How can something be so beautiful yet so mind-numbingly difficult at the same time? I absolutely love space shooters, particularly of the overhead vertical scrolling variety. Yet I am constantly tormented by the fact that I am just not very good at them. And when it comes to something like Ikaruga with it’s insane challenge yet hypnotically awesome gameplay and graphics, I feel even more hopelessly doomed to play something that I love yet know I will never beat, despite the fact that there are only 5 levels.
I honestly don’t know what the plot is for this. I could look it up, but it really doesn’t matter. What truly matters is the hitch. What is it about this game that sets it apart from the hundreds of other space shooters besides just looking pretty? It’s fairly basic actually. The core mechanic of the game revolves around the juxtaposition of light and dark. Your ship has a polarizing shield around it at all times with either a dark or light polarity. Your weapons are the same. You have the ability to switch between polarities at any time to adapt to the environment around you. Light enemies suffer much more damage from dark gun fire than light and vice versa. Conversely, your shield, if set to light polarity, can block out light enemy fire and vice versa. So depending on the sort of enemy attacking you, you must make lightning fast decisions on switching your shields back and forth. And as the game progresses, I can assure you that you will be doing this pretty much constantly. You also use strategy to determine if you should set it to opposite polarity from enemy and hope to dodge them effectively or set it to the same polarity and do less damage but avoid being wasted by their wall of fire. Like many space shoot ‘em ups, there is little to no margin for error even in the earliest stages. Precision and memorization are key to this game even more than most shooters, and this coupled with its tricky game mechanic is what gives it the distinction of being one of the most difficult in the genre.
The game does include a Trial Mode to practice with, giving you unlimited lives but only allowing you to play through the first two missions. Since this game is made by Treasure, considered by many to be their crowning achievement, the boss fights are incredibly huge and epic. The bosses generally take up the entire screen and are multi-staged, meaning that when you take out the ten gun turrets firing at you from this massive airship, you still aren’t even close to beating this guy.
I mentioned the graphics earlier and how great they were. What impressed me is that with everything being light or dark, the graphics could have easily come out rather bland and unimpressive due to the lack of color palette, but instead the game is given a vibrancy and crispness to it that has few rivals in the realm of shooters.
Overall the game is very impressive. If you are a fan of space shoot ‘em ups and especially vertical scrollers, then you are most likely used to the ridiculous difficulty inherent in these types of games and need to own this game as a result. If you are a more timid folk that prefers the joviality and complete lack of challenge in, say, Animal Crossing, then Ikaruga should be at the absolute bottom of your video game shopping list with the likes of Battletoads and Gradius III. As for me, I shall weep tears of joy and gnash my teeth in frustration as I relish in the crazy yet addictive gameplay offered up by Ikaruga.
No comments:
Post a Comment