Iridion 3D

"This proves graphics aren't everything..."

I saw a review of this game in Nintendo Power, and the graphics, well, I almost drooled. The GBA is a 32-bit console, and these graphics looked like they could've been on the Nintendo 64, but looks aren't everything, and that is quickly found when you play this game.

The graphics were, well, great, there wasn't any problem with any of it, the lighting was nice, you could see clearly, (well not perfectly, some of the levels are a tad darker than others), and the baddies look good, as does your plane/fighter thingy. I was very thoroughly impressed by these graphics, being as they were on the Game Boy Advance, which happens to be a hand-held console, I'm not sure if Nintendo could've given this game better graphics on the 64!

The story line was kinda stupid, it follows every other alien shooting game of it's genre, pretty much. These little aliens are deciding to take over the universe, and it's up to you, yes, only one person, yet again, to save the world/universe. The game slowly progressed through different places in the universe, one level you're flying high in the sky over the ocean, and another you're flying in space, it's kind of confusing, but not annoying.

Now the gameplay is where this falters, it's not hard to shoot or anything, it's just the short-ness and fun factor of the game. The levels seem repetitive to me, and the game itself is just...short, VERY short. I remember it being only SEVEN levels, yes SEVEN! Who wants to play a game with only seven levels? Now Halo, has 10 levels, but it has good gameplay to back it up, I doubt I would've liked Iridion more if it had 10 levels, but oh well. And the levels are quite repetitive, you go through a level, shooting the exact same alien spacecraft as the one before. The obstacles are the same, and the power-ups. The only thing that seems to change from time to time are the bosses!

The sound is OK, I don't really remember it quite well, considering I only occasionally listen to in-game music in this portable console, the noises and little shooting noises were cool, I can't really go in-depth, because, as I said before, I don't remember it.

Rent or Buy
I don't know, it's really up to you, I suggest renting it, you might have a tad bit of fun just staring at it. I was lucky enough to rent it at Blockbuster, but I don't know if your local video game store rents out GBA games, it's really up to you.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/02, Updated 02/08/03