Iridion II

"A game defined by its limitations"

Iridion II is the 2D follow-up to Iridion 3D: in my opinion, a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, what should be a truly gorgeous game is marred somewhat by Majesco's decision to throw out a true battery save. That's right, Iridion 2 saves using a password system, but instead of merely being merely an inconvenience, the change seems to have crippled some of the core gameplay. Regardless, strong gameplay shines through, surviving both this and a handful of other flaws.

Graphics: 9/10

Simply put, these are some of the best graphics on the GBA--a real pity since few will see it. The game is rendered entirely in 2D sprites, but the combination of nice backgrounds, interactive foregrounds and well animated enemies not only makes for a beautiful game, but a rather unique looking game. You see, instead of going for a top down approach, Iridion has opted for a tilted effect, much like the PS2 Silpheed, or Raystorm and Raycrisis on the PSX. But all those games were done with polygons while Iridion uses only sprites. The result? 2D bliss! Imagine if F-Zero allowed you to accelerate INTO the screen. Imagine if F-Zero had been done with the best sprites possible on the PSX. If a shooter were only visuals, Iridion would be well out on top of all but a handful of shooters.

Music: 9/10

A fantastic soundtrack that's very appropriate for this kind of game. There is even some 'tweakability' built into the game that allows you to adjust the EQ a bit. Later on you can unlock a jukebox and listen to your favorite tunes if you so choose.

Sound: 7/10

Sound effects are average at best, but there are also a few problems. Namely, explosions all sound the same. Why is that a problem? Most video games use specific sounds for good things and bad things. If the same exact sound happens for both scenarios (in this case, you hitting an enemy or an enemy hitting you) it can lead to a little confusion. This might not sound bad until you find yourself checking your 'shield gauge' every time you hear something explode. OK, so I'm not a game programmer, but this one seems like a no-brainer.

Story: NA
Yeah, there is some kind of story here, but it is pretty inconsequential. Shooters don't need stories anyway, and sometimes you're glad they don't even try (wouldn't Silpheed have been better without the story?) Iridion 2 seems to have an utterly disposable story that you can skip past by hitting start.

Controls: 8/10

Controls are spot on, but I refuse to give higher than an 8 for a game without a customizable button scheme, or even an options menu for that matter. Still, it is a perfectly good set-up, and it is hard to think of anything that needs changing. On the other hand, having to press right and left together for bomb, while not a bad thing, may require too much premeditation to really suit a shooter.

Gameplay: 7/10

Here's where all my griping begins.

At best, Iridion 2 is a pretty mediocre shooter, but mediocre can be good. It takes its cues from some pretty solid games (Axelay, Space Megaforce, Thunderforce and even a bit of R-Type) and has the spirit of shooters of this era. A handheld version of any of these games would make almost any shooter wet themselves, but Iridion doesn't quite deliver.
...And, quite tragically, I suspect this is mostly due to last minute changes!

[To be fair, pick up any number of the SNES/Genesis shooters, and most of them will fall below your expectations. Iridion 2 is ahead of the heap, but there aren't 50 or 100 shooters on the GBA, so my expectations are higher!]

Iridion, instead of being the awesome retro remake it could have been has become a game defined more by some pretty lousy limitations! These seem to have been introduced by 1) the removal of a battery save 2) the sacrifice of accuracy for the sake of pretty graphics and 3) a major lack of creativity in the weapon upgrade department.

The first problem is more serious. Sure, you need to memorize a password. Big deal! What I'm more concerned about is that with six weapons (and the obvious intention to allow players to power up all of these weapons), someone dropped the ball such that all power-ups are lost between each level. Imagine if every time you beat a level in R-Type you immediately lost all your power-ups! This wouldn't be such a big deal if you only had one weapon, but you don't, you have six! There is no way to power-up more than two weapons in a level--and realistically, it isn't even worth your time to do that (more about the weapon upgrade system later). It seems clear that having each level start at zero was a way to make the password system possible. The problem this creates is multi-fold. Sure you can't have all your weapons powered up all at anytime in the game, but there's also NO sense of continuity. Story mode? There is no story because each level is just an independent mini-game. Even worse is that by stripping your ship of all its power-ups at the beginning of each level, early enemies often have to be dodged--yet you are still graded on % of enemies killed!

My second issue is with the psuedo 3-D effect. It looks awesome and makes for some really entertaining gameplay but it really isn't the best for accuracy. The time it will take any given object (including your ship) to cross a certain distance becomes difficult to judge, but worse, the hit detection becomes rather fuzzy. Your ship already has a large hitbox, but as you move toward the upper half of the screen, accuracy degrades into luck. Areas that I know I can easily maneuver through in the bottom half of the screen become guesswork in the top half and I sometimes find myself getting hit without seeing why (I guess my ship is so far away I can't tell!) I can only imagine that the whole shield system was added as some form of compensation for the poor hit detection.

Point three--weapons! Well first off, don't be fooled, there are really only two upgrades for weapon, unless you consider the pea-shooter to have some value. Your first upgrade actually gives you the real weapon and two satellites (surprisingly useful) while the second boosts it to max power. OK, so now you're ready to upgrade all those other weapons, right? Wrong! The other weapons are for the most part entirely useless. Or how about weak, and in no way better than the primary weapon. I think the reflecting laser can be a nice alternative to the main weapon, but upgrading both is overkill. So there it is--yay! Six different weapons, and not a reason in the world to bother picking them up. You won't get to keep them even if you do.

As if to further rub our noses in it, you can use your power-ups to charge up your shields instead, leaving one to wonder why anyone would ever consider bothering with the other weapons. I figured I'd check around to see if others were leaping to the same conclusion: Posters on gamefaqs and shmups (the most well known 2D shooter forum) both answered in the negative. In short, the multiple weapons are a red-herring. They are both useless and too poorly implemented to really add anything at all to the gameplay.

Now, those things put aside, Iridion 2 is still a decent game. Fun level designs that will require practice, dozens of unique enemies and a solid performance ranking system. Oh, and while I'm trashing the weapon system, let's credit what was done right. The ship has a charge shot not unlike R-Type, a nice screen clearing bomb, and once again, those satellites are extremely useful (and you can control their orientation around your ship!)

So, I've only seen the first 9 levels of the game, but some of these are great and quite creative. One level has you working your way around giant ships not unlike levels in R-Type, Thunderforce and just about every other shooter I can think of. You'll have to blow off turrets, dodge steam vents, etc. all in luscious 2D sprites simulating 3D. It can be a real treat.

The downside here are the bosses. At times they feel rather forced--I'm not even sure every level needs a boss. Yay! another big hunk of junk at the end of the level to destroy. Many are uninspiring, especially when compared to the smaller enemies and the levels themselves.

Replay: 8/10

As a shooter, especially a shooter that ranks various aspects of your performance on every level, there is tons of replay for the gamer who enjoys meticulous, repetitive gameplay. There's also a LOT of levels, so you'll be busy on this one a while anyway. Unfortunately Iridion doesn't save your high scores, but Majesco have tried to eliminate the problem by allowing players to register their high scores on an Iridion 2 webpage.

Rent or Buy: NA

This game can't be had anywhere. It is only available on-line or from Toys-R-Us. There is no way you can rent it.

Overall: 7/10 (not an average)
In general, a solid shooter that is very much welcome on the GBA. I hope next time 'round that the developers can eliminate many of the faults present in Iridion 2 and splurge for a battery.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/23/03, Updated 05/23/03