Ikaruga

"So, I waited so long to write a review for this game, planned it all since a long time.. but I can't seem to have a title... why? too good to describe"

I started making reviews just over a month ago, and this was possibly, the most expected of all of them. Ever since I signed up for GameFAQs, Ikaruga has been on my sight but I just never dared to make a review for it. I never thought I was enough writer to explain what I think of it, but I will give my best anyway.

As a small introduction to why I bought this game, it was because a friend got it for me truly cheap. It seems his uncle who works on videogame stores got it for him because "nobody wants to buy a shooter this day unless it is a FPS". I paid only $8 for it, without knowing anything about the game itself, only that it is a shooter (and I like shooters, including FPS). Here is my opinion on the game.

GRAPHICS: 10/10

The box looks so gray and boring so I expected something simple. When I started to play (on normal mode first) I just said "HOLY *CENSURED*!". The environment, the light effects, the way everything looks, them missiles, the enemies. I felt as if I was on a Star Wars movie, or better yet: on a real war. The graphics make an AWESOME help for a game like this, since even when shooters depend mainly on gameplay (unlike RPGs), the graphics make them much more interesting. The last boss' fight overwhelms ANY other boss fight I had EVER seen in what comes to special effects, graphics and excitingness. This guys really put a huge efford on that battle to make it look epic.

MUSIC/SOUNDS: 10/10

It's as if I was listening to a dramatic but at the same time glorious music. I feel inspired by the music to play the game. It never gets repetitive, it never bores me, it just makes me want to play more or when my brother played it I got interested to see how he played, mainly because I wanted to listen to the music. The sounds are simple but at the same time very well done. I don't know if I could complain about the music and sounds at all, they are surely one of the biggest pros in the game, as the graphics, and the gameplay and...

STORY: 6/10

KABOOM! Suddenly the score went down. The story.... the evil "empire" creates a war, the white and the black (which look more like blue and red) guys to the rescue!. It's too cliched, even for a shooter. Even though a game like this doesn't depend on it, it would have been nice to get a nice introduction to the game (a short introduction, I don't like 30 minutes long introductions) and then yes, kaboom again and get into the action. You will read nothing.. no story, no words. Just go through the levels and kick everyone's asses (or at least save yours).

GAMEPLAY: 10/5

The gameplay is doubly perfect... and simple! and fun. You don't have to use 500 panels and 20 buttons to make it work. You just change your shape, evade the different color bullets, shoot and when charged you can use your missiles. It's so damn simple I can't believe nobody else thought about it first, yet it's so geniously made it is fun to play it over and over. You need your firing button, the missile button and very good reflexes and calculation in order to beat this game.

DIFFICULTY: HARD

One really hard *****. It took me a week of playing 7 hours daily in order to beat the normal mode and other 3 weeks to beat it on hard mode. But I did beat it... and I enjoyed every single second of it while I was beating it. The game starts to blow non-uber gamers specially when one gets to the fourth level, which costs a lot of time and efford to beat, but when you get to the final boss, which as I had already mentioned kicks ASS to the 10000 exponent, you will feel a really special emotion. The last boss is completely impossible to beat (without cheating) if you are not an awesome player, and that is a fact.

REPLAYABILITY: 9

After I finished the game on hard mode three times, I was short on money and there were many games I wanted to buy (Metroid Prime the best of them by far) and my brother convinced me to see Ikaruga. Worst mistake I'd ever made on videogaming. I bought it after 4 months over 6 times the price I had gotten it first, so I lost money on it. This game is addicting, no matter how many times you've beaten it, and it will take you many many tries if you want a no-deaths game, which I'm yet to achieve.

CONCLUSION: 9

I would give it a 9.5, but I can't. And I won't give a game a 10 unless it is perfection or too close to perfection. This game is really good, I enjoy it every single time I play it, but it has one huge problem, one problem that caused it to be not as popular as it could have been: the shooter genre is dying and not anyone likes shooters. You have to like shooters in order to like this game, but if you like shooters you will be a fan of it. As last comment, if you ever have the luck on seeing the Arcade of Ikaruga, please play it for me... there are non in Mexico and I wish there were.

RENT OR BUY? If you are not a fan of shooters but wanna try it, rent. If you like shooters but wanna try Ikaruga: BUY! You will like it anyway. So I say it is a must-buy to shooter fans, no matter what: and a must-rent for those who wanna give it a try.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/05