For many newer gamers,
Ikaruga is going to be one of those games that will easily be passed
over. They will skim over the back of the box, set it back on the
shelf and look for something with more colors and shiny backgrounds.
For others, however,
Ikaruga can easily fill the void that many veterans have missed over
the years. Retrospectively, back in the 8-bit and 16-bit days;
shooters were a dime a dozen. Games like: R-Type, Blazing Lasers,
Gradius and Axelay lined my game library for nearly a decade. As
time went on, the shooter genre all but faded away; leaving little
to be remembered for. During my Dreamcast glory days, Ikaruga was
probably one of my best import purchases I've ever made. This disk
packed so much goodness in its little GDROM, and cripes was it a
tough cookie to crack. When I saw a port in the making for the
Gamecube, I nearly fell out of my chair and waited patiently,
checking my mailbox daily
Old school In one
quick breath to explain what Ikaruga is; as well as shooters in
general, here is a summary: A shooter is simply either a
side-scrolling or vertical-scrolling game; where you blast
everything in your path. The concept is simple, but the difficulty
level usually is not. Who would have thought that a missile coming
at you in slow-mo would prove so devastatingly difficult to avoid?
This basic mode of play may turn people away, but those who can
appreciate a quality shooter will find the rewards most gratifying.
Every game on the market
has a "hook". Since the gaming industry is all but reaching for new
material; each game has to have something to set it apart from the
monotony. What makes Ikaruga so special is that it has an "anti-hook".
I thought about patenting that line, but I'll just give it back to
the people. The "anti-hook" is simple; there isn't anything that
makes it special. No super magical bombs, no downloadable statistics
and add-ons and no custom finishing moves. Ikaruga is one of the few
games that have absolutely no power-ups or bonuses. With most
shooters, it is customary for you to blast a thousand enemies; all
the while snagging up monster weaponry and huge pick-ups to aid you
during your conquest.
Ikaruga is a
shooter-purists’ wet dream. You have one button for your primary
fire, and a secondary button that uses a "homing laser"; which can
be devastating. Within the game there are two types of
baddies: light and dark. Your third button used
switches your ship from light to dark and vice versa. So, firing
when "dark" makes the "dark" enemies susceptible to your fire and
the same goes for when you are "light".
This simple concept may
sound like a whimsical flight, but knee-deep into the game your eyes
will start to bleed after the first few minutes. Most gamers when
playing a game follow the same principles they always have over the
years. For example: When I play a FPS, I set up the controls as I
always have since the days of Doom. The same goes for shooters. I
memorize the patterns of the enemies, and fire accordingly. This
shallow method just won't cut it in Ikaruga. Switching between light
and dark, and firing at those which can be hit and can't, can easily
frustrate those with Mario on the mind.
I think what really draws
me to the game, is actually how it is played. Not just the control
scheme, but the actual rhythm of it all. The game plays actually
more like composing a musical. I don't want to incriminate myself
and chalk myself up as some new-age, tree-hugging hippie; but
Ikaruga is felt more than played. Just the way you
have to move, switch and shoot is so rewarding when done right.
Ikaruga feels like cool sheets on a summer night when everything
falls into place. The familiarity of the style will handsomely
reward those old schoolers out there, who long for classic gameplay.
The huge boss-battles are
just the cherry on the proverbial sundae…
Boom! Graphically,
the game isn't going to win any awards for ground breaking material
here. This is also why many will pass it up, from looking at the
box. While the graphics are more than functional, they are less than
brilliant. The displacement of colors, however, is well laid out and
fits the pace of the game accordingly. The contrast between
backgrounds and the foreground melt seamlessly into the timing of
the game. There are few high points and low points of the visuals,
but for the most part; the game just goes. Luckily, the Gamecube
features progressive display and the framerate is smoother than
silk.
Audio? There was audio in
the game? Audio is probably at the bottom of the list for any
shooter. All of the massive explosions, zinging lasers and funky
eurobeats are all here, and done very vanilla. Again, nothing
spectacular and I hardly noticed anything worth mentioning. Aside
from the boss entrance "alarm", most of the music will go unnoticed.
66 Says: Ikaruga
isn't for anyone. I should have made that disclaimer at the
beginning of the review; but it's not. Ikaruga is for that special
breed of gamer, who knows gameplay is more important than graphics;
and skill is more important than power-up's. Believe me when I say
"misery never felt so good". The game is tough. Not just, "I
gotta go to gamefaq.com" tough; but "toss yer controller
across the room and cuss" tough. I can't tell you how many times
I shut the Cube off and gave the screen my patented "double middle
finger" technique.
Rent the game before you
buy it, especially if you aren't familiar with the genre. But, if
you are a shooter gamer at heart and miss the scene; you won't be
sorry.
