Loseirdo
08-03-2007, 02:28 AM
I recently purchased the game Ikaruga after reading a maddox article (http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=ikaruga) about it.
Wow.
This game kicks ass. Specifically, this game kicks your ass. This game not only kicks your ass, it cuts it off, props it up on a silver platter with some hors d'oeuvres and a sprig of parsley, politely hands it to you and silently stands by and watches you eat it.
This game is hard. There is not even a word in the Oxford English Dictionary that could accurately describe just how difficult this game is. This is the kind of game that brings strong men to tears and weak men to the brink of suicide.
Enough with that. Let's get down to business: game mechanics.
The object of the game is to fly your ship through five levels (that's right, only five -- the game is hard enough to keep you playing the first three levels for weeks), shooting down any enemy aircraft that come your way. Sounds simple. It's not.
Each enemy you face is one of two colours: white or black. Your ship can be one of two colours: white or black. If your ship is white, you can absorb white shots fired from your enemies and your attacks deal double damage against black opponents. If your ship is black, the reverse is true.
So, you have to constantly switch between white and black to absorb shots and deal extra damage to your opponents. This idea is deceptively simple. The implementation is mind-numbingly difficult.
Here's a decent screenshot of the second level boss:
http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2006/09/ikaruga-1.jpg
White shots pouring in from the left. Black shots coming in from God knows where. The way you beat this boss is simple: there are two openings in the middle of the ship. Each opening is covered by a barrier. If you shoot the barrier with the same colour as the opening, it comes out, revealing the opening. You then have to fly between the opening and the barrier and give it everything you've got while simultaneously dodging or absorbing shots from the ship and the white and black shots pouring in from the left and right.
The game is fast-paced, hectic, and disturbingly difficult; that's not where the gameplay ends, however.
The point system is creative and simultaneously sadistic. The idea is this: if you kill three enemies of the same colour in a row, you receive a chain bonus. For every chain you get in a row, your bonus doubles. If you kill two different coloured enemies without completing a chain first, your bonus restarts.
In other words, if you want to get a high score, you have to kill enemies in a specific order. Considering the nature of the game, this can only be done by the very best (or very nerdiest) of the gaming elite.
This game is out of production and very difficult to find. I was lucky to pick it up on Amazon for $40. If you're a fan of scrolling shooters, own a dreamcast or gamecube, and approach this game expecting to fail, I can assure you that Ikaruga will take you for one hell of a wild ride. Be forewarned, though: this is a real man's game. It doesn't fuck around -- and neither should you, if you want to live to see stage two.
Two thumbs up for this modern marvel of creative ingenuity. http://forum.bullshit.com/images/icons/icon14.gif http://forum.bullshit.com/images/icons/icon14.gif
Wow.
This game kicks ass. Specifically, this game kicks your ass. This game not only kicks your ass, it cuts it off, props it up on a silver platter with some hors d'oeuvres and a sprig of parsley, politely hands it to you and silently stands by and watches you eat it.
This game is hard. There is not even a word in the Oxford English Dictionary that could accurately describe just how difficult this game is. This is the kind of game that brings strong men to tears and weak men to the brink of suicide.
Enough with that. Let's get down to business: game mechanics.
The object of the game is to fly your ship through five levels (that's right, only five -- the game is hard enough to keep you playing the first three levels for weeks), shooting down any enemy aircraft that come your way. Sounds simple. It's not.
Each enemy you face is one of two colours: white or black. Your ship can be one of two colours: white or black. If your ship is white, you can absorb white shots fired from your enemies and your attacks deal double damage against black opponents. If your ship is black, the reverse is true.
So, you have to constantly switch between white and black to absorb shots and deal extra damage to your opponents. This idea is deceptively simple. The implementation is mind-numbingly difficult.
Here's a decent screenshot of the second level boss:
http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2006/09/ikaruga-1.jpg
White shots pouring in from the left. Black shots coming in from God knows where. The way you beat this boss is simple: there are two openings in the middle of the ship. Each opening is covered by a barrier. If you shoot the barrier with the same colour as the opening, it comes out, revealing the opening. You then have to fly between the opening and the barrier and give it everything you've got while simultaneously dodging or absorbing shots from the ship and the white and black shots pouring in from the left and right.
The game is fast-paced, hectic, and disturbingly difficult; that's not where the gameplay ends, however.
The point system is creative and simultaneously sadistic. The idea is this: if you kill three enemies of the same colour in a row, you receive a chain bonus. For every chain you get in a row, your bonus doubles. If you kill two different coloured enemies without completing a chain first, your bonus restarts.
In other words, if you want to get a high score, you have to kill enemies in a specific order. Considering the nature of the game, this can only be done by the very best (or very nerdiest) of the gaming elite.
This game is out of production and very difficult to find. I was lucky to pick it up on Amazon for $40. If you're a fan of scrolling shooters, own a dreamcast or gamecube, and approach this game expecting to fail, I can assure you that Ikaruga will take you for one hell of a wild ride. Be forewarned, though: this is a real man's game. It doesn't fuck around -- and neither should you, if you want to live to see stage two.
Two thumbs up for this modern marvel of creative ingenuity. http://forum.bullshit.com/images/icons/icon14.gif http://forum.bullshit.com/images/icons/icon14.gif