Ikaruga's story begins in Hourai, a small country on the main island of Japan (Honshu). Several years back, the ruler of Hourai, Hourai Tenrou excavated a strange artifact, called "Ubusubagami Oukinokai". Shortly after, she (he?) was able to preform miracles, and eventually began to conquer other countries through military force. A group known as Tenkaku fought against them, but were quickly annihialated. You play as Shinra, the only survivor of the Tenkaku. During a battle, his ship is damaged, and crash-lands in a remote village called Ikaruga. An old man by the name of Kazemori nurses him back to health, and gives him a special fighter ship, also called Ikaruga. From there, Shinra heads off one last time, facing impossible odds, and bent on saving the world from Hourai.

From the moment your ship is launched, you'll take note of Ikaruga's amazing visuals. After fighting off the initial wave of drones, you approach the cloudy surface of the planet and fight several more waves of fighters. And as you break through the clouds, you're greeted by a dense forest. Everything moves at high speed, yet the amount of detail put into even the first level is impressive. The dozens upon dozens of black and white bullets and lasers, and the endless waves of enemies you encounter as you fly through cities, space stations, and artificial valleys made of steel will easily wow anyone who happens to be watching. The game is just total eye candy and has some of the best graphics I've seen on the Dreamcast. I also hear it looks especially nice with a VGA box.

The basic gameplay of Ikaruga is simple. All enemies and projectiles in the game are either black or white. Your ship also has a black and white side, which you can switch at any time at the press of a button. Being white means your shield will absorb any white projectiles that it comes into contact with, and your dual machine guns will do twice as much damage to black enemies. You are however left open to black projectiles and collisions with obstacles or enemies regardless of color. Absorbing attacks of the same color also fills up your homing laser gauge, which can store up a total of 12 lasers. There's also an interesting combo system which gives you huge score bonuses for killing three enemies of the same color repeatedly. To me, scores in games are usually nothing I pay any special attention to, but in Ikaruga I find myself doing every little possible thing to rack up points. It adds that much more to the game. The controls by the way are very tight and responsive.

The moment you first load the game up, you're given 3 credits, which aren't nearly enough for you to pass the game on the first try through. Ikaruga has a reputation for being extremely hard, and while it's only 5 levels long, very few people will be able to even reach the final two stages in their first couple hours. Thankfully, Treasure knows this, and for every hour you spend playing, you're awarded another credit. Once you have nine credits, your next hour will net you unlimited credits. There's also a practice mode, where you can practice individual levels over and over. To unlock levels in practice mode, you have to reach that level on the difficulty you want to practice on a single credit.

The levels are no different from any other space shooter. You fly through the level destroying enemies for a few minutes until you reach the end of the level, and a big boss. Having only five short levels (It should take about 30 minutes to complete the game), you'd think the game would become boring and repetative after a few days, but for most people this probably won't be the case. Ikaruga's replayability is extremely high, and I know most people will find themselves putting many hours into practicing the game until they can finish it on a single credit and get the highest scores possible. The different difficulty levels also mix things up. Easy, Normal, and Hard (Which is really freakin hard), all require different strategies.

There's also a bit to unlock by just playing for a certain amount of time (And no, pausing doesn't count), which makes investing time into the game all the more appealing. Aside from the extra credits, for every 5 hours you play, you unlock something. Extras include an art gallery, character profiles, a BGM test, and the ability to play "Prototype Mode". Speaking of the art, I absolutely adore it. Bleak, is a word that comes to mind. With it's drab colors, and eerie looking characters, it definately sets an interesting mood for the game. I should also mention the option to turn the sceeen horizontally, if you're playing on a screen that can rotate. I've never found much use for this myself, but it's a nice little addition.

The sounds in Ikaruga are really nothing you haven't heard before, but they all fit nicely. The announcer speaks in English, but with a very robotic sound which makes alot of what he says hard to understand...plus his accent. I'm still a little curious as to what he says at the end, even after hearing it a dozen times or so. I also think the soundtrack deserves praise. It has a sort of heroic feel to it, and picks up at the best times. For instance, level 3 starts out slow as you navigate through the first part, but as the captions come on, and your afterburners kick in, it picks up and becomes really suspenseful. I was a little dissapointed it didn't have an option for surround sound though.

Just like any other game, Ikaruga isn't without it's flaws. Despite running very smoothly a majority of the time, even with dozens of enemies and bullets on the screen, too many explosions can slow it down for a second...For instance, shooting down 12 drones with one shot (It's possible). That second usually isn't a big deal, unless you're navigating through some really tough spots, and slowdowns are rare anyway. As mentioned before, it's relatively short and very difficult. It requires more memorization than twitchy reflexes, though they really come in handy. I've seen some 'fan reviews' slam this game because of that. Personally, I like the challenge, so to hell with them. There are also no power-ups to speak of, though I didn't mind that at all. I'm not holding it against Ikaruga, as it does very well without them. The last thing is, in two-player mode your ships can actually interfere and push each other around. While it opens up the use of some strategies, most people would probably just skip it, as navigating some of the harder parts becomes a little annoying with an inexperienced partner.

In the end, I absolutely love Ikaruga. The hype was well deserved, this game is amazing. The graphics are just some of the best on the Dreamcast. It may be short and extremely difficult (probably one of the hardest games I've ever played), but that only keeps me coming back for more, even long after having unlocked all of the extras. I also love the music, which suits the game very nicely, and adds a nice amount of suspense to it. The dark and serious tone the art and story give also strike a chord with me. I am not a hardcore space-type shooter fan, but Ikaruga's definately going into my book of most memorable games ever. Get it now, it'll be a collector's item one day.

"We'll meet again some day soon."

-Shinji[tEs]
02/20/03