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The Lowdown
Pros: Nostalgic gameplay, many ships to choose from, fluid graphics,
tight controls
Cons: Nothing new, atmospheric dead noise for music, lots of
frustration
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
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If you can think back to
your early gaming days you may remember the word shooter didn't mean
holding a gun in first person view, but instead it meant blasting down
alien invaders in some slick looking space ship. The space style shooter
took a quiet break back in the era of PS1 and N64, but recently has been
making a come back with Gradius 5, Ikaruga and now R-Type Final.
R-Type under went an evolution after its lackluster PSX R-Type Delta. The
familiar elements of R-Type like pods, giant bosses and little robots that
conveniently carry power ups (seriously what evil force would have those
floating around.....?) are all present. One of the main differences is in
the amount of ship customization. You start the game off with three ships.
The first is the standard R-type ship, the Arrowhead, you've come to know
and love. The ship is equipped with a long range beam attack as its charge
weapon, bombs and the wave laser. The Andromalius has a short range
lightning cannon, when charged up releases a blast of energy. The final
ship you start with is the Shooting Star, when charged this ship can
release a high energy beam that shoots for about 2 seconds. This ship also
comes packing with mirror lasers as a power up. This is just scratching
the surface because the game boasts a whopping 99 ships inside. Wow...that
is a lot of different ways to play through the game. Top this up with the
ability to choose which pod you want and even the color of the ship and
you've got a whole separate mini game.
After you decide which ship you want to pilot to enter the realm of the
Bydo Empire, you'll immediately notice the graphics and your jaw will
drop. They're crisp 3D graphics that have an organic feel to them. The
first level gives you an example of what to expect, and then by the time
you see the second level you'll be completely blown away. Little details
like water ripples when your ship is touching the water to the way the sun
reflects off your ship are all noticeable. You can see for yourself in the
screen shots.
The gameplay is similar to any old school shooter. The ship is on
"rails" where all you can control is your placement on the screen, but
R-Type Final does a good job with this by shifting camera angles and your
direction in the world. If you've played Einhander you probably know what
I'm talking about if you haven't you'll be in for a pleasant surprise. The
action is nonstop once you start, enemies are constantly attacking you and
you'll have to move around to avoid shots or be dead. Even though this is
the future they don't seem to build ships very well since one stray bullet
and its game over. Thankfully you have a two spare ships for every
continue and the ability to switch ships during a continue. Even though
you could beat the game with any ship, which is a number of different
challenges in itself, you'll quickly realize that some ships have an
advantage over other ones. For instance in the second stage there is a
narrow passage way. The Andromalius has a charge attack that causes a
sphere of energy that destroys all enemies around you, which is extremely
effective in the narrow passageway. Other ships will have to focus on
dodging bullets and attacking in a tight area, while the Andromalius is
invincible. The lesson here is if there is an area too hard to pass, try
switching your ship you may be surprised by the results.
As with any shooting game you will need tight responsive controls and
R-type Final shines in this department. Navigation with the D-Pad is quick
and responsive, you can even switch the speed of your ship up or down by
pressing the L1 and L2 buttons. Square serves as attack and charge and
circle allows you to shoot your pod out to attack enemies. Even though
control is responsive slowdown does plague the game in some areas where
there are either a lot of ships or a lot of bullets on screen. This is
something that most shooting fans are used to, but it probably will
frustrate younger gamers.
Frustration is probably the most annoying part of the game, even on the
easiest level the game is still tough compared to many of the other games
out there. While this may not be as hard as the original R-Type or even
Super R-Type (R-Type III) for the Super Nintendo it suffers from a similar
degree of frustration. Most people won't like the "one shot you're dead"
game play. Granted your pod can take shots for you, but if a shot hits the
main ship its over. Older gamers are used to this level of challenge while
younger ones are used to some type some type of life bar or at least a
second hit. The game's longevity is based pretty much on this frustration.
You're either going to keep coming back to tackle this beast or you're
going to throw the game out of the window in disgust.
The sound is a mixed bag, the audio pretty much contains ambient
sounds, which goes with the organic feel of the game. However, a pulse
pounding sound track would have made the game feel much more energetic.
The sound effects are awesome, the explosions are loud the lasers sound
like well... lasers.
Import Friendly?
Well its a shooter, you press buttons and fire stuff at aliens. Doesn't
need much more explaining that that. However, the secrets and story (which
is pretty basic anyway) are in Japanese or Korean depending on which
version you get. Overall, if you're a fan of R-Type or have played any
shooter before you should have no
trouble jumping into this game.
US Bound?
Eidos' Fresh Games label has announced that they will pick up
R-type Final as one of their games. A January 2004 release date is slated.
Overall
Fans of old school shooters should rejoice. This game is awesome,
there's no doubt about that. However, it doesn't have as much shelf life
as many other games unless you're up for the challenge of unlocking all
the ships.
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