Ikaruga is a game I respect. While the brilliant simplicity and genius of its polarity mechanic and the way it intrisically threads Ikaruga's aesthetic with the game's challenge and scoring is a craft I'm deeply fascinated with, its art remains inaccessible to someone like me who is incapable of conquering its methodical demanding difficulty reserved only for the greatest of masochists. By stage 3 my grip on the controller is long gone, as the synapses of my small brain fail to register the assault of shifting color threat and I'm inevitably resigned to abuse the unlimited continues boon that ultimately turns Ikaruga into a vacuous theme park ride devoid of its initial purpose.
While Radiant Silvergun doesn't at all abandon the Ikaruga ethos of being a near impenetrable gauntlet of overwhelming enemy and boss patterns to be decoded with twitch precision, the versatility of its weaponry lend the player a level of expression, freedom and puzzle solving that avoids the pitfalls of its spiritual successor that would constrict you into an eternal scrolling of repeating mistakes and hardships that deplete all your lives in the same recurring manner. Added to that, the Story Mode provides a clever compromise over an unlimited continues system that has the difficulty scaling towards you in unison, giving the illusion of progress and personal improvement instead of feeling like outright cheating.
But Arcade Mode is of course where Radiant Silvergun truly shines. Unlike the immediacy of other shmups where the road to success mostly lies in the ability to dodge and shoot everything, mastering the color chain scoring is a requirement you will be forced to engage with in order to level up your weapons and diminish the chances of imminent death, a prospect that finally reveals the link between Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga, in addition to the counter intuitive Destruction scoring where you allow the bosses to last longer and strike harder for a chance at a higher score.
Treasure have a natural talent for taking any genre and making it their own, and Radiant Silvergun is no exception. The unique mechanics and challenge of Radiant Silvergun are accompanied by an ever crescending orchestral bombastic soundtrack and beautifully 32bit backgrounds that elevate the scope and portentousness of its exhausting and rewarding apocalypse to a league beyond most shmups, allowing the noobest of noobs like me to feel fullfillment with the completion of Easy Mode.
While Radiant Silvergun doesn't at all abandon the Ikaruga ethos of being a near impenetrable gauntlet of overwhelming enemy and boss patterns to be decoded with twitch precision, the versatility of its weaponry lend the player a level of expression, freedom and puzzle solving that avoids the pitfalls of its spiritual successor that would constrict you into an eternal scrolling of repeating mistakes and hardships that deplete all your lives in the same recurring manner. Added to that, the Story Mode provides a clever compromise over an unlimited continues system that has the difficulty scaling towards you in unison, giving the illusion of progress and personal improvement instead of feeling like outright cheating.
But Arcade Mode is of course where Radiant Silvergun truly shines. Unlike the immediacy of other shmups where the road to success mostly lies in the ability to dodge and shoot everything, mastering the color chain scoring is a requirement you will be forced to engage with in order to level up your weapons and diminish the chances of imminent death, a prospect that finally reveals the link between Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga, in addition to the counter intuitive Destruction scoring where you allow the bosses to last longer and strike harder for a chance at a higher score.
Treasure have a natural talent for taking any genre and making it their own, and Radiant Silvergun is no exception. The unique mechanics and challenge of Radiant Silvergun are accompanied by an ever crescending orchestral bombastic soundtrack and beautifully 32bit backgrounds that elevate the scope and portentousness of its exhausting and rewarding apocalypse to a league beyond most shmups, allowing the noobest of noobs like me to feel fullfillment with the completion of Easy Mode.