I feel like I’ve jumped into a DeLorean and went back to a time when games were super intense, but super simple. Ikaruga has that magical power to do this by putting you in “the zone”. And just like the classic shooters that fill the Treasure library, Ikaruga requires you to find “the zone”. You know what I mean; that point where you’re firing and moving, and minutes later you realize your progress, take a millisecond to think “wow”, and you’re dead. “The zone” is that brief moment in time where you don’t blink, you don’t think, you don’t even know if you’ve been breathing, you just continue to do.

Ikaruga isn’t a new game by any means. Many have played the title in it’s previous versions on the Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo Gamecube or even possibly the arcade. So why should you bother with this new Xbox LIVE Arcade offering? Because the game is that good. The fact that it’s only 800 points makes the purchase that much more enticing.

The gameplay of Ikaruga is based around a two-color system in which all your enemies and their many (read: MANY) bullets are either black or white, and you, the player, have the ability to switch your ship’s color on the fly between these two basic colors. When your ship is black, you will be able to absorb all black bullets and lasers while being vulnerable to all white fire (and vice versa when white with black weapons). Also, the power of your shots depends on their color, with opposite colored fire causing more harm, but that makes you more susceptible to enemy fire since your ship is the opposite of their bullet color. Confused yet? Don’t worry. It will only take a little time to get use to the controls. But just like any good schmup, this game is easy to learn and near impossible to master.

Everything you’d expect from a great top-down shooter is present. Enemy ships, rotating turrets, and wall cannons all fill the screen with black and white death. Ikaruga’s environments actually play an important part in the gameplay, which may be new to some schmup fans. Quite often you’ll be charged with the task of guiding your ship as it is thrust between large walls, sliding panels, moving blocks, and other solid objects that will provide the player with quick and painful death. The best part of this insane maneuvering (depending on who you ask) is that during all this, you’re still ducking, dodging, and shooting. In these intense situations, you’ll quickly find you need to enter “the zone”. This is because you can’t focus on any one thing. If you start thinking about what color your ship is, you’ll be dead. If you focus on the environmental obstacles, you’re dead. This may sound intimidating, but it’s truly just fast-paced fun on crack. Once you’re flying down obstacle filled tunnels and being shot at from every direction and end up safely on the other side, you’ll know what I mean. The intensity and difficulty of Ikaruga only makes the sense of accomplishment that much better.

There’s also a combo system in Ikaruga that will require a bit of focus, but Treasure did show a little kindness here. Chaining together combos in Ikaruga is done by shooting three enemies of the same color in a row, which gives you a +1 chain. Following this, you can shoot another set of black or white enemies to get another +1 added onto your chain. The thing to remember is to never mix up the chains of three. As long as you don’t shoot a different colored enemy midway through your set of three, you’ll rack up huge combos. This sounds simple, but just like the rest of the game, it’s easy to learn and oh-so-hard to master. It’s just another feature of Treasure’s shooter that will require twitch speed reactions and the almighty “zone”.

Visually this shooter looks great. It’s not the best thing you’ll see on the Xbox LIVE Arcade, but considering the age of this title, it has held up amazingly well over the years. Everything is crisp and clean looking. Treasure did a great job of making the simple look great. So while you may not be thrown back in awe, you definitely won’t be disappointed by the graphics this classic is pumping out.

The music is a perfect fit with pounding beats that seems to pick up at just the right moment. While the music pumps in the background, the sounds of explosions going off in front of you do a great job of making you feel like you’re in the action. But just like everything in Ikaruga, no matter how good different aspects of the game are, you rarely have time to notice unless you take a time out and watch as someone else plays for a bit. Because when you’re in “the zone”, you don’t notice much. You just do it.

+ Spot on controls.

+ Classic gameplay

+ Even the old graphics look good

? Why don't more people know about the Dreamcast

Final Score: 9.0 

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