R-Type is a classic 2-D side scrolling shooter series that was super popular in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  While these kinds of games were a dime a dozen back then, R-Type stood out with its detailed graphics (at the time), and unique power-up system.  In fact, many consoles back then that had a home port of R-Type would show it off in commercials to demonstrate the power of their system, like the SEGA Master System and Turbo Grafix-16.  Many, many years and sequels later, game maker Irem, creator of R-Type, would release one last game in the series called R-Type Final on the PS2.  Of course it really wasn’t the last in the series, as I do believe they also made a strategy game spin-off.  And even though Irem is sadly no longer in business, R-Type lives on with R-Type Final 2, a sequel nearly 20 years after the last one.  It’s available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

Even though the game uses crisp 3-D graphics, the gameplay still remains the same.  Pilot your ship in 2-D sidescrolling fashion, shooting everything that moves.  You can change your speed with the L1 and L2 buttons, as well as use charged shots or rapid fire.  Soon after you start, you’ll get the game series trademark orb, which you can attach to the front or the rear of your ship to shoot in front or behind you.  You can also separate it and it’ll fire on its own.  If you have it attached and collect a power-up, you can fire powerful weapons like reflecting lasers and circle shots.  There are also missiles and bits, too.  It’s all familiar territory to R-Type fans.  I’m glad that your ship doesn’t get destroyed by touching walls in this one, as the 3-D graphics can make it hard to tell what you can and can’t hit, but you still die in one hit if you collide with a bullet or enemy ship.  Then you start at the last checkpoint with all your power-ups gone, so it’s very challenging like the original!

There are many game modes to mess around with.  Start Game is the main one where you start from the beginning and have limited lives and continues to get as far as you can.  Beat your high scores in stages you’ve already completed in Stage & Score Attack.  Data & Gallery has a whole menu in itself to explore, such as the R Museum where you can craft your own ships using things you’ve collected in the game.  And there are tons of ships, too!  You can also edit each ship’s colors, so go ahead and pilot a puke green craft if you want.  Pilot and War Record lets you edit your pilot’s suit, actions, and phrases, which is odd since you never see your pilot outside of a few cutscenes.  View the enemies you’ve destroyed in the Bydo Lab, and check out other unlocked art in the Gallery.  Finally in the Data & Gallery mode you can view the credits.  Back in the main menu, you can toggle things in the Options and buy decals for your ships with in-game currency you’ve collected in the Shop.  You can also view the game instructions in the R Manual, which I am thankful for since many games nowadays don’t even come with instructions, and the ones that do are usually poorly written.  Finally there is a Special menu where you can unlock extra things if you were a Kickstarter backer for this game.  I had no idea there was a Kickstarter for this game (there are so many of those), so I hate it that I can see so many things I’m missing out on in this game.  That’s one of the reasons why I’m not a big fan of Kickstarters.

Aside from that, the only other big problem I have with the game is that it’s just too darn hard!  If you get hit you die instantly and you must start back at a checkpoint with no power-ups!  And you only get a few lives and limited continues!  Granted I know that’s how the original game was, and I’m all for retro game sensibilities.  But there are some of those that need to just go away.  I had the game set on the easiest difficulty selection and I still couldn’t get past stage 3!  I know I’m not very good at R-Type games, but come on!  Sometimes I didn’t even know what hit me!  It’s fine when you’re just plunking a few quarters into an arcade machine, but when you are paying full price for a game to play at home, I think you should have the capability to see everything in it, no matter your skill level.  So I think they should’ve let you have more lives or infinite continues if you wished.  As it stands, I’d say only get this game if you’re REALLY good at R-Type and 2-D shooters in general.

Kid Factor:

R-Type Final 2 is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Animated Blood and Fantasy Violence.  You sometimes fight alien critters that splat guts everywhere, and there are lots of exploding spaceships.  But that’s about as violent as it gets.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, and younger players may find this game too difficult.

Tags: Game Reviews