R-Type DX

"Fun for a bit, but the cropped view area chokes the fun some."

Opener:

Brought out of the shadows and into the light back in 1987 from Irem was at the time a little known shooter known as R-Type. Little did Irem know that it would have grown into a large series with a great amount of followers much like Konami's Gradius series of shooters. R-Type is your standard side scrolling shooter game but with some interesting twists. In this game you are a lone pilot fighting to free Earth from the grips of the evil Bydo Empire. Though the game is titled R-Type DX, you are actually getting two games, with two black & white variants, and then the DX version with the two games in one. R-Type DX consists of both R-Type 1 and R-Type 2 which appeared on various platforms such as the Gameboy and TG16 home console on both HuCard and CD.

Graphics
The graphics for this title are surely a mixed bag at best in my opinion. In some respects what is on screen is very well colored and highly detailed, while other things are pretty bland at best. Mainly the backgrounds and boss characters fall into the pretty category, while the rest of the things on the screen fall under pretty bland. From the pictures supplied below you can see that there was great attention to detail for the level design, and very much so for the boss. As you are attacked by that ugly thing many portions of it wiggle around and take shots at you. In the other picture supplied though you can see that your ship, as well as the enemy are not very detailed or colored in really well. Overall I'd call it a better than average effort, but not by far. And the fact that you get on screnn vanishing and flicker at some times when your lasers and the enemy fills the screen, it can get annoying.

Rating: 3.0

Sound
The sound for this shooter though is a place that this game I feel excels in quite nicely. Both the sound effect and the musical scores really help to draw you into the game as they should. The sound effects sound much like they did in the other home versions of the game which is great. The music which seems like a tech-like rock mix sounds very nice and suits the levels quite well. On the sound effects you get your typical mid-late 80's type sound effects. There are the beeps, gunfire, laser, explosion effects and more. Sadly though most the sound effects are based off of the stuff your craft throws out at the enemy which is a shame. A lot of the attacks that the enemy craft choose to use are silent which made not a lot of sense to me.

Rating: 3.5

Theme & Fun
The theme of this shooter is much like most of them around. You are a lone fighter against an enemy that threatens, or has already taken over your home base or world(s). In R-Type that is what you exactly get from the Bydo Empire that has taken over Earth. This game is not extremely fun in my opinion as it tends to be way to harsh on the player. I had not really had a problem with the game on other versions, but the Gameboy Color game I somewhat dislike. If you have a high tolerance for setbacks and being blown out of the water then this game could be fun to you. If you are new to the R-Type series I'd tell you to rent it or try out a friends copy first.

Rating: 2.5

Play Control
The play control for R-Type is pretty well done for what can be managed for a side scrolling shooter. You can move your craft in any direction on the small screen without any problems. Avaliable to you are a few methods to do some damage which you will need. Beyond the standard pea shooter you have it the ability to charge it up for a more devastating energy blast that can tear through many small craft in its path. The beauty of the game comes from its added weapons system which is a floating pod. This pod can come in many different weapon varities. Each type can give you a different type of lazer beam which can for instance as below bounce off the walls diagonally, or another that can follow the walls and destroy anything in their path. A nice added feature to the pod is the ability to throw it forward and latch it onto the front or back of your craft, or lodge it in a boss to destroy it. The pod can also be used as a minor shield to stop small shots, sadly this is the only shield you get in the game. Along the way you will also be able to find other typical power-ups such as the "speed up" option, or a pod that can be latched onto your craft for added attacking power.

Rating: 3.5

Challenge
The challenge of this game is nothing short of a nightmare. The game on its own is quite a challenge, much like Capcom's unforgiving Ghosts 'N Goblins. The added problem here is that graphics were NOT scaled to the Gamboy screen. So, what you are left with is much shorter of a viewing distance which makes response time very little. Often you will find lots of shots heading at you, or a quick wall appear in a maze of beams and you won't have time to avoid them at all. Fortunatley the game saves itself just a little bit with its continue feature and its battery backup as well. If you run out of lives you can pick up at waypoints again in the levels. If you finish a level, the game will remember and you can start from where you left off by accessing the games option menu. Overall, this game is way too hard due to its crammed viewing area. I was pretty decent with the arcade and TG16 versions of the game, but can't get passed level 4 or 5 out of like 15+ levels on the Gameboy's DX version due to the small viewing area so this gets a full score on challenge.

Rating: 5.0

Replay Value and Closing Notes:
As I led into it with my commentary above, this game is downright hard as nails. If you have a high tolerance for pain, and can forgive the game for its short comings because of its saving features this game could be for you. If you are new to R-Type or an old fan you will find this game to have a lot of replay value as the difficulty is even harder on the small screen. If you get angry easily though, you won't want to replay this, but take it back to where you bought it, or sell it to someone else.

While I am a fan of the R-Type series and have the first three games, this one did not appeal to me much at all. At first I was happy until I started to suffer from the lack of the viewing area coupled with the large graphics. The game could have been great if the graphics were scaled down like Konami's two Gradius games on the old black and white Gameboy. Sadly the game wasn't. :(

Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/23/04