Ikaruga is an anime influenced vertical scrolling shooter, originally developed for the Sega NAOMI system, about seven years ago now. These were arcade systems you found in the popular shopping centers. Ikaruga has had a journey in ports, from the arcades it was sent to the Dreamcast, from the Dreamcast it was then put into the GameCube, and very recently it has landed within the filling clutches of Xbox Live Arcade.

Gameplay:

Firstly, this game can be credited for the amount of customization it has to offer for an arcade game, originally from an arcade system. The main menu includes the typical leader board feature, the also expected achievements, however, there’s also a two player co-op mode. The customization really comes in when you choose your mode of play, from here you can change the difficulty level; Easy, Normal & Hard, you can also do chapters separately, (if you’ve completed them first) or start the game from scratch. And from here, there’s the settings option for choosing the amount of lives to start with, whether you want the continue option and how many points you need for another life. My favourite option however is the one found in the video options menu, you can actually rotate the screen to its side and play the game sideways… so it now becomes a side scrolling shooter. It makes for a different experience.

This game can be compared to such side/vertical scrolling shooters such as Triggerheart Exelica as it has all the basic features and mission progression relations to the game. Moving from the obvious, that it’s a vertical scrolling shooter, but it also has a very familiar setup. From the HUD, some of the enemies, to the ships you actually fly as, it looks a little like Triggerheart Exelica. However, there are some very significant differences, for the better, as it suites the system it’s on.
The gameplay is a little slower and gives you more time to think, it’s still very fast paced as it is a game built on quick thinking strategy, but it is more controllable. Ikaruga moves around the screen a lot, the ship and camera don’t tend to stay at the same angle for long; it zooms around larger ships through buildings and into different areas. The constant changes in scenery keep you on your toes, as you have no idea what’s going to come out of it. There’s also a lot that happens in the foreground and around the player, as in, off screen. Enemy units don’t always just appear of the side of the screen, they hover in from above or below you, and it’s all in 3D so you can see it moving away or towards you realistically.

The main unique feature from this game though is a gameplay feature. Your firing has two modes, by pressing ‘B’ you can jump from a radiant blue ship and blue firing lasers to a radiant red ship and red firing lasers. This isn’t for show; this is built into the quick thinking strategy of the game. Enemies either take a blue or red colour and fire these two different colours, if you transform into your red mode then you will be invulnerable to the red enemies, and vice versa to the blue. But it doesn’t stop there, to make it even harder, you will do double damage to ships of the opposite colour, so you have to choose extremely carefully and depending on how confidant you are, risk the change.
As the game moves on, this feature is really put to the test as enemies use both colours simultaneously, and different objects, as well as enemies, must be avoided as they take on blue or red forms. This is probably one of the toughest but most appealing new mechanics I’ve ever seen in a side scrolling shooter, you’d never of thought something so simple would make a game so complicated and hard to keep up with.

Graphics:

Surprisingly this game looks exceptionally good, and it definitely makes full use of the HD setup. Everything looks so crisp, sharp and clear in a 1920 by 1080 resolution, work has gone into to this to make it look like a modern game. The game isn’t too bright either; it has a balanced contrast between a grey washed out gritty look, with the colourful lasers and special abilities thrown into the mix. It all comes together quite nicely. The lasers are easy on the eyes too, this is most forgiving. Shame the display doesn’t stretch the whole screen, but you can in the options hit about three quarters of the screen, which is sufficient.

Sound:

The soundtrack of this game isn’t as upbeat as you would expect it to be, it’s strangely orchestral and ‘epic’ in tone. Something that seems a little over the top for the type of game it is, but it’s something you could keep listening to definitely. An unusually impressive soundtrack.

The sound effects are what to expect, nothing too great nothing too bad. A few of the enemies like to make some random noises and then tend to repeat these random noises, a tad annoying, but not a problem if we’re not being too picky. Gunfire and explosions are all basic sound effects, they will remind you of the classics you played in the past. This isn’t a bad thing, as it wouldn’t be a vertical/side scrolling shooter without them.

Longevity:

The chapters are quick an they are over very fast, but I can imagine if the missions were any longer then they would get repetitive and tedious not too long after, it does well to keep the pace. It does do well to spice up the gameplay and so this lengthens the experience even though the game itself isn’t a long one.
There's only five stages to go through altogether, but if you put it into retrospect, how long do you expect a game which was an original arcade game to be. The expectations of modern gaming can get in the way.

Overall:

At first glance, or even first play, (as at first glance the game looks quite nice) you will say to yourself ‘not another ported arcade shooter’ but then when you give the game 30 minutes, you’ll beat yourself up. This is a decent & solid vertical arcade style shooter, it brings variety in the form of modes and options, and it offers a twist in gameplay features with the sophisticated ‘polarity’ mechanic, and to top it… it looks pretty.

A Perfect package here if you’ve been searching for something with style and excitement in short bursts.