Ikaruga

Metachronos overall score = 8.9 / 10

Positive
- Gameplay is timeless and satisfying
- Visuals look more stunning than ever
- Excellent synthesized soundtrack
- Satisfying shooting experience
- Cheapest way to experience Ikaruga

Negative
- Frame rate dips from past versions have not been corrected
- Some users may experience unwanted drift in the controls

Ikaruga burst onto the Japanese arcade scene in 2001, capitalizing on players' devotion to the terminal art of shooters that pit one craft against legions of alien assailants. Your tiny ship must shoot down swarms of enemies and dive through devious obstacles while avoiding or absorbing enemy fire. Yes, absorbing enemy fire. Until then, most twitch shooters--like Gradius, R-Type, and Life Force--demanded all enemy fire be avoided. The key mechanic of Ikaruga--like Silhouette Mirage--was the ability to change the polarity of your craft to absorb like-colored enemy fire. Lest you be forced to scroll through a rainbow of colors, the choices have been limited to two settings: dark and light.



Ikaruga continues to deliver an experience few competitors can dream of achieving on any platform. And as far as arcade ports go, this is one of the best; it is faithful to the original and provides incremental platform improvements. While copies of this game may go for top dollar on other platforms, 800 Microsoft points is a steal for the hours of fun that can be had.

looks...confusing