Idle Thoughts

Shmup fans should rejoice there’s a new R-Type, but it’s far from perfect. (★★★☆☆)

First of all, if you’re a fan of R-Type, just buy this, no questions asked. It’s the first new R-Type shmup in 20 years!

If you want to go into details, well, the game does a lot right, but it also does a lot wrong.

The levels themselves are fine. I don’t think any level is a dud, which is a godsend. The first R-Type Final had fairly slow-paced levels and most of them were quite experimental. Final 2 has faster, more straight-up shmup action. It’s also quite a bit harder. While there are some typical oddball R-Type elements, there is no “washing machine” level, or “sex going on in the background (maybe?)” level. It could be disappointing for some, but more action-packed levels makes sense if you’re trying out multiple different ships. You can definitely get stuck in a “just one more level” loop where you try out a new ship, decide to replay a few more levels, unlock another ship and just keep going. That’s a good thing!

Graphically, the game is fine, if a bit underwhelming. There are some nice lighting effects. Stage 3, however, looks particularly plain. It’s hard to believe the similar “big battleship” level in the first Final game 20 years ago was more impressive. Your ship’s hitbox feels a little bit inconsistent, but maybe that’s just the sour grapes talking. The load times are okay on PS4, but I would have been grateful if they were almost instantaneous, to remove some of the pain of dying.

Oh, did I say the game is hard? That’s some authentic old-school stuff right there. I don’t think I have it in me to beat this on the hardest settings. I suppose the “real” shmuppers will be pleased. With 7 difficulty levels, you can choose something between “easy, but not a complete cakewalk” and “welcome to hell”. Dying makes you lose all powerups and sends you back to the last checkpoint, as per standard practice. What I think is a flaw in this design, however, is that starting from a checkpoint in a though area on the harder difficulties is so hard you might as well give up and go back to stage 1. Gauge your tolerance for punishment accordingly.

As an aside, there are only three “bit” powerups in the entire game, the little floating thingies that give you extra protection. In practice, you’ll barely ever get to see them. This makes no sense, since that means it’s one of the customizable elements of the ships thrown out the window right there.

The original Final had 101 ships, but in Final 2, many of those ships are locked behind “will be added in the next patch” messages. That’s annoying, considering the ships in Final 2 seem to all be exactly the same, except for some gameplay tweaks. Ships are now unlocked with resources, which makes more sense than in Final 1, where they were gated by play time. Unlocking becomes quite slow, though. It eventually requires about a full run through the game to unlock a ship, which is often just a marginal upgrade. Honestly, I’m not sure I have the patience for this anymore. The game could have used fewer ships, but more distinctive ones. Still, I don’t think there’s any other shmup on the market with as much variety as R-Type Final.

Final 2 has a lot of excellent features, which gives it lasting appeal. You can reorder the levels to create your own custom course. There are homage levels based on the older games (more are on the way as DLC). The game keeps an extensive account of your score and combat records. You can customize your ships a little, which is nice. You can also customize your human pilot and there is a somewhat long cutscene with human characters, both of which seem like a waste of resources for a shmup. There’s a special menu for exclusive Kickstarter backer items, which feels a bit unsightly… AND disappointing considering a lot of the “normal” stuff isn’t even part of the game yet.

The English translation is terrible, the worst I’ve seen yet on PS4. There are typos, weird use of punctuation and some menu terms are translated so oddly it’s hard to understand what they mean. For example, the menu option to play a custom course is called “Play Original Course”. Huh?

All in all, R-Type Final 2 is solid, but it feels like a late Early Access game. It’s likely some of the issues listed above will be sorted out, which will hopefully improve the game into a classic of the shmup genre. It certainly has the potential for it.