Iridion II

If you rate it by modern standards, it would probably be a 3 or 4, but if you rate it for what it is—a game that was originally released on and programmed for the GBA—then it's easily a 4.5. Gameplay-wise, it is quite limited. You get a pretty big arsenal of slightly different weapons, but that's about it. The gameplay isn't bad, but I believe it was originally developed for a much younger audience, which is why it's a bit dialed down. The graphics are really good for a GBA game. No complaints there. The "3D effect" of the background was really impressive when I first played it on the GBA. What I love most about Iridion 2 and Iridion 3D is the soundtrack. Now, the overall audio is obviously not very good, but I was always really impressed with what they got out of the GBA's audio capabilities with this soundtrack. I really hope there will be a way to purchase a physical version of the soundtrack in the future. Now, if you're not going to buy the game because, let's be honest, €10.79 is a very big price tag for a 20-year-old GBA shoot 'em up, you at least have to listen to the soundtrack—or better yet, the Perfect Selection by Manfred Linzner.

The game itself plays as an old game is expected to play, it's ok. But there are NO SETTINGS of any kind, literally nothing. No AA, no Audio setting, no visual settings, Nothing. You cant even resize the screen at all, so it's Full Screen or Full Screen. You can't even end the game or close it!! you have to crash the game to exit, so you have to go to windows Taskbar or Task manager then crash it!! that's just beyond lazy and bad. So as much as I want to promote this game, I just can't recommend it at all in this state.