I never play for score unless it's used to award extends. Once I get the first extra life, I stop caring altogether.
whatistheexcel.com celebrates its 3rd anniversary! thank you!
Good review! I like how you upfront and clear with how you hate the rote memorization aspect of it. Although I'm of the opinion that it was deliberately designed to cater to the subset of gamers to enjoy it, and I think you seem to think the same as well, with the comment about well placed enemies. Didn't anyone warn you about that in Ikaruga? Is it really a flaw if the game was deliberately designed that way, and is meant to appeal to people with different play styles than yours? The conclusion part of your review, seems a bit slanted to dissuading people to play it to me. The stomach more memorization than Japanese kanji bit comes to mind.
I've never heard anyone call it the hardest game ever made. Nintendo Hard, yes, but who would really compare it to I Wanna Be The Guy?
Ikaruga and games like it are what I call "scorers' games". The mechanics and layout, as innovative as they may be, seem to exist not so much to invite the player to have fun with them, but solely to challenge all comers to make the most of them. I don't spend much time with them.
So where did you say you picked this up again?
whatistheexcel.com celebrates its 3rd anniversary! thank you!
@ Excel: At an EB Games store (now a GameStop), for $40, in 2004.
@ 124.104: I have a love-hate relationship with the enemy placements. As I've said, you can see just how delicate Treasure was with placing enemies (though there are parts where a chaining pattern is rather unobvious), though at the same time, memorizing patterns in this game feels like studying for an exam. What I meant in my conclusion is that if you don't care for score and just want a vertical shmup with a bipolar twist, get this game; if you want to play for score and are prepared to do lots of memorization, go for it.
@ Shay Guy: I came across that statement on one of the trope pages.
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I'd also note the existence of "Dot Eater!"
SHIKI is dead.Leave a Comment:
A good concept, until you try to play for score.
Prior to playing Ikaruga, I had heard so much about it, from an X-Play segment to a Maddox article
to whatever. So I found a copy of the GameCube version at
GameStop EB Gamesfor $40 and decided to snag it up before it went Radiant Silvergun. (Which thankfully did not happen thanks to its XBLA release.)I definitely enjoyed the polarity concept—it added a new layer of depth to the game the awesome orchestral soundtrack, and the meticulously placed enemies. However, the game's flaws started to set in when I tried to play for score. While the chaining system shows just how well Treasure placed enemies in the game, I absolutely loathed the rote memorization needed to master it. This is not like DoDonPachi's scoring system, which rewards paced, continuous destruction (and requries less memorization), or Space Invaders Extreme', which rewards creative and varied gameplay style and was not as overtly memorization-based as Ikaruga's. I try to do "screw it" runs consisting of me disregarding chaining altogether, but the constant me hearing "1 CHAIN" makes me remember how badly I suck at chaining and makes me not not care about chaining.
Everyone talks about how Ikaruga is the hardest game ever made. While it is difficult, saying that it's the hardest game ever is a bit of a stretch; I can one-credit this game on Normal up to Chapter 3, but Gradius III arcade version on Normal makes me choke starting at the 2nd or 3rd stage, Gradius IV says "fuck you you ain't getting past stage 3," and Mushihime-sama on Ultra is very hard on the first stage.
If you want a bipolar twist to your shmups, some fairly challenging gameplay, and can either stomach a chaining system that takes more memorization than Japanese kanji or can ignore it altogether, by all means give this game a go. It's only $10 on XBLA, and even if that's too expensive for you, you can try out the one-stage demo. If you like a more free-form scoring system, however, look towards another game, for your sanity's sake.