Ikaruga is one of the most original shooters I've come across; rarely do shooters ever stray from the regular weapon collecting ordeal, while occasionally giving you a partner ship to help out. Ikaruga is quite different, in a good way. While instead of letting you get away with letting your reflexes rest like most shooters, Ikaruga will constantly keep you on your toes, absorbing bullets at all times. When I say absorb bullets, I don't mean that in a bad way, you see, Ikaruga allows you to roll your ship from its black side, to its white side by the press of a button. Using your ship's black and white sides, you'll have to gain energy by absorbing the black and white energy blasts and bullets (all enemies are either black or white colored) of the like color of your ship; if a black bullet hits your ship when it's white, your ship instantly explodes, and vise versa. Absorbing bullets and blasts for energy isn't the only strategic part of Ikaruga, there's also a combo system that when mastered, can start racking up the points big time. The combo system is set up where for every 3 ships destroyed the combo system will check to see if the last 3 ships were all the same color, if they were, you'll add another chain combo onto your consecutive chain combo standing at that time; every time you register 3 ships that aren't the same color, your chain will start over. Beside the game's immaculate game-play, its artistic style is nothing short of a masterpiece. Considering all this black and white talk, the game is far from just being black and white, there are bluish hues that mix in with the white ships and their bullets, and pastel red colors that mix in with the black ships and their bullets. The sound of Ikaruga helps maintain this fairytale like surrealism that sets in while fighting your way through the game. Just the way the black and white enemies fly onto the screen in such patterns that intertwine with the barrage of bullets is just mesmerizing at times. Though this game does deserve it's much earned credit, it has a couple downers that keep it from being that game you'll be playing for years to come. It's mainly the length of the game that brought me down, it takes a while to reach enough skill to get all the way through, but it's really not that long of a game. The challenge will be a gripe to some, but will welcome veterans and those willing to learn and practice the levels by playing them over and over until perfection sets in. The most artful game I've come across, it deserves your attention for that alone, along with the most imaginative game-play concept ever to come to the genre. Though don't expect over 40 hours of play from the game, because it's not really long. But it's not one of those games that when you beat it you’re done, it's about mastering it.
Ikaruga comes from the same team as the ill-fated Radiant Silvergun on the Saturn, which some have claimed to be “the greatest shooter of all time”. With that kind of heritage, it should be expected to have some impressi... Read Full Review
Chances are, you fall into one of two categories. Either you imported the Dreamcast release of Ikaruga last year and are already hopelessly addicted, or you’ve never heard of it before. For those of you who fit into the ... Read Full Review
