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It's funny how Treasure managed to get it so right on the first try: this isn't to say that they didn't already have experience making other types of games, but all of the previous challenges brought them to this point and with probably quite a bit of inspiration and a new outlook at things they ended up making one of the most tight shoot em ups I've played in a while. I haven't been able to 1CC this whole thing as of yet, but story/saturn mode is plenty possible for beginners and more experience players alike. The cutscenes and story are engrained in my brain for how memorable the lines are, and also for how pretty they are; GONZO handled these perfectly (even if they overused some stock sounds a bit too much at times)

The gameplay seems overwhelming at first but as you learn to use every weapon you'll find a use for everything, the radiant sword especially is one of the game's core mechanics and is necessary to get the usual SHMUP bomb. You don't start with a bomb and to obtain one you need to delete a certain amount of pink bullets with your sword, but when you get the bomb it's honestly worth it because the animation is quite lengthy and the damage is pretty significant at least at first, later on the important bit is the i-frames.

On a small note the sword is also a weapon by itself and it's pretty fun to master too; for example if you spin in place you can basically make a small shield for the pink projectiles, or if you hold it in place on a boss it deals constant damage.
Something that RS does very uniquely though is that the weapon levels (which are obtained with EXP instead of pickups, and you get exponentially more exp the longer the chain of same coloured enemies that you've killed) carry over through Story Mode, along with your total score and the amount of lives you've unlocked with the score and that's how it makes it more accessible but still quite a challenge.

As for arcade mode... It's an entirely different beast and requires you to know not only the patterns but also how to level up your weapons correctly. Thankfully there's only three main weapons and one subweapon for each main weapon. The sword has no levels but that makes sense because the damage is already pretty good on it.
But therefore this game rewards your knowledge way more than actual dodging skill, which are still required. Eventually I'll try to finish arcade mode but for now I'm happy to have played this beast of a game and I highly recommend it.

Be attitude for gains...

I was expecting nothing or if something a very average game, so I was pleasantly surprised that it hooked me so much that I actually decided to finish it in one night and be left with an overall positive feeling of the village. Obviously both the case system and treasure system are heavily RE4 inspired but they also added a new mechanic, guard pushing, so if you guard an incoming attack you can retaliate with a strong shove which sends the enemy further away. Apart from that if you've already played 7 you should feel ok with the gameplay. The first few parts are really solid in both the exploration, featuring varied environments and somewhat simplistic but valuable puzzles, and the placement of the enemies which for the most part can be duked out but when you have to fight the game will make it pretty obvious by giving you options to help you out around you. I will say that having played the game on standard, I'd probably wouldn't touch the higher difficulties with a foot long stick because they'd make the enemies even spongier, and it's already slightly bad on standard. The ending section is kind of less interesting than everything else, and the actual ending is pretty depressing considering what went down. Overall though this is a solid entry in the series and a way better game than 7.

I'm not going to include any spoilers because if you're interested in the game the surprises are definitely the best part of the game.

I think the biggest problem with this game is how streamlined it has become. Considering it brought back NMH1's formula of money grinding for bosses I thought that we were going to get interesting and challenging boss dungeons, with many interesting mechanics and things to come!
I was somewhat right, there was definitely a lot of interesting stuff going on, but the boss dungeons are completely gone. You do a few encounters on the map, and if you want you can do all of them and have enough money for the next boss fights. You don't even need to do the job minigames for money. And after those encounters you pay up, go to the boss, beat the (really easy on bitter so maybe try spicy) boss, rinse and repeat about 10 times.
The story was also poorly handled and does not try to close anything up in this game, mostly because it's setting up for some future titles that aren't No More Heroes, but something else. In this game though it does continue up a lot of the points brought up in Travis Strikes Again and that was honestly pretty nice, but maybe it could've seen some more development that does feel like a missed out opportunity. Apart from that the plot is fine, it's nothing stellar or mind blowing but it will keep you entertained.

The one MAJOR complaint that I have is that half the map is completely unexplorable, whether this will be DLC or nothing at all it's definitely weird, not that it matters though: the map is quite empty and devoid of interactions except for a few collectibles.
Overall though it's still a funny and fun game, maybe slightly repetitive, but it definitely does its own thing.

"Alas, Ikaruga is going . . ."
Considering what Treasure had done with Radiant Silvergun it was hard to top and I'd say that they really tried: they ended up refining the chaining formula to a point that high level play will manage to kill everything on the screen while still chaining, something that it wasn't possible in Radiant Silvergun. The new mechanic, color switching, is the most important tool to master as it lets you absorb projectiles rather than having to dodge them. And you will need to absorb them because they give you power for your bomb. The bomb in this game doesn't give you i-frames but it's a super effective tool to clear out a room or to do massive damage. You can also partially charge it and still use it, although it'll be really weak.
Just like Radiant Silvergun the game rewards your knowledge of the game's patterns but this time there's no EXP to worry about: this is a purely arcade experience and it shows since it's concentrates on being efficient and killing everything in order rather than killing only a certain type of enemy.
Mechanically speaking, the colour gimmick is basically an evolution of the sword in Radiant Silvergun, but it's done in such a smart way that it obviously made Ikaruga one of the better SHMUPS of the era.

Considering this is RGG's third action game done in the new Dragon Engine it's impressive that it already feels much better than the other two titles, Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6, but while improving on a lot it also tries new things that are somewhat hit or miss. Overall though at its core it's still very much so a Yakuza type game, where the main story takes a break with substories; the usual stuff. Regardless it's safe to say they didn't reinvent the wheel, but it sure is a good step in a new direction.

Frankly at first I was weirded out since there's basically the deep of night everywhere like a fog of war and you're supposed to be sneaking but obviously you're gonna get jumped again and again. I think the knowledge of the level's enemy placement would be the best way to deal with this, or you can just yolo it and win regardless. There is something to master, but the only "feel good" thing about it is ranks. Apart from that, the combat is stiff but it works, although it's somewhat abusable and the music is really interesting; some really odd picks that end up being very cool.

The way they localized this for EU/NA is completely hilarious and without any sense, it's truly insane but it kinda does add to the appeal of it; an adventure you go through and make your own. The scripted bits are kind of annoying at times, but they're usually very easy, you just need to figure out what to do (usually just holding onto something or running)
Overall it's a game that is very unique and somewhat tragic in its stories, and the characters meeting each other in small ways is very neat and definitely not overdone like some other games with multiple characters.