Iridion II

"If at first you don't succed, make a better game."

As much as you may want to believe that the shooter genre is dead you will be proven wrong. To say it's popular however another story...But despite the ever present "sleeper" status that these games carry, they still can provide a fun gaming experience only requiring you to actually give them a chance. Iridion II is the sequel to the launch title Iridion 3D as one would logically assume and is a fine example of learning from one's mistakes. But with the bad reputation the first entry made, many will pass this not knowing what they are missing.

Sometimes it seems a little redundant explaing the game play portion of a shooter but there are some new additions to game play here. The changes are few but make everything seems so different from the last installment, starting with the new perspective that the game takes which is that of a vertical scrolling somewhat isometric view instead of a rear view like of the first, which is good since your own plane often would prevent you from seeing enemy craft in the last game. This was a concern when I first started the game having knowing of Shin ‘en's seeming inability to make a reasonable damage range but I was proven wrong as I was able to keep a half way close distance to enemy fire without taking damage.

The next new feature was in the aspect of weaponry, which in this time around allows you to choose between six different weapon armaments before you begin the mission which is also selectable now, instead of being on a default order like most shooters. Now as much of a nice thing variety is most of these weapons except for one or two are pretty much worthless due to lack of any significant firepower, but these weapons can be upgraded on the fly by obtaining power up modules throughout the levels, the max a weapon can be upgraded is twice but not only does your weapons become more potent, you are given these "weapon pods" that can supply extra fire power and somewhat more defense as they block enemy fire in a similar fashion the Irem's R-type. The neat little thing thatShin'en did with these is actually implement a use of strategy with these weapon pods that will aid your more is use correctly, here's how it works:

Once you have been given the two weapon pods they will stay on both sides of your plane. But when you fly forward they will stray towards the back on you plane concentrating your firepower making it stronger but, this leaves the front of your craft completely exposed to fire so you best be good at dodging. However the pods move when you fly to the back as well, and take position to the front of your plane providing more defense then firepower. But whatever position the pods are in while you are firing, they will freeze in that position until you stop firing, you can also freeze the pods in place by pressing select, and pressing it again will make them free again. Other goodies that come with your craft is a charge canon, which is exactly like R-type's feature that has been present in their games.

And just incase you've made a bad choice in weapons you can change what weapon your using as long as you have a power up on hand. Good grief, now that we're done with that we can move onto the levels, which don't exactly provide alot to talk about. As mentioned earlier the game scrolls at a vertical isometric perspective which seems to get the job done just fine with the enemies and obstacles coming from the top of the screen as expected. You'll end up seeing alot of things that will force you to fly around them, but making contact with them will not damage your fighter, just simply make a spark animation of your poor plane grinding against the surface, however you will crash if you are behind one of these objects as the screen scrolls by so... Don't stay behind them.

There are two bosses for a stage one in the middle of the stage and one at the end. These are actuallypretty unique, and have some interesting and creative attacks to throw at you, but most of the time they don't provide much of a challenge unless faced in Ace mode and even then they aren't the hardest bosses in the world. In fact the whole game is actually rather easy outside of hard mode, so I recommend that you skip the easy and normal modes to get full enjoyment, but don not fear, for this game isn't all that cheap generally if you were shot down it's your fault.

Iridion II
Shin'en figured out that really, really, really, nice looking sprites don't make them 3D. So they have dropped the "3D" label from the series but still provide excellent looking, detailed, smoothly animated graphics without slow down, and this time around there actually is some 3D elements in the menus which doesn't add all that much but it's nice that it's there. The environments look pretty neat too, with only three or so levels looking a little bland or generic this game is for above average when compared to most GBA titles. I may even go as far to say this may be one of the best looking games of GBA.

Iridion II
For what it is the sound in this game is pretty nice. Some catchy tunes and decent sound effectsIridion II puts out some nice audio and doesn't sound too repeative in most cases. It especially sounds nice on the DS's stereo speakers, but more than likely you won't touch the juke box mode that you opens to you once you beat the game... I didn't anyways.

Iridion II
Iridion II is an example is an example of a complete fix of a screwed up game, Shin'en pretty much looked at their first attempt and saw what not to do and did exactly that, not do things wrong. Most of everything works in this game, but there is still room for improvement despite the large scalechange for the better. For one, the game is rather easy although longer than most shooters, with about fifteen levels that are selected in sets of three the will most likely not take very long to beat, three days most likely, but it is fun none the less but the only way to continue your progress is through a password system, which is quite inconvient considering you'll have to carry something to write the four digits down on, unless you can memorize them.

Replay isn't very strong, being the fact that the only unlockables are the jukebox mode, arcade mode which is like a level select, and challenge mode or what I call "boss rush" were you fight all the bosses in one shot. Overall Iridion II is a nice effort, and 90% improvement of the original, but there are some aspects that still could have cooked longer. If you are a shooter veteran like myself, or are board with your GBA and see this at the game store for ten bucks (that's what it'll probably sell for) then give it go.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/04