One could say that it was one of the better run ‘n gun games out there for its time, but the original Ikari Warriors, in my opinion, doesn’t hold up that well at all. Yes, the gameplay can be fun at points, and it can be satisfying to mow down through many hordes of enemies using whatever big guns and vehicles you have at your disposal, but the game was way too difficult, had a huge case of arcade syndrome, and it has some of the most finicky aiming controls I had ever seen, to the point where it felt practically unplayable in certain instances. But who really cares about what I have to say about the game anyway? It’s an SNK game, which means that no matter what, it was gonna get a sequel anyway, and in the case of Ikari Warriors, it ended up getting two of them, so at least they can take what they learned from this game and try to make a more fair and satisfying experience, right? Well, that would not be the case with Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road.

Since I wasn’t too fond of the original game, I was not looking forward to playing this entry at all. Knowing SNK’s pattern when it comes to sequels, I assumed it was just gonna be the same as the original game, except with some kinds of changes made to the formula that make it more of an enjoyable experience, and wouldn’t you know it, that is exactly what we have here. Now, to the game’s credit, I definitely would say that it is an improvement over the original, as it does improve on several elements that the original had, but even when taking these changes into consideration, this is still a bad game, as it carries many of the same issues that original game had, while also making some new ones.

The story is much more bizarre this time around, as instead of taking on enemy units from the Ikari village, we are now tasked to take down… aliens, with the big bad of them being named Zang Zip………….. well, I will give them credit for changing things up, and it does make the game more funny and unique, the graphics are practically the same as the original game, but this time the environments you travel through and the enemies that you fight are much more visually pleasing to look at (for the most part), so it at least has that going for it, the music is also good, nothing too special or unique for the genre, but you will barely be able to hear it over all the loud as hell sound effects and new voice clips, which are admittedly hilarious to hear, the control is… the exact same as the original game, so you know how much I hate it already, and the gameplay is also almost the exact same as the original, which is not a good thing in this case, for the most part.

The game is a top-down run ‘n gun game, where you take control of either Ralf Jones or Clark Still once again, go through another continuous stage having various different segments, shoot the fuck out of anything that moves towards you in many different directions, while making sure to move forward at all times, gather plenty of different weapons and powerups to test out to get an advantage over the alien scum you will be facing off against, and take on a set of bosses that are easy enough… at least, when you are spamming your weapons against them, and when arcade syndrome doesn’t screw you over. For the most part, if you have played the original Ikari Warriors, you know what you are getting here, but there are some changes that make it a little more tolerable than its predecessor.

Unlike the previous game, you no longer have limited ammunition, so you can now fire your weapons all willy-nilly to your heart's content, and honestly, that is a major plus in my book, making this definitely more preferable then the original game. Sure, that game did provide you with enough ammo in plenty of places, but given how fast the ammo can run out, it didn’t really help too much, especially when you are bombarded by a thousand things. Unfortunately though, the unlimited ammunition is about the only real positive change I can say that this game has. Most of the other changes aren’t too bad, but they do add another layer of tedium and difficulty that didn’t need to be there in the first place.

First of all, you no longer have any vehicles that you can take control of, but instead, you will have suits of armor that you can find, which do help defend yourself whenever you use it, allowing you to take more hits before dying. However, that is about as much use as you can get from it. Not only does it not make you stronger in any way, but it also only available for a limited time, going away from you after a while, making you wonder why you would even take it in the first place. Secondly, like I mentioned earlier, there are now bosses in this game, and while they can add a bit more to the case of arcade syndrome we have here, they are easy enough if you can take advantage of them. However, throughout the game, you will have to refight them CONSTANTLY, as there are these green tiles that appear on the floor every so often that will drag you down into a chasm where you will fight a random boss, and for the most part, they are optional, but there will be instances where you will have no choice but to go down one of these and take out the bosses. I don’t think I need to explain to you how frustrating and tiresome that gets, especially when you are pretty far into the game.

But trust me, those are the LEAST of this game’s problems, because all of those problems that I had with the original Ikari Warriors are still here in this game, with no improvements made towards fixing them whatsoever. It still feels just as finicky and unreliable to aim your gun in any direction, making it feel like just aiming straight forward at all times would be the best option, even though you NEED to aim behind you in several instances. Also, as you expected, the arcade syndrome is still pretty bad in this game, having many different enemies coming after you from all directions, giving the player little to no chance of surviving any kind of onslaught. I swear, SNK makes the most relentless and brutal arcade games of any company out there, extending further than their fighting games.

Overall, despite improvements on the ammunition and graphics side of things, this is more or less the same brutal and unsatisfying experience as the original game, one that offers little to no reason to come to if you hated the original, and has no real qualities to it other then how silly its premise is. I guess I could recommend it for those who actually liked the original Ikari Warriors, but for everyone else, if you have played the previous game, then there is no reason to check out this one. It is just as bad as you think it is, and it isn’t worth your time. So, that is two strikes already against this short-lived series from SNK, but hey, I still have hope! There is one game left in the series, so who knows? Maybe that one will actually be good………….. or at least, I hope that it is good.

Game #446

How to make a sequel of a game that got unexpected success? Just add a melee weapon and some voice clips. I like that they went straight into space and left all the Rambo references aside, but this game plays really bad. The NES version, on the other hand, has some small upgrade systems and even vendor shops that imbue it with a lot of personality, so I'd definitely recommend it above the arcade edition.

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¿Cómo hacer una secuela de un juego que obtuvo un éxito inesperado? Añadiendo armas cuerpo a cuerpo y algunos audios. Me gustó que tomaran la decisión de llevar la historia al espacio y dejaran de lado las referencias a Rambo, pero este juego es muy cargante. La versión de NES, por otro lado, tiene un pequeño árbol de mejoras e incluso tiendas que le dan bastante personalidad, así que la recomiendo por encima de la edición arcade sin dudarlo.