He is Shinra, the lone survivor of a ravaged people.

He must battle fiercely, 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.

One of the many ways that Ikaruga sets itself apart from other arcade shooters is that both you and your enemy have use of two polarities: you can both fire Black bullets and White bullets,which come from corresponding black ships and white ships. With this scenario, you can do more than just dodge enemy fire - you can actually absorb bullets that are the same color as your ship. In fact, doing so adds power to your assault. This concept - the ability to absorb enemy fire - separates Ikaruga from other conventional shooting games and requires new levels of strategy and ability.

As you absorb enemy bullets, the Energy Release Power Gauge gains power - ten absorbed enemy bullets result in one increment of power. Once you have accumulated enough energy in the Power Gauge, you can fire an Energy Release, a massive homing laser 10 times more powerful than a normal bullet. You can store enough power for up to 12 lasers at one time.

Activating the Energy Release at the right time can help players sneak out of sticky situations that might be otherwise impossible to escape. It can clear trouble out of the way... but only temporarily.