Swag Reviews: Ikaruga (XLBA)

In the spirit of posting some actual original content, as was asked by Blackwalt numerous times, I have decided to post my review of Ikaruga for the Xbox 360.

Concept

Originally released for the Dreamcast and the Gamecube, Ikaruga is a top-down shoot'em up, similar to the classic 1942. Set in a sci-fi setting, you control a ship (called Ikaruga, although you can also use another ship) with two different shield polarities. Essentially, when you get hit by lasers of the same color (either blue or red) as your shield, you will just absorb it. And if you get hit with a laser of a different color as your shield, well, you can imagine what happens.

Also, if you shoot at an enemy of a different polarity (the are all either blue or red) then your lasers, you do double damage. Then there is the fact that, depending on what difficulty level you are at, destroyed enemies will “return” lasers (or shrapnel, if you will) at you when you destroy them.

The whole name Ikaruga comes from a type of Finch, the Japanese Grosbeak. The reason for this is that when you absorb enough lasers or shrapnel from enemies, you can shoot a massive blast of missiles (that can go through anything, making them very useful) in the form of a bird. I guess...just look at the picture included in this review.

Gameplay

Option one is to just blast the hell out of everything on the screen, which is the usual strategy for these kinds of games. But in Ikaruga, it's a little different because there is a unique puzzle aspect to this game.

To really rack up points and rankings, you have to try to build 'chains'. A chain is when you shoot three enemies of the same color in a row. The more you shoot, the more chains you can make, and thus the more points you receive. You can also change polarity and the chains will not be broken. As long as you hit the enemy with the same colored lasers, you are fine.

The music has a very Epic feel, and even after you play the game 10,000 times, it still doesn't get old. Also the impressive 3D backgrounds are quite well done, so there is plenty of eye candy. You can also save replays of your games for later review. There is also two player co-op (online or not). So that might appeal to some people on here.

I should also mention two things. First, this game is damn hard. I mean, I am sure that most of you will start crying after playing this game because you can't auto save every 10 seconds, or be revived in a Vital-chamber like in Bioshock. Secondly, it's only 5 levels, but believe me, it will take a while to get there.

Thumbs up:
Challenging and complex gameplay
Great visual style and graphics
Soundtrack
Replayability

Thumbs down:
It's real hard
Virtually no achievements (don't really care myself, but some people might)

Overall score: Despite being a very hard game, you will still want to keep playing it till you beat it, or just to improve your score. Highly Recommended.