Iridion II

"Great style, good action."

I want to give this game a 9, I really do. It has awesome 80's sounding synth music, beautiful pre-rendered and fully animated backgrounds, creative enemies, and fun level design. The weapon system, however, leaves a bit to be desired. You end up with a game that is still a lot of fun but has a bit of an aftertaste of unfulfilled potential.

Let me give a quick disclaimer: this game has no battery save, to many people's chagrin. But trust me when I say it doesn't matter. You'll just have to take that extra step and write down five letters (yeah, only five) when you beat a new level. When you get a score you're proud of you can submit the (slightly longer) code on the iridion2.com website and have it saved online for all to see. That's better than battery save if you ask me! Both would be nice, yes, but I say get over it. Moving on...

The weapons. On their own they are all nice enough, even if they lack a bit of punch, but when you compare them all you'll notice the lack of differentiation. They are just a tad too similar (they even have the same ''satellite'' setup and power shot), and they don't offer enough of an advantage over the default weapon to warrant being powered up. That is especially true when you consider that extra powerups can be used to replenish energy instead. With weapons being such a big part of what makes shooters fun, it's a bit of a shame Iridion 2 didn't impress in this area. However, it must be pointed out that even shooters with the most basic weapons, say, Galaga for example, can still be a lot of fun, and Iridion 2 is yet another example of this. On the flip side of the weapons issue, you do have a power shot (double tap A), as well as a screen-clearing bomb if you are feeling desperate, and the extra weapons are still there for your enjoyment should you feel like a slight change of pace or a bit of a challenge.

That's really where the bad stuff ends, folks. The rest of Iridion 2 is absolutely top-notch.

There are plenty of enemies programmed into the game, enough to make it seem like you never see the same enemy in more than one level. Many of them are extensively animated and all of them present their own distinctive challenges. Also, each of the fifteen levels has a mini-boss and a primary boss. Every boss in the game has a pattern that can be learned if you pay attention (I like that), and according to Shin'en the patterns are mixed up a bit between the different difficulty levels.

There are three difficulty levels to choose from. I chose the medium difficulty level and it was certainly no cakewalk, so I'd say there's plenty of challenge for even experienced shooter fans, and if you stink at shooters you'll still have a decent shot at unlocking all fifteen levels. Better yet, since there is no battery save feature you can easy go online and find a listing of codes to unlock all the game's levels and features, should you lack the desire or the skill to do so legitimately. Even when you finish the game there's plenty more to keep you busy, including a ''challenge mode'' which pits you against every level boss, one at a time, with no health powerups at your disposal.

Finishing a level unlocks it in ''arcade mode'', a mode that focuses a bit more on collecting points (since, let's face it, your only real desire in story mode is to beat the game). The ability to submit your high scores adds a nice sense of achievement and community to the game and should prove interesting to watch as people figure out ways to squeeze a few more points out of each level. (Note: a few of the level goals in arcade mode, while interesting to achieve, don't seem to result in higher scores. These include ''secrets'' and ''combos''. I could be missing something, but they don't appear to produce points! D'oh!)

The game controls very well. Your ship moves at a satisfying rate, not too fast and not too slow. Powering up your shot is a snap (double tap A), as is dropping a bomb (R+L). The angle of the playfield feels a bit odd at first but after a bit of practice there's nothing to it. There aren't many games that use this angled perspective, but it's definitely a valid approach, as it allows you to see farther up the playfield.

Tilting the playfield also opens the door for some very nice looking visuals. The level artwork is gorgeous and the scrolling view makes you wonder how the heck they are doing this on the GBA (it's the same technology used in the original Iridion). The engine limits the levels to repeating-pattern corridors, but there are plenty of dynamic obstacles integrated into the design and the artwork varies nicely from level to level.

The music is just friggin' cool. It's the type of stuff some people might pigeonhole as techno but will have a lot of people thinking Transformers instead. It's just fresh and makes the entire experience much more enjoyable. Look for an official soundtrack from Shin'en in the near future.

Iridion 2 is a very fun vertical shooter that also happens to be one of the most technically impressive GBA games available. As it sells for a mere fifteen bucks, you'd be silly to pass it up. The cool factor is very high, and there are plenty of challenges in the game to keep you banging at it again and again.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/24/03, Updated 05/24/03