R-Type Final

"I Hate Coming Up With Taglines For Reviews, But This Game Rocks."

I'm a very impulsive person when it comes to purchasing things. I often find myself completely broke because I've randomly bought a new video game or DVD on a whim. I can look at most of my video game library and point out which games were bought due to my really wanting the game and which ones I bought because I thought to myself, ''I feel like randomly spending money, and this looks decent.'' Many times, the impulses don't exactly work out, and a game I buy sits on my shelf for most of the time. However, R-Type Final is a prime example of how my impulses occasionally work rather well.

I was always a fan of the Gradius games, and of the R-Type games, only played Super R-Type. When I heard that R-Type Final was out, I considered buying it, but wanted to try it first. However, due to rave reviews from my friend, s0nlxaftrsh0ck (Ron = Yay), as well as a nice low MSRP of $29.99, I picked this title up, as usual, on an impulse. I popped it in when I got home, and was blown away.

GAMEPLAY: This game is, without a doubt, one of the most fun games I've played in a while. Many of the games I own will keep me occupied for a little while before I go and do something else. This is one of the few that I constantly want to play, and will spend hours doing so. When I saw that the game only had 7 levels, I wasn't sure if it would be able to keep my interest, but nevertheless, despite having beaten it on each difficulty, I continue to go back and play through it again and again. The gameplay is pretty simple, but beautiful in its simplicity: You're a spaceship pilot. You fly through space, destroying the Bydo throughout seven levels. Your ship employs the use of a Force Pod (Made from Bydo technology, ironically) which can attach to and detach from your ship, acting as a shield against small fire and an enhanced laser weapon while attacked, and a spread gun and rammer when detached. Each ship also has its own Wave Cannon, which can be charged to different levels depending on the ship, and a Smart Bomb to take out everything on the screen. The story is also deceptively deep. At first, you're just gonna think, ''I fly, shoot thing, get win, me good,'' but when you really pay attention to the levels, introductory quotes before the levels, enemy descriptions in the Bydo Lab, and endings, you'll see that it's actually not as simple as it lets on. I'm not gonna spoil anything for you, just trust me on this.

CONTROLS: The controls are very simple. The D-pad or left analog stick moves your ship. R1 or the circle button is your regular rapid-fire weapon, which is partnered with missiles, shots from your Force Pod, and extra shots from your Bits (Small pods that fly above and below your ship when you pick up the correct powerups). The square button charges your Wave Cannon. X attaches and detaches your Force Pod, triangle sets off the Smart Bomb when your gauge is full, and L1 and L2 change the speed of your ship. It may sound a tiny bit complicated, but once you start playing, it's second nature.

DIFFICULTY: Ahh, difficulty. From what I've heard (Since I've only played one R-Type game), the R-Type series is notorious for its difficulty. This game certainly gets difficult at times, especially on the hardest difficulty setting (Hold on, I'll be right back, I have to go accept an award for ''Most Obvious Observation''). For a while, I had quite a bit of trouble even defeating the boss of the third level. This game isn't for people who get frustrated easily, but honestly, is ANY shmup a game for people who get frustrated easily? I can't count how many times I've cursed at the damned speed level in Gradius III.

GRAPHICS: Wow. The best graphics I've ever seen in a shmup. The ships are wonderfully detailed (Especially when you're viewing them in the R Museum), the levels are nicely done, and the enemies look nice too. The beam effects are also very nice, and the smart bombs are a visual spectacle.

SOUND: I never really paid much attention to the sound, but I liked what I heard. The credits theme seemed a tiny bit out of place, but it was alright.

REPLAYABILITY: This is the game's true shining point. As I mentioned before, there are only 7 basic levels, and 5 difficulty settings. However, there are a total of 101 ships to unlock, with 80 different Force Pods and many different Wave Cannons. In addition to this, a few of the levels have variants that you can only get by playing through a certain way, and there are 3 vastly different endings to see. I keep playing the game to get all the ships, and although it seems like a bit of a hassle to get some of them (I wanted to unlock #69 to get a stage variant I haven't gotten yet, and looking on the Ship Unlocking FAQ, I realized that I had to unlock about 6 or so more ships in order before it), it's worth it. Even if you don't want to collect all the ships (Why wouldn't you?), it's fun to just play through the game again and again. In addition, the Vs. AI mode, where you pit your AI controlled ships against each other or play as one of your ships against a series of AI ships, adds even more fun to the game, as you can test yourself against other ships you've used that, thanks to the AI editing function, can be set to battle however you want.

FINAL ANALYSIS: Buy this game. It's inexpensive and it's fun as all hell. You're pretty much guaranteed to get enjoyment out of this.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/08/04