R-Type

The Good
I have heard about R-Type since the early Nineties, but since I haven't gotten around in playing it. I knew it was all the rage, but I didn't realize how good it was. It was certainly different to other shooters that were available around its time.

I was impressed at how well designed the title screen is, consisting of the usual R-Type logo and that huge alien. I like the way that you read information about the R-9 spaceship while the Speccy version is loading itself up, and look at the accompanying illustrations next to it. This is great, as you have something useful to do rather than bore yourself to death.

There are eight levels in the game, and all of them contain graphics that are influenced by the works of H.R. Giger. Each sprite is huge and brightly colored, and there is smooth scrolling throughout. Most games released for the machine have a lot of color clash. But in this game, there is very little of it here. The background, consisting of stars that scroll toward you, is well done. The bosses that you have to fight are almost as big as its arcade counterpart.

Gameplay-wise, there are eight levels in R-Type, and all these levels contain elements that are recognizable from the arcade version. The upgrades you can get are color-coded so that you can tell how powerful they are, and out of all of them, I like the red upgrades. The force may not be responsive in the Speccy version, but that is a minor problem. You can customize your keys, which is useful for me, as I am playing it through an emulator which I have difficulties using the emulated joystick with.

The Bad
As the trivia page tells you, the initial Speccy version had an error which prevented level eight from loading from the tape. This seems to be fixed in the 128k version.

The Bottom Line
The Speccy conversion of R-Type tries to replicate the original arcade, with impressive results. Both the graphics and the gameplay shines, and it is as fun to play as the original arcade. There is no background music during gameplay, but anyone who is too focused on the game would hardly notice this. Any person who owns Sir Clive's machine and who is a fan of shooters should add R-Type to their collection.

The Good
Graphics and sound/music are very good, I like that when you enter the enemy base in stage 1, the lights come on, the idea probably taken from Konami's Gradius. The idea of an indestructible droid that you can affix to your front or rear and use as a shield against (basic)bullets...it's an excellent thing to have in most scrolling shooters. Of course having unlimited use of a powered-up, pulse beam is great too. Stage 3 being one massive boss...another good, original idea. And I like the idea of an underwater cave for stage 5. All of these things would make it superior to a lot of other shooters, except.....

The Bad
..that it really doesn't play that well. To stay alive you have to be lucky or spend time(and money) learning the order of attacks and the moments they occur. So they've made up for having the protection of a droid and unlimited pulse laser beams, by making the enemy stronger, attacking you from all sides. To its credit, the game goes fairly easy on you in the first stage, you're allowed to enjoy the game a bit before it crushes you in stage 2. I think it's a serious gameplay problem when you get so far because of having built up good firepower, then the enemy gets past your defenses and you're stripped of everything and find that you can barely stay alive, you're not given much chance to regain the firepower that got you this far.

The Bottom Line
I think the game would be bearable if you found a way to have infinite lives, which would keep you from being sent back to the beginning of the stage after game over. But basically I think the game's good graphics, sound and overall theme were ruined by the gameplay.

The Good
The theme music is among the most catchy ever, and the Amiga's sound hardware was ideal to recreate it. You could happy sit there listening to it without even playing the game.

I recommend playing it though. The level designs are intricate, with some great attack patterns and a variety of enemies to surprise you, all recreated in minute detail from the arcade. The look and feel is spot on.

This was a hugely innovative game, spawning a number of similar titles.

The Bad
Unfortunately, games like Project X and Disposable Hero contained better power-up systems, more balanced difficulty levels, and far prettier graphics, especially backgrounds.

The game style seems rather passé now, in an age where we're used to viewing action from the human perspective, and having control mechanisms to suit.

The Bottom Line
A sideways scrolling shoot 'em up featuring a variety of weapons, all manner of bad guys, and lots of fast thrilling action.