Perhaps the greatest shooter ever until Gradius V comes out. Unfortunately the game's difficultly level will scare off only the most hardcore and dedicated players. I really like this game since it distinguishes itself as a game that defies conventions and provides more than a simple diversion. Playing Ikaruga takes time, dedication, and skill in ridiculous quantities. To me many gamers lack patience and merely want to plow through a game as quickly as possible, Ikaruga defies this and if you finally get the hang of all the patterns ways of going through the game a magical gift manifests itself. I can't really explain it in words, merely a euphoria that you're performing impossible feats and come to grips at how much effort went into this very short game. The demos provide an effective way to demonstrate good strategies for all difficulty levels and if anyone's interested there's a $50-60 DVD of arguably the greatest Ikaruga players showing off their skills in Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty. The only problem with this game lies in the 2-player, it gets too chaotic for 2 people to chain, I can't complain too much about it since it doesn't effect the fun factor much although it gets old really fast until prototype mode has been unlocked. The game is also on the short side, although I'm not asking for more pain (I'm not a masochist thankfully) the levels themselves go by really quickly. The graphics aren't the greatest nor is the sound, but they're so appropriate to the game that dreamcast quality graphics don't bug me much at all. As one reviewer put it, this is a must have game if you own the gamecube and it's a bargain too despite it's lack of availability. With the pricecuts why wouldn't you own a gamecube anyways hehe.
Ikaruga comes from the same team as the ill-fated Radiant Silvergun on the Saturn, which some have claimed to be “the greatest shooter of all time”. With that kind of heritage, it should be expected to have some impressi... Read Full Review
Chances are, you fall into one of two categories. Either you imported the Dreamcast release of Ikaruga last year and are already hopelessly addicted, or you’ve never heard of it before. For those of you who fit into the ... Read Full Review
