Iridion 2 (1 Viewer)

[JamesH]

Has anyone picked this up yet? I know the first Iridion wasn't exactly amazing except for the graphics, but the second supposedly has a lot of improvements. It keeps the same great graphic style as the first, but switches to a superior top down perspective. I saw it in the latest Play and it caught my eye, and the people on gamefaqs seem to have some positive impressions, so I thought I'd see if anyone here has it yet.

The other reason I mention Iridion 2 is that it is apparantly having a very limited release and is available at ToysRUS for $14.99. Not bad for what looks like a very cool shooter.

 

[JamesH]

I went ahead and picked it up today, and I can easily say that it's highly recommended. If you're a fan of 2-D shooters, or you just need a shooter to round out your GBA collection, this is an excellent game. The game has 16 good sized levels with 2 bosses each, and I've done the first 6.

Graphics- 11/10: This is easily the best looking GBA game. It uses the same style of FMV backgrounds as the first, but they're much more impressive and there are various obstacles thrown in to break up the repetition. Really, it's worth owning just to look at, as the amazing 2-D trickery pulled off here gives it a look better than PS1 and N64 games.

Gameplay- 8.5/10: It appears to be a very solid length for a shooter, and the bosses, shot patterns, and enemies are well designed. You can choose 6 different weapons, each of which can be powered up 3 times. You also have access to 2 drones which you can position around your ship. It also has smart bombs, although they seem to do a bit too much damage to bosses on the lowest difficulty(I haven't tried higher). The weapons are OK, but nothing amazing, which I think is the only real problem with this game.

Music- 6.5/10: Blah. Should have gone with heavy metal, I hope the style changes later on.


Overall, I'd say you'd be doing yourself a service by picking this game up for the mere $14.99 TRU sells it for, even if it's just for the graphical tech demo it provides.

 

[Jason Borchers]

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