape by along the side of a projectile or structure without taking damage. Of course, this doesn't appear to be the same for the enemies, as it's rather simple to target them.

A high score cannot be obtained by blasting everything on screen alone. Big points are rewarded to players who create “chain combos”. The premise is that for every group of three similar-colored enemies you destroy, you add one chain onto your combo, with each successive chain granting exponentially more points. When three enemies are destroyed that are not all of the same polarity, the combo resets to zero. This adds a bit of a puzzle element to the game, as each level is designed to allow you to rake up an enormous combo by doing this.

Speaking of the levels, which come to five in total, it should be known that they play identically each time you go through them. This means that the same enemies always appear in the same location. However, this is nothing new for a shooter of this type. It can actually be fun to learn the patterns of the enemies and attempt to achieve higher combo counts, thus getting better at the game each time you play. The levels are also decent in length, contain totally unique and varied opposition, and increase steadily in difficulty. They also each come complete with their own huge boss that uses a completely original attacking pattern and requires a unique strategy (often utilizing polarity) to defeat it.

This leads into the game's graphics. The graphics are nothing technically impressive, as the number of objects that appear on screen at once are nothing compared to what the system is capable of rendering. However, that's not to say that the game looks bad. Actually, the game looks quite good. Your ship, the enemies, and all background structures use plenty of polygons, complete with sharp textures. Projectile sprites are high-resolution and look excellent, as mesmerizing patterns of multiple colors fill the screen. Enemies, and especially bosses, are nicely modeled, and feature unique, alien-like designs. The explosions are well done, and the boss explosions are huge and exceptional looking. Even the backdrops, though subdued in design, create the atmosphere nicely. Of course, with all of this extra system power to spare, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the frame rate is silky smooth.

The music is well-fitting for a shooter, and despite most of the tracks sounding similar, it makes for a good synthy soundtrack with some solid and unique melodies. I would recommend taking a listen, as it may grow on you. The sound effects are crisp as well, and suit the action-laden gameplay.

The story for this game is only found in the instruction manual, so it's obvious that it doesn't play an important part in the game, though it is actually pretty interesting, and sets a nice background for the game. There are a fair amount of options, gameplay modes, and unlockables available. Options include variations on difficulty and display orientations. Gameplay modes include Internet ranking, practice, and more. One gameplay mode allows you to watch a replay of an expert player going through a game section of your choice, which afterwards you practice using the same techniques in this section yourself. Yet, through all this, pure shooting action is what makes up the Ikaruga experience.

Ikaruga is a very good game, and an exceptionally good shooter. If you enjoy shooter games that mix skill, strategy, challenge, and innovation on a concentrated level, look no further than Ikaruga.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/20/04