R-Type III: The Third Lightning

"Just shooting blanks..."

Earlier this year, I took an inventory on my GBA collection. I had tons of RPGs and adventures, most of the fighting games, almost all of the tactics games. But I noticed a particularly large hole where the shooting games should be. Over the course of a few months, I made a point of seeking out every shooter available for the GBA. After some effort, I found the few obscure GBA games that made up the genre. Just as I thought I had found them all, R-Type III was released. I picked it up without hesitation, hoping to finally round out my collection for good and have some fun with a good game. After all, what could be better than a completely new game that had been released for only a few weeks? As it turned out, just about any other game could be better than this sorry excuse of a shooter.

And it's not like I didn't give it a chance. I thought I'd give it at least the benefit of the doubt and play it through completely. Sadly, this game starts off awkwardly and never regains its composure. The game creators attempted to save face by giving the game some sort of plot, but it's still generic and has absolutely no impact on the gameplay itself. Basically, the evil Bydo regime has resurrected from an earlier defeat. Bringing all sorts of new weaponry to the warfront, the sinister aliens are determined to take out the human race. As a captain of the R-series vessels, it's your duty to take out the evil forces with the R-90, the most advanced ship in the R-Series fleet. Now, this is all well and good, but you won't get any sort of explanation when you turn on the game. Instead of any form of introduction, we are immediately thrust into a menu to choose our Force Laser power ups. Also, the menu screen looks like you're flying in Millennium Falcon hyperspace on a bicycle. And as you make your way through the game, there is nothing that really focuses on story development. While the story was lacking to begin with, the attempt to implement it was executed poorly. Maybe you're better off ignoring the story on the back of the box to avoid confusion.

But if there's one glimmer of hope for this game, it's the selection of power ups. You get to choose among three types of lasers for your wake of destruction. Each of these lasers has different weapon capabilities for you to use in combat. Although the default R-90 is essentially a single-shooter fighter, you can grab all sorts of upgrades to make the slaughter a little more entertaining. The type of attacks will depend on what ship you choose and the weapon pickups you find. One ship may specialize in full-range shooting, whereas another model can shoot lasers backwards into passing enemies. Since these power ups are directly attached to your R-90, they can be used as protective shields. And if all else fails, you can toggle between firing regular shots and powering up your laser cannon. With these options combined with a short lineup of weapons at your fingertips, at least you can have some chance of entertainment.

Unfortunately, the fun stops there. It's great that you have a decent variety of weapons to choose from. Just one problem though: The hit detection in this game is horrendous. You can blast a fully charged beam of energy into a cluster of foes, and perhaps only half of the enemy ships will be blasted into smithereens. Sometimes you'll fire off a shot that will miss an enemy entirely, yet be at an incredibly close proximity. And that lack of hit detection doesn't just end with enemies. You can be gliding at a decent distance from an enemy, and then explode when you go a millimeter closer. You can collide with walls even when you're a safe distance away. Also, enemy shots can decimate you or fly past, even when they're fired at the same proximity and trajectory. As you progress through the game, the problem never leaves. As you navigate through the narrow and frustrating corridors, you'll have to deal with an unreliable hit detection system that ails your gameplay more than it helps And since the levels are usually tough to navigate by themselves, chances are you'll likely get a headache from all the random crashes you'll endure.

And while you're trying to blast your way through the Bydo forces, feel free to take a look at what kind of environment you're fighting in. Or should I say, the lack of environment. Sadly, this game seems to have been directly ported from a predecessor on an outdated system. The explosions are only muted flashes of red against the background. The ships look okay, and some of the later enemies have decent detail. The levels didn't get so lucky. You're flying down corridors that lack any real detail, texture, or design. And due to the cruddy hit detection, you'll be forced to watch these bland corridors very carefully lest your ship blow up randomly.

But what ultimately destroys this sad presentation is the strange use of the sound effects. I think that the music designers just grabbed an electric keyboard, plunked around the keys for a few minutes, and then recorded their findings onto the game. The music adds nothing in terms of emotion or appeal. Also, the audio quality of just about everything is mismatched. Since when does a huge explosion sound like a soft thud? Why does your weapon sound like a car alarm when you charge it? I have no clue. But if you even bother playing this game, I'd advise you to turn the volume off. The annoying sound effects will wear on your nerves.

So, where does this leave this shooter gone sour? I think that the low quality is evidence of a rushed development, perhaps a potentially scrapped project that was completed halfheartedly. R-Type III attempts at some sort of story, but it's never implemented in the game. Maybe there's some solace in the fact that you get to choose among various weapons for your crusade against the Bydo Empire. Due to the unreliable hit detection system, substandard graphics, and truly pathetic audio quality, any chance of really fun gameplay may be crushed for good. This game is worth twenty dollars at most game stores right now. Maybe you feel that shelling out that much cash for such a lacking game is worth it. But to be perfectly blunt, this game isn't worth the plastic it's encased in. But hey, that's just my take on it. Unless you're a collector, you might want to look elsewhere for your GBA shooting needs.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/04