The first thing that came to my mind when I played Iji was that it felt almost like a 2D version of System Shock 2. The setting, story, gameplay, and style are all different, but for some reason they just feel similar. And that’s definitely a good thing.

The creator of the game, Daniel Remar, had obvious inspirations for this game besides System Shock 2. Players familiar with Out of This World will recognize the similarities between the two games in the graphics, gameplay, and somewhat in the storytelling. Unfortunately, the graphics aren’t as good and the animations aren’t as smooth as they are in Out of This World. Thankfully, the gameplay makes up for the shortcomings in the presentation.

Most of the basic gameplay is pretty straightforward. Shoot, dodge, shoot, dodge, and so on. The main draw of the game is the variety of ways that it allows you to play, which is also one of the similarities to System Shock 2. The leveling up structure in the game lets you upgrade your character and play the way you want. If you like action games, you can choose to be a powerhouse and be able to use any sort of weapon that you could find. If you like to take the sneaking route, you could choose to level up your hacking skills to gain access to different paths in the game and the ability to get one hit kills on enemies.

Don’t be put off by the presentation, this is a solid game. When I first heard about it, I didn’t give it a second thought because I didn’t like the graphics. However, when it was released a few day ago, I decided to try it out and played it for an hour straight and only stopped because I had class to go to. Definitely worth the download.

Daniel Remar’s Website

Iji Download