Ikaruga

As pilot Shinra, players must battle their way through 18 stages, move swiftly and act rationally in a new war, a space crusade of frighteningly intense firepower and hypnotic beauty. Take control of the ship Ikaruga -- alter your energy field, evade epic maelstroms of fire and terminate enemies with a nearly limitless arsenal -- all to protect an aging, exiled people. Find calm amid the chaos and reap the rewards, in this perfect combination of beautiful, manga-style storytelling and refined, ultra-challenging arcade heroics. Developed by Treasure, Ikaruga is quick-paced shooter with strong strategy elements. Features a slow-mo training mode and co-op play for two.

A must get game.

That's what I see most of the time when I play this game, along with the words level 1. I can't seem to be on par with the difficulty of this game.

Ikaruga is a top-done shooter which you the player control a ship. The ship can change into black and white colors, which allow you to absorb same-colored projectiles. As you absorb the blasts, your special meter grows. Depending on how high this meter grows, when released, it will shoot homing lasers that are strong accordingly.

You will dodge walls, other ships, boxes, doors as well as lasers. Get to the end of each of the 5 levels and beat each boss to win. And that's Ikaruga in a nutshell.

There is a two player mode, but my experiences with this haven't been too great. Your partner, if new, will die more than you, which will drain lives, which is conveniently shared. Then it will be like repeating how you experienced the game-playing level 1 tons of times with a billion death counts.

The music seems intense and dramatic as well as fast. The same backgrounds scroll repeatedly as you play. Enemy AI uses the same patterns of movement and shooting, so it's the matter for you to exploit their weakness.

1 means I didn't like it. 10 means I liked it.