Iridion 3D

"Is There A Self Destruct Button?"

The Iridions are attacking Earth in a deadly blast of destruction. Blaze a trail into the heart of their armies while surviving, and eventually obliterate them at the core. Save the world or instantly fall at the hands of these alien invaders...

Gameplay [4]- Saddening; for all of the other attributes to be so good, this fails to a surprising extent. Controls are super simple and even a toddler could play this game easily. You use the directional button to move your rather weak airfighter, and press B to fire your projectile... As you gather power-ups, your ammunition differs in power and firing rate. Not as interesting as it sounds. One flaw is that your ship is badly positioned, and is often in the way when attempting to see enemies in the distance. Boring, to say the least... Also, your ship is very weak and cannot take much damage, and doesn't have many firing options. It would've been cool to add a temporary bomb power-up to instantaneously destroy all enemies onscreen, or make your ship's speed faster, or up your agility. Nooo, not here. And when I wrote the title of this review, I wasn't joking, either.

Graphics [8]- This is much better. Iridon 3D makes much more use of its graphics than other launch titles, such as Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, and really looks 3D. While blazing down the long tunnels filled with Iridion robots, I was often surprised by the realistic looking graphics, comparing them to my old, original Game Boy days. There was no slowdown what so ever, even if a thousand bullets were being fired simultaneously from different directions at my tiny ship. Spectacular to say the... most.

Sound [8]- Excellent MIDI tunes, to say the least! This is one of the few games that you will constantly keep the sound to the maximum. Stop paying so much attention to this crap and fix your gameplay experience, people! The main purpose of the music in this game is to take your attention away from the sucky playing experience.

Overall [6]- Although a decent title, there are much better launch titles for the GBA... If you haven't purchased Castlevania: COTM, buy it before this game! Mario Kart is also a great buy compared to this suckage. These games are much better uses of your money, and you'll be very sorry if you snag this title before the better ones. If you're looking for a classic shooter, contemplate buying this game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/27/01, Updated 08/27/01