| Addiction Level | 3/10  |
|---|---|
| Graphics | 6/10 |
| Value for Money | 3/10 |
| Overall rating | 2/10 |
Full review by
KWT
expert review 
on 22nd Apr 2004
User Rating : 2
Respect :
0
Good Points: .....hard to really speak of...nostalgia value??
Bad Points: Truly terrible sound, limited replay value, limited custiomisation, perhaps too hard.
General comments: R-type is perhaps the daddy of all shooters. Mainly for hardcore shooters only, it offered a great challenge with varied well designed enemies, memorable bosses, intricate level design backed up by superb visuals and audio. Over the years, R-type has surely been a blueprint on how to make a great shooter. Without it, such great shooters in the past such as Radiant Silvergun, Viewpoint and Ikaurda would surely have not seen the light of day.
R-type 111 the third lighting is a conversion of the old SNES game which although had it problems was a good solid shooter. In theory this should have been a natural transition to the GBA. You would think.
Presentation
Nothing spectacular here. From the off, you are able to choose 3 types of force units, each offering various degrees of strengths and weaknesses. Players will find their favourite type of unit to use but customisation is limited from that. Options wise you can't even choose the difficulty level but R-type 3 is a very hard game anyway so novices beware.
Graphics
Functionality is probably the best word here. The graphics are generally on a par with the original. There is no significant improvement but slowdown that plagued the original SNES version has certainly been fixed.
Sound
To put it short, the sound on this game is so poor it would have been embarrassing on a NES machine. The music is uninspiring and loops way too much. The sound effects are even worse sounding bleepy and pathetic and no way accompany the meaty explosions that often happen on screen. Playing it with headphones seems to make no difference. The sound is so poor overall, it would have better to have none at all.
Playability
After 15 minutes into the game it is clear that Raylight Studio have made little attempt in trying to make this game enjoyable or rewarding. The collision detection in this game is truly awful. Bullets seem to hit you despite being nowhere near your ship. The backgrounds can be a bit unclear and it is very easy to catch your ship on a bit of scenery when you thought it was safe. The force speed is particularly slow too, taking ages to attract it back to your ship when you most need it. The ship you control feels very sluggish and without collecting speeds, you have very little chance of avoiding attacks. The strange thing is that none of these issues were present in the SNES version so this is no excuse.
Value
I seriously doubt you will play this game again after you complete it. That's if you can be bothered. The game offers a hard challenge but the challenge is born out of fustration through the game's poor mechanics rather then the game design itself. I know this game will just be too hard for some. Too much of the game revolves around luck, being at the right place at the right time. I was ready to give up after the game becomes almost a memory test remerbing where exactly everything is. It was nice of Raylight studio to include a password system as restart points are far and few between. The meagre lives on offer don't help. But where is the two player mode?....this would have made the game more fun to play. It has to be said the ending is a waste of time. You will have feel seriously cheated if you paid full whack for this game.
A few more words
I hate to say it but I actually found this game boring. The removal of the launch sequence of the R-90 was warning enough of the skips that have taken with this conversion. It just feels so dated in every way. I would have thought a conversion of R-type would have been fun to play on the GBA but just so many things feel wrong with this game. Perhaps having being so spoiled with the such great shooters recently, it felt more of a chore to play this game then anything. In the 16bit era this was a good solid playing experience. 10 years on, this game just doesn't cut it. The fact that it is quite possibly one of the most laziest conversions I've ever seen which adds more problems than it addresses, you're left with one mess of a game, which is a shame. Wait for Metroid zero: Mission.
KWT's review and ratings | 749 words
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