Ikaruga is a game for the truly hardcore, and makes a great gift for a gamer that needs taking down a peg or two.
Ikaruga is a gorgeous, top down, old-skool shooter from the kings of that genre “Treasure”. The basic premise only offers a small amount of variation on the original concept. There are basically two types of enemies, white and black. Similarly, they fire bullets, lasers missiles and beams, of their respective colour and when destroyed, shoot out more bullets of the same colour. Your ship – the Ikaruga - can switch “polarity” at the tap of the B button, and absorb either black or white bullets, so long as your ship is the same colour. Once enough bullets have been absorbed, you can fire your own special attack. Rich, yet apparently simple… Beautiful and yet repetitive, Ikaruga is a game of contrasts and only for the “hardcore”.
Intensely frustrating, thoroughly enjoyable and deeply absorbing action follows your tentative press of the power button. The orange slit on the GameCube lights up, the sparse Title screen comes and goes, and the outside world dissolves into obscurity. Five on rails levels, two colours of enemies and your little ship fill your mind and hands. Your thumbs twitch away steering your ever-changing ship between screen-fulls of tiny floating enemies and their many, many thousands of flashing bullets. Gradually “ACE” becomes the familiar “AAA” as your continues disappear faster and faster and any illusion of skill becomes a delusion. Eventually, the final boss fight is upon you, lasers become of no use, and all you can do is bob and weave between waves of swaying, expanding bullets in the face of a pulsing crystal and the seemingly everlasting countdown to victory. Finally, the concluding shots are fired, and you emerge victorious.
Even more tentatively you press the power button again, and check the clock. Despite having missed out almost a days worth of meals, you won’t feel hungry. The adrenalin and sweat still make up every ounce of your being and whilst the power may be off, the real world hasn’t come back yet.
Still, black & white ships and bullets overlay whatever you try and look at. Your thumbs twitch compulsively. All that exists is the thought of higher difficulty levels and the endless possibility of ever growing high scores.
Such is the level of challenge, adrenalin and sheer enjoyment that Ikaruga has to offer.
There’s an option to enter your high scores online and rank yourself against the rest of the world. Such goals are far fetched at best though, as the difficulty is ridiculous enough even when you have 20 odd lives. But Ikaruga can get under your skin in a way that may drive you to such incredible levels of skill.
Ikaruga is certainly one of the toughest games you’re going to come across. But neither words nor videos can really convey the intense rush of adrenalin that accompanies a faultless run through one of the merciless, meticulously designed levels. Five levels may seem short, but if I had to memorise any more enemy placements I don’t think I could ever have booted up the game again… even after all these years away from it.
The Crown atop the heads of Treasure and the top down shooter genre as a whole, Ikaruga is a must buy for fans of shooters, extreme challenges and the whole “old-skool” gaming scene.