Aramation Games

It is a risky gamble to place a well-established franchise in a different setting with new gameplay mechanics. R-Type Command tries to infuse tactical turn-based battles into the fast-paced 2D side scrolling shooter franchise, and the result is pathetic. In this tactical game, you are in charge of a fleet instead of just one ship. There are your regular attack crafts, bombers, supply ships, transports and other miscellaneous space vehicles. After you place them on the grid, you advance them through the hexagonal field with each turn, inching closer to the enemy that starts on the other side of the stage. This is an incredibly slow game, made even slower since you spend a lot of time navigating through menus, research dialogs and severe loading (especially during cut-scenes).

The goal is to take out the enemy flagship, or the entire fleet on the stage. Strategic nature of the game means you need to see a lot of the battlefield, which makes your ships pretty tiny and hard to distinguish. When you attack another ship (after tediously getting in range for a few turns), it will generate a 3D cutscene which looks pretty good, but gets tiring after awhile especially since it grinds down the whatever amount of tiny action there is with loading.

Another blow against the game is the boring levels. There are different looks, but it all feels the same when your goal is to go from left to right in search of the enemy armada, that you can see from the beginning anyway.

In the end, the game isn’t recommendable in its current state: turn-based strategy fans will be disappointed with shallow depths, and R-Type fans will be disappointed as it strays too far from the formula that made the series long-lasting. Better to avoid this one, and pretend it never happened.

Rating: 10%

Trackback URI | Comments RSS