What started as a quick childhood game of Capcom's 1942 in the arcade has over the years turned into a obbsession with the shooters genre. At one time, shooters were the main type of arcade game and they came in many forms. After Street Fighter 2, shooters took a backseat to fighters and have become a rare find. A few titles in the recent past like Mars Matrix, 1944, Giga Wing 2 and Treasures newest shooter Ikaruga have shown that time has treated the arcade shooter well, despite its lack of titles.
Gameplay:
Ikaruga takes a new approach to the shooter while keeping its basic ideas in the gameplay. The game plays just like a classic 2-D shooter with an amazing 3-D presentation. The story is deep for a game of this type and involves a corporation led by a man who discovered some mysterious object, making him and his followers incredibly powerful. The self titled "Divine ones" conquer the planet and the resistance group "Tenkaku" is wiped out with only one pilot named Shinra surviving. With the help of some engineers, Shinra now has control over one of the only ships able to change polarity between black and white. The whole game is based on light versus dark. Your enemies come in two forms of black and white and your ship has the ability to change its polarity between the two. By shooting a black ship with your white polarity active, you inflict double damage, but destroying an enemy of the reverse polarity also sends return fire at your ship as well. Enemies also fire black and white "bullets" at you and these can be absorbed as long as your ship is the same polarity as the shots hitting you. This energy can be stored and released in the form of multiple homing lasers that can cause heavy damage. The whole polarity system is very confusing at first and getting used to it takes alot of practice, but mastering it makes for a very rewarding gaming experience.
Aesthetics:
For a shooter, speed and clarity of your surroundings are important and Ikaruga never slowed down or mixed enemy ships and bullets in with the background. The graphics themselves are very sharp and with tons of enemies and bullets flying around, it looks very impressive. The bosses are all huge, great looking and well designed. and everything moves smoothly at a constant 60 fps.
Sound:
Music is superb and really helps you to be drawn into the game. The sounds are also a nice touch. The heavy stream of fire coming from your ship and the many exploding enemies all sound great. Its hard to go wrong with sounds for a shooter and Treasure would be the last developer to make any mistakes.
Control:
Perfectly tight controls make piloting your ship a breeze. I found it no problem to weave through enemy fire and tight spots and all the buttons are well placed. Changing polarity is as simple as hitting the A button.
Multiplayer:
A simultaneous 2 player mode is great fun for you and a freind, but there are no extra modes or anything special besides a slightly different looking ship. Its a good diversion, but your freind might not enjoy the game unless they have had some single player practice first and get accustomed to the polarity system. Ikaruga also has an online ranking mode, but this is simply to put high scores on the games website. A password is given at the end so your score can be entered through your pc. Something I wont try until I have this game totally mastered.
OVERALL:
From start to finish, I was never bored. This game kept me on my toes every single second with its insane challenge and I am loving every little bit. This game will only appeal to hardcore shooter fans as its challenge may be too much for casual gamers. People may also be put off by the limited gameplay that arcade shooters usually feature. While it doesnt take long to play through, it will take you hours to actually make it to the end. A great challenge that shines in every way.
The Lowdown on  Ikaruga
| Aesthetics: Very Good |
Control: Awesome |
| Gameplay: Very Good |
Multiplayer: Average |
| Sound: Very Good |
Innovation: 5/6 |
| Lasting Appeal: 4/6 |
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Overall: Very Good!
"A Must-Buy"
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Ikaruga
