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R-Type Dimensions Review for Xbox 360

R-Type Dimensions Review for Xbox 360

Shooter Classics with
a New Shine

In the late ’80s, the R-Type brand developed a huge fan base. For members of that fan base hoping for a retro thrill, the new Xbox Live Arcade compilation R-Type Dimensions is a godsend. For modern gamers with opinions uncolored by nostalgia, however, the games simply do not hold up, and the new features don’t change that.

R-Type Dimensions screenshot

Dimensions includes R-Type and R-Type II, and it captures the old-school feel perfectly. The classic look is completely intact, and you can even apply filters to the graphics to make it look like they’re running on decades-old hardware. If you secretly wish that your Xbox 360 were a Commodore 64, or that your HDTV had rabbit ears and a huge channel-select knob, an R-Type Dimensions download might be the best way of living out your fantasies (with no risk of electrocution). As any fan of the classics knows, there’s no substitute for the real, original thing, and R-Type Dimensions gets about as close to that as humanly possible. You can even set up the video so you can see the arcade cabinet around the game screen (though for some reason, the whole image bounces around when you do this, which can get a little disorienting). The Bydo Empire awaits your laser blasts, and it’s prepared to return fire through level after level of alien-blasting, Force-collecting, hard-as-can-be gaming.

However, for those who didn’t catch the R-Type bug in their younger years, or reached gamer age after 1990, things don’t look so good. With the push of a button (no need to go through a menu, even), you can switch between the classic graphics and brand-new 3-D ones, but the new look isn’t all that impressive. Other arcade shooters, such as Geometry Wars and its sequel, have proven that high-definition graphics are great for depicting space settings; the ships and explosions seem to jump out of the screen. Everything in R-Type Dimensions looks fine, but only a few stages (such as R-Type II’s first) create that same visual “pop.” For a brand as established and respected as R-Type, that’s a shame.

R-Type Dimensions screenshot

The deeper problem is that these games are, by modern standards, simply awful. They were released in arcades, where they had to munch quarters, and on home personal computers, where they had to provide countless hours of entertainment with just a half-hour of material. In both settings, the solution was to make them ridiculously difficult and ridiculously cheap. R-Type and R-Type II came out back when video games were hard, and these games were known for being hard even then.

You’ll face huge bosses who push you into a small area of the screen, and then lurch into that area. Your default gun shoots at a rather slow rate, so it’s tough to make sure you kill an enemy when you need to. You can only shoot to the right, but your enemies love coming at you from the left. The only way to beat these stages is to memorize the exact places you can shoot from without being snuffed out, and even then it’s no cakewalk. You start with a mere three lives.

R-Type Dimensions screenshot

The developers could have made the game palatable in a number of ways. They could have made easy, medium, and hard modes; hard would be the original game, and some of the enemies would be gone or tamed down in the other two. They could have let players give themselves more lives, maybe even 30 or more for beginners. They could have added a screen-clearing weapon and limited its use, allowing diehard old-schoolers the option of turning it off.

Instead, they only provided one mode besides classic: infinite, or unlimited lives. This completely removes every incentive not to die, draining every sense of fun and tension. It kills the core challenge of the game, that of figuring out the “right” path by which to navigate the levels. Given how hard these stages are, it usually feels like you’re just watching yourself die until the level runs out. Essentially, you can choose between smashing your controller to pieces and having your eyes glaze over as life number 22 goes by. Neither is what modern gamers are looking for.

R-Type Dimensions screenshot

To be fair, there are a few new features that mitigate the difficulty a little. Once you clear all the stages, even if you do it with infinite lives, you can start on whatever level you want. This lets you learn the later stages without playing through the early ones first every time. There’s also a checkpoint system, so a “game over” screen doesn’t mean you have to start from the very beginning. There’s also a two-player co-op mode with a revive system, available both locally and online.

Finally, before hardcore R-Type fans start bursting blood vessels and sending us hate mail (if they haven’t started already), it should be made clear that there is a certain genius to these games that’s evident even in 2009. Where most game designers struggle to walk the line between challenge and frustration, R-Type’s original teams sought to carve out one way to make it through hazard-packed levels, and to make pretty much any deviation from that path fatal. If one accepts this as a legitimate goal, the level design is superb: you can beat these games, but only if you memorize them and play them exactly the way you’re supposed to.

R-Type Dimensions is an attempt to appeal to both retro gamers and newcomers. It’s an unmitigated success when it comes to the former, and an unmitigated disaster for the latter. Anyone who wants the old games will get exactly what they’re looking for, but those who want something that’ll compete with modern shooters should stick to, well, modern shooters.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.2 Graphics
The old graphics are intact, which is nice, but the new 3-D visuals aren’t all that impressive. 5.0 Control
Couldn’t be simpler. 3.9 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The tracks support the game’s atmosphere without getting in the way. 3.0 Play Value
It depends whether you liked the old R-Type games. If so, this is great, but modern gamers won’t fall in love. 3.2 Overall Rating – Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Classic arcade action: R-Type Dimensions includes R-Type and R-Type II, two fully playable classic coin-op games.
  • Multiple game modes: Try the Classic game mode with play that exactly mimics the original coin-op experiences, or the all-new Infinite game mode, assuring the completion of your game regardless of skill level. Both modes offer single-player and all-new co-op play (both local and over Xbox LIVE). Switch between 2-D and 3-D graphic modes even during play.
  • Crazy camera: Play from a non-orthogonal camera view.
  • Cooperative play: New cooperative play uses a simple yet thrilling revive system, and a ship collision feature that can be turned on for added difficulty and sparring.
  • New features: The new stage-unlock functionality allows you to have immediate access to your favorite stages, and the new Continue option lets you restart from the last accessed checkpoint when the game’s over.

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