Freaky boss of Level 2

Atari

Ikaruga has a reputation as the best shooter on the market and for increasing the “frothing demand” of IGN editors. The game’s reputation is well deserved, and as we speak many gamers are frothing in their demand for the Xbox Live release of this title first revealed by CVG on Valentine’s Day.

At its core the game is a vertical shooter that has you facing waves of enemy aircraft and fire in beautifully rendered levels. There’s an oversized boss for you to fight at the end of each level.

What sets Ikaruga apart from its competitors is the gameplay. Enemy ships come in two varieties – white and black – and they fire white and black projectiles, respectively. Your ship, the Ikaruga, has the ability to change its color, or polarity, from white to black and back. While in the white form, shots fired from white enemies do no damage and in fact fill a gauge at the bottom of the screen that unleashes a screen-clearing super shot. The same holds for the black enemies. If you are shot by an enemy of the opposite polarity, however, you die instantly.

On the easiest setting the game is quite challenging but not impossible, although I admit it took me some work to get through the second level (and the third was nearly impossible). The game gives you a finite number of lives and, worse, only a finite number of continues. At least the game knows how difficult it is because there’s a screen after you lose encouraging you to keep at it and eventually you’ll beat the game, they promise.

As I said earlier, the levels are gorgeous. Everything is so pretty that I’m often distracted just watching the background. I didn’t encounter any problems with lag or slowdown, even with the screen filled with enemies and so many shots on-screen there’s literally no way to avoid them. Even with the addition of a second player the game runs smoothly.

These guys aren’t even mini-bosses

Atari

The controls are pretty simple. The A button changes the polarity. In later levels and boss fights, you’ll be using a lot of this button. The B button fires your weapon. You’ll be pushing this a lot unless you’re going for the “Dot Eater” Easter egg, which requires you not fire a single shot. The R trigger unleashes your energy charge from absorbed enemy fire. Other than pausing the game, that’s it. Anyone can sit down and play this game with little or no instruction.

It’s no surprise this game comes from the renegade Konami programmers over at Treasure. Konami was the king of the 8-bit shooters, with titles like Life Force and Gradius. Treasure has gone on to make Radiant Silvergun (which many say Ikaruga is the sequel to), Gunstar Heroes (their first game and a Sega Genesis classic in its own right) and even Gradius V for Konami.

If you don’t like difficult shooting games, then I recommend leaving this title on the shelf. If you’re the type of gamer who enjoys a challenge, on the other hand, then satisfy your frothing demand and find Ikaruga as soon as you can.
Ikaruga has a reputation as the best shooter on the market and for increasing the “frothing demand” of IGN editors. The game’s reputation is well deserved, and as we speak many gamers are frothing in their demand for the Xbox Live release of this title first revealed by CVG on Valentine’s Day.