[11/08/04] R-Type Final

[darkmage479]

Game: R-Type Final

System: PS2

Emulators: None yet

 

Review by: DarkMage 479

Screenshots from Eidos Interactive and IGN PS2

 

 

There are those who say that the video-game industry is in decline. Just as the film industry slid quickly from art to commercialism, so too have we gone from design triumphs such as Strider and F-Zero to thug-life and rehashed sports simulations. Games done for gamers, for the sake of gaming, are becoming few and far between. But, if no other old-school games were ever to be pressed to a CD, R-Type Final is a fitting last hurrah.

 

R-Type Final is the last direct descendant of Irem's 1989 arcade hit R-Type, which touched off the modern 2D shooter genre. Besides its excellent graphics, control, and enormous bosses, the game introduced a chargeable, multi-stage power-up system which used the unique Force concept. The Force was a metal ball that could attach to the front or back of your ship. It added to your firepower and absorbed enemy shots. The Force could also be detached and controlled independently, with its own firing system. This was a lot for players to keep track of, but the concept was executed brilliantly. Soon a whole host of competitors were flooding the arcades, but Irem managed to remain a step ahead with consistent improvements to the series:

 

R-Type (1989)

R-Type II (1991)

Gallop: Armed Police Unit (1991)

Super R-Type (1992)

R-Type Leo (1992)

R-Type III: Third Lightning (1993)

R-Type S (1997)

R-Type Delta (1998)

 

Now, with the original Irem development team disbanding, publisher Eidos took it upon themselves to release the last R-Type game in 2004.

 

 

R-TYPE FINAL

 

First and foremost: R-Type Final is a side-scrolling shooter from the 'methodical' school of shooter design. (Think of a sliding scale from 'Methodical' to 'Frantic', with Gradius at the methodical end, Mars Matrix the frantic end, and Ikaruga right about in the middle.) The pace is never too fast and the screen is never too flooded with bullets, but it will tax your brain and your thumbs as you maneouver your fighter and Force through tight spaces at the same time.

 

 

Graphics and Sound:

Though the action is 2D, R-Type Final's graphics are fully 3D. The ships and enemies are often quite small but clean and well-detailed, and weapons fire has some cool reflection and transparency effects. Backgrounds are varied, but never enough to interfere with your view of the action. Later stages even have water distortion, polygon stretching and grain filter effects. The designers went for a clean futuristic look, with angular ships and brightly colored weapon and Force visuals. Although the camera sometimes rotates to give an angled or top-down view of your ship, the action always scrolls left to right.

 

 

The sound is probably the weakest element of this game. The use of full orchestral scores lends some atmosphere, but the developers couldn't decide whether they wanted a soundtrack or an ambience. Some stages have little or no music at all, while other stages have slow tracks unfitting for a shooter. The sound effects, including weapons and explosions, are good but get old quickly, as you will be hearing a lot of them (and they're accentuated by the stark background music). High points are the introduction and boss battle tracks, which return to the defined techno beats that made R-Type III (SNES) the series' audio high point. Overall a good presentation with room for improvement, but real gamers don't play 2D shooters for the graphics.

 

 

Gameplay and Control:

Irem has lost none of their magic since the original R-Type. R-Type Final is beautifully balanced, with engaging levels and tons of replay value. It's pretty simple: You fly the ship, using three button functions - Shoot, Detach, and Overdose. Every ship has the normal shot and a unique Wave Cannon, which is charged by holding down Shoot. Some wave cannons have multiple charge levels while others act in conjunction with Bits or Forces. You obtain the Force through collecting red, blue, or yellow power crystals. Each crystal makes different attacks with two levels each. Knowing your Force and selsecting the right power-up for a stage section is crucial. (On the higher difficulties, you lose your Force when you die and have to start collecting crystals again, adding a new level of challenge.) Finally, collecting secondary powerups gives you a missile (homing, vertical, forward, downward etc.) and Bit attack. Bits orbit about your ship and protect against enemy shots or supply secondary fire. Each ship can be customized with different Missile and Bit types but these can not be changed mid-game. Still, it gives you the feeling that you are influencing the outcome and makes a death nobody's fault but your own.

 

The key concept of the Force plays a role in the Detach and Overdoes commands. When you have a force, pressing Detach causes it to shoot away from your ship. Each force has a unique control pattern and attack when detached. Careful maneovering of the force to attack and absorb shots is key to progressing in the game. For every shot you absorb, the Force also fills up a Dose meter, which, when full, allows for a screen-clearing super attack which shows off cool graphical effects and adds a new layer to the game's challenge. You can also adjust your ship's speed on the fly for tight maneovering or dodging. All functions are remarkably intuitive and leave you to think only about dodging, shooting, and surviving. Responsive control has always been a hallmark of the R-Type series and this is the best by far. There's always an exit to every near-death situation, but it's up to you to see it and act in time.

 

 

the game itself is the tried-and-true shooter concept: dodge, survive, and shoot everything. R-Type Final is composed of a 7-stage progression, with 16 total stages that will take you at least 5 play-throughs to experience. (Actions in early stages will affect how the game progresses later on.) Each stage has different enemies and is preceded by a short epitah that shows great close-ups of your ship and keeps an ongoing tally of your score. Progress strikes the perfect blend of trial-and-error and twitch skills, is always exciting and never tedious (unlike R-Type III, which I'm sure caused the premature deaths of a few Super Nintendos following controller-throwing, curse-screaming incedents), and will give you a rewarding feeling when you finally make it through a whole stage without continuing or using a new ship. Five difficulty levels make the game accessible to newbies, although shooter vets will encounter trouble with R-Typer mode (difficult but made bearable by non-default but easily unlockable unlimited continues). You'll be playing this game long after you clear R-Typer (my game clock is at 40 hours) to make use of this game's best feature: the R-Museum Ship Gallery.

 

 

R-Type Final has 101 playable ships, each with a unique design and weapon set. Each ship can be further customized through the choice of Missiles, Bits and in some cases Forces and Wave Cannons. You start with three ships, and the rest are unlockable through simple play time, clearing certain stages, or playing with a certain ship model. You'll want to keep playing to see the next designs that offer you increased firepower. It will take at least 30 hours to unlock them all. Ship designs are varied and range from the standard R-9A to long-range support (R-9DH) close range, high damage (R-9DP), defensive models (TL-2), high-speed (R-11S) morphing ships (OF-1), and ultimate craft like the R-90/2 and R-100. It will take you at least 30 hours to unlock them all, and they are all unique. The is the game's best feature - a reward for persistent, old-school, brain-taxing action. Also unlockable are galleries of CG images and a database of enemies, Forces, Wave Cannons, and other devices. A stage attack mode is included, as well as a cool AI minigame that lets you set up a ship vs. ship battle and watch the CPU play it out in 3D. All these are fun and rewarding, as the urge to unlock that next ship or see the next stage will steal hours of your life if you let it.

 

 

R-Type Final will be a classic. It offers challenge, replay, and beautiful design all rolled together. Take a stance against the death of old-school gaming and pick this gem up right now. Blast off and strike the Bydo Empire where it hurts!

 

Control: 9.5/10

Gameplay: 9.5/10

Graphics: 8/10

Sound: 6/10

 

This game is deserving of an 8.25/10 and a definite .

 

 

[Gryph]

Very nice review. The R-type games are probably my favorite in this genre. Pure old school fun. I'll be sure to give this a shot whenever I get a PS2.

[Diso]

R-Type lives up to its fame. good review

[Agozer]

Thanks for the good review, it's a pity that I haven't been playing this in a while. Need to slam it in to the PS2 again.

[Daeval]

I'm not a huge shooter fan (mostly because I've always sucked at them for some reason), but this review was excellent.

 

You:

- Included just enough history to warm things up without waxing irrelevant.

- Made it clear that we were looking at a niche game, and where your stance was on that. It's important to know where the reviewer is coming from: is he a fan of the genre or is this his first experience with this style?

- Had no overbearing opinions. The other side of the previous coin: can the reviewer enjoy the genre and remain objective? You established this balance nicely.

- Were extremely informative exactly where it counts: the various aspects of the gameplay experience. Not just the usual graphics and sound, but down to the "'Methodical' vs 'Frantic'" shooter scale. To top it off, you kept all this information very concise.

 

Easily one of the best user-reviews I've read anywhere, and more informative than most proffessional reviews. Keep it up!

[Agozer]

Thee to inifinte cheers for IREM and R-Type. sadly, no more R-Types in the horizon, as this is the Final.

 

But, like it was said, this game is challenging and rewarding at the same time and me, who usually gets very frustrated at games that require inhuman reflexes of precise timing, haven't gotten frustrated yet with this gem.

 

Awesomeness to 104%++.

[darkmage479]

I'm not a huge shooter fan (mostly because I've always sucked at them for some reason), but this review was excellent.

 

You:

- Included just enough history to warm things up without waxing irrelevant.

- Made it clear that we were looking at a niche game, and where your stance was on that. It's important to know where the reviewer is coming from: is he a fan of the genre or is this his first experience with this style?

- Had no overbearing opinions. The other side of the previous coin: can the reviewer enjoy the genre and remain objective? You established this balance nicely.

- Were extremely informative exactly where it counts: the various aspects of the gameplay experience. Not just the usual graphics and sound, but down to the "'Methodical' vs 'Frantic'" shooter scale. To top it off, you kept all this information very concise.

 

Easily one of the best user-reviews I've read anywhere, and more informative than most proffessional reviews. Keep it up!

 

Thanks daeval. I really appreciate the kind words. Nice to know someone appreciates my several hours of hard work when i could have been getting better grades in Physics

 

I'm planning to review Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner (ZOE: Anubis outside of the U.S.) in a little while, but if anyone's got any suggestions (especially emulatable games) i'd be more than happy to do a review.

 

Again, thanks for your compliments.

[Agozer]

Plase do review Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner. That game rocks in my book. Also, do a review on SSX3 or SSX Tricky.

 

Dark Chronicle (Dark Cloud 2) would also be nice.

[OverlordMondo]

Game looks great. I think there's a used copy at Gamestop, I might just have to pick it up.