R-Type 2 was the shoot-em-up I truly enjoyed as a child in the arcades while on holiday with my family. I would have a budget to spend and trust me when I say this, I would spend it all in the arcade playing R-Type or Super Mario Bros.
R-Type originally came out in 1987 offering up an intense, fun sidescrolling shoot-em-up which seen you take control of the R-9 Arrowhead fighter craft. Your ultimate goal was to take down the never-ending horde of baddies known as the Bydo Empire. To help you along the way was a force power-up module that would either float in front or behind or attach to the rear or front of the ship. You would also get a number of weapon abilities, missiles, and up to spinning orbs that would float around the top and bottom of your ship. The ultimate weapon would be your wave canon and blast that would take out a number of enemies at once or deal a good amount of damage to a larger enemy or boss.
Lucky for me I missed all previous R-Type games as I only played the originals R-Type, R-Type 2, and R-Type 3. There have been other released R-Type Delta thought to be the best R-Type ever, if it was I do not know and R-Type Final which was a right let down from what I have read.
Now we have R-Type Final 2 a crowd-funded project, which even brings back some of the creators of the original game all lead by Kazuma Kujo at Granzella.
R-Type Final 2 is a bizarre name, right? why do we have R-Type Final, was that not meant to be the final game, I guess not, they messed up that one and had to make the fans happy I presume. From what I have read R-Type Final was a rather big departure from what we know as the R-Type Formula, with loads of ships and branding levels? who was the muppet who thought of that idea? What’s wrong with the straightforward, side-scrolling action shoot-em-up of old, it was not broken and it worked so stop trying to bloody fix it. I will have to check this game out at some point and see how bad it actually was, or watch some gameplay videos.
R-Type Final 2 keeps to the game’s core formula which is great news, apart from one level which does offer different paths to choose from. Choose said path, which will then take you on a different path for the subsequent levels of the game. As you get closer to the end level you will find that the ending is different based on the path you choose, offering up some form of replayability.
While running through the game on times I felt that I was being shot down by what seemed to be a rather large hitbox like that bullet hit me sort of feeling, this happened on a number of occasions, I even confirmed this with my partner, she seen it and was wondering how this was possible. The game comes with an array of difficulty settings and will test even the most hardcore R-Typer out there. The levels I found to be interesting, varied, and fun, even though some of the enemies seemed to be lacking in detail.
There is also a shed load of the ships to unlock over 100, not actually counted them all, but there is certainly alot. You can purchase and unlock these ships through in-game currently. The music I found to be lacking, nowadays I much prefer a pumping soundtrack with a great beat when I am playing a great shoot-em-up. This might just be me and other gamers might prefer something else, I guess you can not please everyone.
After my first playthrough of the game, and entered my second playthrough I found myself playing much better. Understanding that my R-Type has a much bigger hitbox, and working within the new game mechanics, even trying out more ships.
R-Type Final 2 is a return to form, not as great as the original games, but that’s just me, nostalgia, and all that.
Overall, R-Type Final 2 is a wickedly fun shoot-em-up, offering up a load more ship designs, great side-scrolling action, fun bosses, and a game that you might just want to come back to after your first attempt, plus there is DLC coming soon, so give you more R-Type FUN.
- Developer: Granzella Inc
- Designer: Kazuma Kujo
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC
This review is based on the Xbox version of the game which can be purchased here for £34.99
Enjoy the review? want to read more of our reviews? then click right here to be whisked away to the realm of our opinions.
You must be logged in to post a comment.