Geekatana Game Review: R-Type Final

Me and R-Type games has a sort of this complicatedly deep love and hate relationship over the years since I first played it at the arcade many years back. Love cause its probably one of the best shooters out there and hate cause let's face it I really suck at shmups. Blame it on clumsy fingers or whatever I've been there and it's enough to almost make me cry. I think I've beaten most of the R-Type games at least thrice.

So you kind of know how much it pains me to do a review of R-Type Final for the PS2 knowing that this would be the last shmups of the franchise ever. A fun roller-coaster ride of a game. But I guess all good rides have to end sometime.

R-Type started out back in 1987 with the first game being released for the arcade. It has spawned sequels in the form of R-Type II and R-Type Leo among other things. There's even R-Type Delta for the PS1. And yes I have played and finished most of these games save for the XBox version at least once or thrice.

Released in 2002 R-Type Final like its other predecessor is a horizontal shooter made by Irem a company also known for games like Dragon Breed and Undercover Cop. The game pits you in control of a space ship who is out to protect humanity from the mysterious alien entity called the "Bydo."

The game difficulty is hard and forces player to think on their feet at all times while dodging a rain of projectiles. What sets this game apart from most other shooters is its use of an auxiliary device that gives player a lot of attack and defensive option on the fly and switching between these attack options if key to a players success. The game is praised for its huge bosses and game design.

Sadly after playing much of the R-Type games I can say that R-Type Final is probably the weakest game in term of difficulty specially when you consider that this is the latest R-Type title released by Irem for this shooter. It's not a problem if your new to the franchise but if you got your fair share of R-Type experience under your belt you will notice the difference.

Is it a bad game? No. In fact I think R-Type Final has two of the best game stages in the history of the franchise namely Stages 2 and Stage 5 where you can change the layout of said stage on the consequent play through depending on how you hit the red and blue parts of those stages bosses.

Hitting the Red makes said stage hotter from a tropical to a desert. Hitting the Blue makes the stages cooler from a lake, underwater or an ice stage. The added option is genius and should have been applied on all the other stages in this game and not just those two said stages.

What sets R-Type Final above its previous titles is its great number of ships you can unlocked which is around 101 playable ships in total. You unlock them either through a branching system. Ships from previous R-Type titles both playable and ship prototype are unlockable in this game. Each ship has different attack patterns, customization and certain ships can access the most hidden stages in the game so unlocking everything is key to getting the full experience.

Regrettably the pros are also the cons however as the number of ships in R-Type Final make the game way, way too long for a lot of folks save for the really hardcore R-Type players. I for one is still playing the game as I write this review and still only managed to unlock 31 of these ships.

R-Type Final also manages to tie up the loose ends that the previous R-Type titles left on a cliffhanger...namely the ending of R-Type Delta and the origins of the Bydo menace. There's thankfully also a wide difficulty setting for even the most timid of newcomers to easily get into the game.

As a whole R-Type Final is a decent game for fans of the franchise and a good game to get into for beginners as well. Hardcore fans and those that want a more challenging R-Type game would probably play the previous R-Type titles before this. A very high recommendation for shmup fans as this game has something good to offer be it your new or a long time fan of the franchise.