R-Type Final 2 Review – Punishing Space Battles!
The R-Type series has been dormant for well over a decade now, with the last entry, R-Type Tactics II, releasing to a largely mixed reception. In an attempt to give fans the R-Type game that they truly deserve, developer Granzella undertook the challenge of creating the next big entry in this stellar series, R-Type Final 2!
R-TYPE FINAL 2 GAMEPLAY MECHANICS
R-Type Final 2 returns to the traditional side scrolling shooter formula that the series has been well known for. And yes, it is still super difficult! Testing your reactionary skills and memory, R-Type Final 2 will throw absolutely everything at you to prevent you from progressing through each stage. So game feel is absolutely vital here! Even the slightest delay in the button input could lead to you dying, over and over and over again. The good thing is that the controls do feel fairly tight and responsive… MOST OF THE TIME! The problem here is that the controls can often become unresponsive at the worst possible moments. Many frustrating deaths have occurred as a result of input lag!
Obviously we can’t talk about R-Type Final 2 without talking about the difficulty. And yes, this game is haarrrdd! You have to be prepared to die again and again as this game will not let up at all! However, this difficulty is mostly caused by cramming the screen with enemies. Oftentimesthis leads to you being overrun without even a chance of being able to fight through. Occasionally enemy placement will be what catches you out, but most of the time, it’s just because of too many enemies being on screen at once.
It is important to be aware of how various weapons and ships will change the way you fight through the stages. Whilst there is no “correct” ship for a certain level or boss, the way a power up affects each ship is very different from each other! This means it does end up becoming a lot of trial and error to find which ship to use with any given situation. With limited lives and continues, this trial and error approach will quickly become a frustration. Too many times I have hit that despised game over screen because I was still figuring out which ships and weapons to use for a boss or section of a stage.
LEVEL DESIGN & AESTHETICS
R-Type Final 2 looks great! It takes advantage of current hardware, creating some beautiful and gritty scenery, and featuring some great looking enemies. However, the stages do look and feel quite similar to each other. Enemy movement and placement also seems to be very much the same in each stage! Only with an increase in the number of enemies creating the difficulty. Of course R-Type Final 2 does introduce new enemies in some of the stages that create their own challenge. However, they quickly become a bother because of how often they are used.
On a more positive note, the boss battles are amazing! The various main bosses look unique and each provide a distinctly different challenge. Varying your approach for each boss is key, as what worked on one will not work on another. This really helps to keep R-Type Final 2 feeling fresh!
DECISION
R-Type Final 2 definitely does attempt to do right by it’s fans, but that is just the point. This will be an enjoyable experience for fans of the other R-Type games, but not as much for everyone else. Unless you like side scrolling shooters that are punishing, sometimes unfair and have you wandering around like a muddle headed wombat. If you don’t, then maybe give this one a miss!
Review by Samuel Incze
Average
R-Type Final 2 is definitely one for the fans, but it’s sometimes unresponsive controls mixed with sometimes unfairly punishing gameplay creates a frustrating affair.
This game was reviewed using a download code provided by NIS America. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website.
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