bit-tech Shopping: Atari Ikaruga (GC)

Rating: 8

Time with product:

Strengths: Old School style with new age graphics, hours and hours of fun

Weaknesses: Kind of hard even for the beginners level

Summary: Ikaruga is a shoot em up game where the player controls a small ship and blasts the enemies in front of them away. There are several levels and after beating them the play is able to select that same level to play on if the player was to turn the Gamecube off and play at another time. The game is rather difficult for a newbie to shoot em up type games since this is a little different then other shoot em up games. There is almost always a hail of gunfire from the enemy ships making it extremely hard to dodge each attack, but there is a system where the player can switch polarities and be able to survive the vile onslaught. This took some time to get used to as like most people, reading the directions fails to enter my mind but knowing this GREATLY increases the survival rate. Again, this game is very difficult at some points and will take several attempts to beat/get used to the game play. This game offers co-op play and can be hours and hours of fun.

Rating: 10

Time with product:

Strengths: addictive, challenging gameplay, cool graphics

Weaknesses: extreme difficulty, incomprehensible voiceover

Summary: Just shooting everything might be good enough for your pedestrian shoot-stuff-game, but chaining colors of enemies and coordinating your own color to absorb shots is as fun as it is hard. Most people probably can't hack the difficulty, but those who can will probably love this game.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 3 Years

Strengths: A great, solid, shooter experience from start to finish.

Weaknesses: Sometimes, the difficulty can be frustratingly insane.

Summary: When Shoot Em Up (referred to as "SHMUP" hereafter) fans think of one of the greatest companies in the video game business, the company known as Treasure usually tops the SHMUP fans' list. Treasure takes a seemingly simple genre and molds it into something so solid with so much substance, you can't help but feel that this is 'not just another shooter game'. Gameplay:In Ikaruga (simplified annunciation: E-KAH-ROO-GAH), players not only have to have lightning quick reflexes to maneuver their fighter craft, but they have to think on the fly as well. With the dark / light projectiles that are constantly in the game, players have to decide when to switch their ship to the 'light' or 'dark' side of energy in order to defeat the enemy's numerous ships. Switch to the light side of your ship and the enemy's 'light' energy projectiles will do no harm to you, whereas the enemy's 'dark' energy projectiles will destroy your ship upon impact, from a SINGLE projectile and vice versa. The light/dark system works against enemies as well. If you encounter an enemy that is of the 'light' alignment, switch your ship to the 'dark' enegy side and fire upon them at will. Their damage will be severe, since the energy directed at them is of the opposite alignment. The same color alignments (i.e.: light vs light) will also produce damage against the enemy crafts, but the damage ratio is greatly reduced, as opposed to the damage you would deal if you were using the opposite color alignment.Sound/Music:A truly superb soundtrack, with crisp and clear sounding explosions racking every little nuance. This game is a treat to play on a surround sound home theater system. Overall: This title is going to be one of the more sought after SHMUP games on the slowly waning GameCube system. Plus, the fact that it's a really, really good SHMUP game is only going to rectify the situation further by making this one of the 'harder to find' titles in the near future, as this game is long out of print. If you're a SHMUP fan, you must own this game. If you're a casual gamer, this might be a little too intense for you, since this game combines a bit of strategy with lighting quick reflexes (traits that most 'casual' gamers don't usually have, at least all at once).

Rating: 10

Time with product: 6 Months

Strengths: Tough, frantic gameplay

Weaknesses: More pattern memorization than reflex required.

Summary: I love Ikargua. It uses a black/white polarity system where you are constantly switching between the two colors to boost your attack power and to charge your ship's secondary weapon. This makes the already twitch crazy shooter even more insane and exciting. A good 2d shooter will make you sweat and scramble to use every available ounce of reflex in your body to survive and Ikargua is no exception. The only complaint I had was that it can be too patterned oriented compared to other shooters. It's not something I noticed at first but you'll eventually realize it once your dying again and again and again and trying desperately to find any chance at all to survive. I fully expect to be playing Ikaruga in five years to improve my score and to try to finish on 1 credit. It looks, sounds, and plays great. Copies can be tough to find so hold on to yours if you ever come across any.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 2 Years

Strengths: Amazing gameplay, spiritual sequal to the classic: Radiant Silver Gun

Weaknesses: Blistering difficulty

Summary: If you can actually find this game, buy it. It is absolutly one of the funnest shmupps(Shoot 'em ups) I've ever played. The gameplay of switching your color to that of enemy bullets so you can absorb like colors, and do extra damage to the opposite color, is genius. There are more things going on on-screen than the human brain should be able to handle. In short, it is glorious. Buy it.