Ikaruga is really nothing more than a space shooter - it's even simplified in some ways, most notably the absence of any weapon powerups or collectables of any sort, for that matter. You use the control stick or d-pad to move around, the B button to fire (tapping for bursts or holding for auto-fire), R to fire homing missiles, and A to change polarity. It's that polarity addition as well as the magnificent level design itself that raises Ikaruga from 'just another space shooter' to the great game that it is. Every enemy in the game has either white (and blue) or black (and red) alignment. You fire bullets of whatever colour your ship is, and tapping A will flip your ship over and change your colour. White bullets do more damage to black ships and the other way around; you'll also be able to absorb enemy bullets of the same colour as your ship. That sounds simple enough, but segments of the game will have waves of different coloured bullets pouring on-screen, and it takes a lot of concentration to move your ship around while flipping your colour so you don't explode (as one errant shot will take you out). The game consists of only five levels, each of which ends with a nice big boss that explodes wonderfully. And, naturally, each level provides a decent challenge (though by the time you reach level 3, 'decent' quickly becomes 'vicious') and much incentive to replay it. That incentive comes largely from the levels themselves - it's very rewarding to be able to play through them in a single life, weaving through bullet fire and taking out enemies while making it all look like second nature. The other part of that incenture comes in high scores and a simple little combo system - for every three enemies of the same colour that you destroy, your multiplier (and thus score) increases. So if you really want to nail a high score, you have to concentrate on avoiding enemies and their fire as well as what order you destroy them. If you take out the wrong colour ship in the middle of a combo, your multiplier is reset to 0 and you lose a lot of potential points. The graphics and sound are simple yet elegant, and more than get the job done. There's nothing that could be added to either to enrich the experience anyway. Ikaruga isn't for everyone, as the difficulty is quite maddening in later levels and it takes a lot of practice to be able to make it through them, let alone start building up high scores. But for those who like a game that doesn't take it easy on them - they'll be in heaven. Ikaruga doesn't hold back.
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
