Games: Ikaruga

Those without balls need not apply.

Ikaruga
Developer: Treasure
Platform: Gamecube, Dreamcast
Genre: Top-down shooter

You just did a double take. You saw the term "top-down shooter" at the end of the above paragraph and said to yourself "wait, huh? I thought those games died in '94!"

Between the mid 80's and 90's, there wasn't a single game arcade in the country that didn't have itself a healthy selection of "space shooters" like Axelay, Gradius and the Thunderforce games. They were popular for a reason: they were intense, fast-paced, skill-based games that you would find yourself habitually pumping entire rolls of quarters into just so you could beat that asshole "AAA" with his precious top score. There isn't a one among us who, at some point, didn't find himself locked onto one of those machines for at least a half-hour. I was never a frantic patron of the arcade top-down shooters, but a few of the home console titles like Strike Gunner kept me rabid and frothing for hours.

But, times change and the games change with them. The arcade shooter era gave way to the arcade fighter era, just as the fighter era begat the arcade racing era. The space shooters of the late 80's and early 90's bowed before the emergence of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct. Since the early 90's, little has been heard from this now nearly-defunct genre outside of a few notable Japan-only titles.

Enter Treasure. Known for an odd design philosophy that spawned games such as the N64 side-scroller Mischief Makers and the oddball PS2 adventure Stretch Panic. Treasure has made their love of the arcade shooter very clear over the course of the last 15 years, producing critically acclaimed titles such as Gunstar Heroes for the Sega Genesis and Radiant Silvergun for the arcade and Sega Saturn.

Ikaruga is the most recent of their shooter offerings, and with it comes some of the most balanced and ingenious gameplay I have ever experienced in addition to a difficulty level capable of rendering catatonic the most feeble of gamers.


Story

To be perfectly honest, I only have the most vague of ideas as to what the plot of this game is. If there are any in-game cutscenes or story portions, I have yet to see them, and I've made it damn near all the way through the third level. My only understanding of the plot comes from the instruction booklet.

Basically, what I recall is that you play a young man named Shinra, who has been deemed by his people to be the only defending force of opposition against a massive technological empire sweeping it's way across the globe and assimilating all cultures it comes into contact with. He's got a ship, his wits and about ten million baddies to pummel standing in his way.

That about sums it up.


Gameplay

In most popular arcade shooters, the focus of the gameplay was on dodging a nearly constant stream of enemy fire, grabbing massive weapon powerups and racking up as many points as possible. The situation is very much the same here, only with a few ingenious twists.

First and foremost, you won't see a single powerup throughout the course of this entire game. Shinra's Ikaruga attack craft is armed with two weapons: the basic laser blasters with unlimited ammo and a huge homing laser attack that needs to be charged before firing. You won't be getting homing missiles, megabeam cannons or vulcan rifles to augment your ship. You start with those two weapons and you finish with those two weapons. In all honesty, if there were pickups in the game, I'm not sure it would be possible to beat this thing. That would just be slightly too much shit to pay attention to.

The Ikaruga does have one other function beyond it's blasters and homing lasers, however, and it's this single function that makes this game absolutely brilliant. The Polarity Change. The Ikaruga has two modes, Light and Dark, and by pressing the Polarity button, you can instantly switch between the two. The two modes are identical, aside from the fact that the ship's color and the color of it's lasers change to either the blue/white scheme of the Light Polarity or the red/black of the Dark Polarity. During the game, you will encounter both Light and Dark enemies who fire projectiles of the same color. Here's the catch: while in Light mode, you absorb Light projectiles, while in Dark mode, you absorb Dark projectiles. By absorbing same-colored attacks, you charge up that homing laser weapon I mentioned before. However, enemy attacks of the opposite Polarity will destroy your ship in a single shot. You get hit once, and that's one less life for you. On the converse, though, if you attack a Light enemy while in Dark mode, you will do them double the damage than if you used a Light attack against them.

This whole system, while extremely simple and easy to grasp, creates the hands-down most frantic (and one of the most addictive) gaming experiences I have ever taken part of. It's a truly brilliant system, because throughout the game, you have to train yourself to mentally block out one specific type of incoming attack while avoiding the other ones like the plague. You have to maniacally switch back and forth between Polarities in order to avoid massive waves of incoming fire and crisscrossing beams of destructive energy. There is not a single moment in this game where you will be relaxed, not a solitary second where you can breathe a sigh of relief because without 100% mental commitment to the task at hand you will lose. This is arguably one of the hardest games I have ever played, but it's not unfair in the slightest. It's the type of difficult where you lose, grunt in anger and then say to yourself "God dammit, I know I can beat this!"

Another key aspect of the game is the chain combo system. By destroying three same-colored enemies in a row, you begin a chain combo. As long as you keep destroying same-colored enemies in sets of three, you will rack up massive points, which comes very much in handy by awarding you with precious extra lives every few million points.

Finally, there is one more gameplay addition in regards to the difficulty that absolutely must be mentioned. As hard as this game is, as overwhelmingly difficult as it can be, absolutely no one is incapable of beating it. "How," you ask? The game keeps a constant record of the total amount of time you've spent playing in the main mode. Every hour that you spend with this game awards you with an extra permanent continue with which to further your progress. Eventually, after spending a certain number of hours slaving away at the levels, you will be awarded infinite continues, thereby guaranteeing that anybody truly committed to beating the game can beat the game.

It is because of this system that Ikaruga embodies the essense of the "Perfect Difficulty Level". The game is hard. Plenty hard. But, nobody is incapable of beating it. That simple addition transforms what could be casually considered a pretty good game into a gaming milestone. No other game I have ever played throughout my 18 years of regular gaming has implemented what could be called a "Prefect Difficulty Level", and so finally seeing it in action in this game is a sight to behold.

If I have one complaint with the game, it's that there maybe aren't enough levels. The entire game consists of a seemingly paltry five stages. Although these stages are a bit on the short side, even on Easy mode, you will be replaying them over and over and over again for hours because it honestly takes that much practice. One or two more levels would have been nice, but I suppose I have no right to bitch, considering I haven't even beaten the third boss yet!


Graphics

I can say with total honesty that Ikaruga is the best-looking top-down shooter I have ever played. The game uses a very accomplished 3D graphics engine with fantastic special effects and explosions. The lighting effects on the lasers and other energy-based weapons and obstacles in the game look fantastic, the enemy designs are memorable and unique and the bosses are massive and thoroughly intimidating.

The backgrounds look great as well, but are a little drab in terms of color. Some may initially consider this a flaw unless they really consider the reality of the situation. The main gameplay mechanic of Ikaruga is the emphasis on the Light/Dark Polarity system. You're constantly having to pay the utmost attention to the colors of the enemies, the color of their attacks and the color of your own ship. With that in mind, can you imagine how thoroughly disorienting it would be to have a myriad of clashing colors swirling in the background? It's because of the Polarity system that Ikaruga's backgrounds are more subtle in color, usually conforming to an industrial grey/brown/black palette instead of wild varying tones.

All in all, the graphics are great. One nice addition to the graphics deprtment is that, in the options menu, you have the option of five different display modes. Three horizontal, and two designed for true-vertical displays which take full advantage of the screen format. The three horizontal displays are what you would use for a standard TV set, and they have black bars on the side, like a letterbox movie. The first vertical display is intended solely for use with true-vertical monitors, while the second one can actually be used on your standard TV set to turn the game from a top-down shooter into a side-scrolling shooter. Not a necessary addition at all, but fun to play around with anyway.


Sound

Fantastic. The soundtrack consists mainly of very frantic industrial and electronic themes and it fits very well with the style and pacing of the game. I absolutely love the music selection, and it's impressive because, although you will be paying total attention to the on-screen carnage, the tracks are all very well-written and will still find a way to get stuck in your head.

The sound effects are great as well, with massive explosions and a constantly thrumming wave of audio carnage to accompany the visuals. The impressive thing to note is that although the sound effects are constantly booming, they never seem to drown out or override the music.

The voice acting is extremely sparse in the game, limited solely to a single robotic voice that issues boss warnings and counts your combo scores in the game. It's not annoying or grating either, and simply adds to the atmosphere of the game.


Flaws

Aside from the meager selection of levels, which still manage to squeeze a considerable number of hours out of your free time, the only other flaw I can honestly think of is the lack of any in-game story. The entirety of the plot is given to you in the instruction booklet, with no in-game cutscenes or plot progression to be found anywhere.

The only other "flaw" I could possibly think of is the fact that this game is terrifyingly hard to find. I managed to locate a brand-new, factory-sealed NTSC copy of it on Ebay for about 40 bucks and I was damned lucky to get it. I've seen this game in-store once, and that was almost two years ago. If you're looking to grab a copy, Ebay is your best friend.


Overall

This game is not for the faint of heart. You will not beat it in a single sitting, you will not beat even so much as the first level on the first try. You will have to instinctively condition yourself to the task of mastering this game's intricacies in order to truly best it. It is psychotic, unforgiving, engaging and more addictive than crack. Own Ikargua and Ikaruga will own you.


Score: 9.2

Sounds hot... it's gonna be hard to find... I might be too lazy...