R-Type

~ R-TYPE ~

Hudson Soft / Irem / NEC

HuCard

1989

I've always appreciated the level design in this game, the rhyme and reason to every aspect of every stage. The soundtrack is nice and boasts some tunes that are sure to stick with you (especially Stage 1's), the enemy designs are legendary, and man, back in the day, the graphics really blew me away. Even with all those positives, however, I've never particularly loved the game because I prefer Thunder-Force-type shooters to the slow breed that R-Type belongs to. Still, with my affinity for high-level challenges, I can't help but give R-T a play through every now and then.

I enjoy it for the most part. The game hits its strategic stride with levels 4-7 before wrapping up with a somewhat lame final mission. The first three stages are rather slow and easy, but they're veritable shooter hall-of-fame displays considering the bosses and tunes they feature.

While that breakdown certainly indicates a quality experience, I still feel the game is too methodical and lacks spontaneity. Now, I like a good "thinking man's shooter" as much as the next guy. But other mind-games shooters like Sinistron and Rayxanber II are superior to R-Type because they involve more of a "twitch" element and force the player to make more spur-of-the-moment decisions, not to mention that they're even more aesthetically appealing than their forerunner.

Take Rayxanber II. No matter how well you memorize its fourth and sixth stages, they will ALWAYS present a challenge and you will ALWAYS have to play well to get through them. Plus, Ray II plays fast, like a Thunder-Force-style shooter. Completing the first seven levels in R-Type becomes perfunctory once you've figured out the correct paths to take and positions to occupy, and the plodding pacing certainly doesn't make matters any more exciting.

Now take Sinistron. This one doesn't even become truly rigid until its fifth board. Just prior to that point, during the second half of Stage 4, there's an intense and ferociously difficult segment where you need to count on your reflexes more than anything else in order to navigate a gauntlet of asteroids and bullets. The only time R-Type's gameplay comes close to this appealingly frantic style is during its final stage, when green baby-things and spinning things kinda float about the screen; and even then, Sinistron's level of action murders R-Type's.

I know that the infamous Stage 7 is the apple of every R-Type fan's eye, but even with all of its enemies and bullets and wall explosions, it's not particularly challenging once you discern the correct path to take. The boss is tough, though, and if you get killed, it's almost impossible to rebound because of the ridiculous, unfairly situated checkpoint you'll be placed at--which is surprising because every other checkpoint along the way is completely reasonable. Any game can go ahead and take away your means of defending yourself and flood the screen with enemies and call itself "tough." That's not quality design--it's crap challenge and a quarter-nabbing tactic, and it's annoying to experience it in a home console game. It would have been nice if they'd went the Sinistron route by granting you the option of returning to the beginning of a stage rather than the checkpoint upon continuing.

In any event, I kinda like the gathering of ships at the very end, and I do enjoy the ride there for the most part. Sinistron and Rayxanber II are stronger titles, though.