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ikaruga
review entry |
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One
greets a new Treasure game with a sort of metaphorical (in some
cases quite literal) down-on-the-knees reverence. The day I saw what
Treasure, a rogue group of gamemakers that deserted from Konami
during its heyday, could twist out of the Sega Genesis with Gunstar
Heroes, I knew that they were special. This was on the system that
was designed to be a graphical powerhouse, but technology soon left
it far behind. It took the wizardry of developer’s like Treasure
to make the Genesis do things Sega hadn’t even thought of when it
was initially designed. (One could argue it was a greater feat
making use of that old sound-chip. Ha!)
Since then, the perpetually stubborn Treasure (they simply refuse to
go completely "modern," whatever that means) has made some
of the most hard-core, adrenaline-pumping, shockingly addictive and
downright fun games the world has ever seen. They don’t mind
torturing 21st century gamers with teeth-shattering difficulty
levels, and they still believe in the thrill of demanding that
gamer’s learn to be skillful with each new game.
Within their new classic-shooter Ikaruga, their philosophy not only
lives, but thrives.
Ikaruga is the spiritual successor to the mythic "Radiant
Silvergun," a little-played Sega Saturn title that was
Japanese-only. To this day, years after release, the game has a
following approaching madness. The game is incredibly difficult to
find, and your best bet is literally a bet: you can try for it at
auctions like eBay, but be prepared to pay *ahem* hundreds of
dollars for it.
Luckily, Ikaruga is a bit more easily found. So, with the help of a
favorite online import shop (like NCSX.com) and my sacred DC-X
converter disk, I oh-so-gently (come on, you know you’re insanely
careful with your import games, too!) placed the long-awaited
Ikaruga into my now-defunct Dreamcast. Very soon I saw the classic
Treasure logo, an opened box, which always brings a smile to my
face, then the title screen replete with an English menu. Yes,
Treasure loves you.
At the outset, you have the option of two main paths, one which
offers a practice through the first two levels, and the other which
opens the full game’s five levels. Your next choice involves the
all-important difficulty level. Choosing Easy, limits the game’s
length, so you might as well start with Normal Mode. It is at the
difficulty screen that you get one of the few glimpses of your hero,
a tall, spindly fellow who looks like he’s come from the
Castlevania universe via Final Fantasy’s Yoshitaka Amano. Within
seconds, the game was fast-loading me to bliss.
Ikaruga is a game that is very visually appealing, and this is
apparent from the first moments. If you are a fan of what I call
“classic shooters,” then you already know what to expect. A tiny
ship maneuvers (or tries to) itself between tens of thousands energy
bullets, lasers, and, in this case, huge gushing streams of liquid
electricity. The genius of Ikaruga lies in its twist of the genre
which is that the point of the game is to NOT avoid all of the
bullets.
You see, in Treasure’s twisted world, the simplest idea that no
one ever thought of before becomes a cornerstone of the company’s
gameplay. A similar game mechanic can be found in Treasure’s
"Silhouette Mirage" on Saturn and PSX. The object is of
course simple, but only in theory. Your ship, with the flick of
button, can swap colors, from light to dark. The enemies, likewise,
fire one of two kinds of projectiles: light or dark, and sometimes
both. As your ship changes color, so does your weapon-fire. Any
attack of yours harms any enemy, but light attacks do double damage
to dark foes, and vice-versa. Absorbing the enemy’s attack
energizes your "super attack." You absorb the attacks of
like-colored enemies. Your gauge fills up as you absorb, and with a
press of the right shoulder button, a death-dealing Panzer
Dragoon-style attack lashes out, seeking the enemy.
For instance, say you are fighting a boss, a Treasure trademark, and
it sends out a wave of literally HUNDREDS of bullets (Remember
Bangai-O?) in alternating layers of dark and light colors. You have
to swap back and forth through the colors AS YOU ATTACK THE BOSS.
It's THRILLING and the best addition to a top-down shooter in
probably a decade.
It gets even juicier, and nastier. Treasure upped the ante by
creating a chain engine. Destroying any three enemies of the same
color in a row creates a link and racks up your bonus points for the
end of the level (remember when games were about points?). Points
begin at 100 and plateau at 25,600. Your grade of A through F is
based on how well you play, not just on whether you survive or not.
Some have complained about the lack of analog control, but I don’t
miss it. Call me old-fashioned, but I much prefer to play these
sorts of precision-based games with the digital pad. One quick tap
just isn’t really possible for me with an analog stick, and I
don’t think I could give up the d-pad for games like this where I
rely on taps rather than smooth, flowing movements. Even the words
"smooth" and "flowing" don’t belong anywhere
near the frenetic gameplay found in Ikaruga, which isn’t to say
that the game doesn’t flow smoothly, because it does.
Graphically, the game is on par with any in the genre, and is
certainly still attractive in the face of any competition. That
doesn’t mean that it has absolutely top-tier graphics, but among
shooters and games of this kind, it’s certainly the most
impressive I know outside of Einhander. The industrial-tinged
orchestral soundtrack is perfectly fitting and, like a good, solid
film score, it isn’t distracting in the least. That it sometimes
goes by unnoticed isn’t something to be particularly proud of, but
it’s hard to fault it (even if it isn’t close to the masterful
score for Treasure’s Guardian Heroes.)
All in all, if you own a Dreamcast or GameCube and enjoy shooters,
this is an absolute must-buy, and no self-respecting Treasure fan,
or gamer in general, should be without this masterful,
mind-numbingly hard game. The gratification you get when you pass a
level that stumps you for a week is worth the $60 import price.
Don’t pass it up.
Final Verdict
Basically, as I said above, buying this game is a no-brainer for
shooter fans. It’s thrilling, ingenious, graphically beautiful,
and so lovingly and precisely put together that its five levels will
keep you busy for weeks and even months, depending on your skill
level. Love a good challenge and the craft of Treasure’s games?
Buy without hesitation.
Rating
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This
is where Ikaruga shines. The color-swapping is flawless,
and the chain linking will keep you up nights. You will
close your eyes and break the patterns down in your
mind. Insane.
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Competently
produced, of course, but very bare bones. This is, after
all, nearly a direct port of the arcade version. A few
option screens, some goodies for playing and beating the
game, and that’s it.
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The
non-stop barrage of gunfire will leave you wishing
someone else were playing so you could enjoy the
gorgeous, smooth-scrolling backgrounds. The boss designs
are everything I expect from Treasure. They will remind
you a bit of Katsuhiro Otomo’s work, at times.
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The
music is fitting, but sometimes goes unnoticed, which is
both bad and good. Crank it up in stereo to get the most
out of it, but don’t expect "Panzer Dragoon"
audio.
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This
is truly a personal judgment. A shooter like this, as
short as it is, can keep me occupied for quite some time
by just demanding that I get better and better. Oh, and
by the way, you probably won’t beat it any time soon.
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Sean Campbell -
GameCubicle Reader |
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