The Vault: R-Type Final (PS2)

Title: R-Type Final
Format: PS2
Genre: Shoot 'em up
Expect to pay: £5-£10

In the mid to late 80's shoot 'em ups were all the rage, but since then their popularity has waned. Recently however, the arrival of download services from all three console manufacturer's has seen a revival of classic arcade style games that can be picked up and put down quickly and easily, and we've started to see shoot 'em ups come back into fashion. Admittedly most of them have been vertical shooters so far, but Konami is working on a new downloadable Gradius game, and there's also a brand new R-Type on the way.

Which is funny, considering that this was supposed to be the last ever entry in the series (not that I ever really believed that). If it was the swansong of the series, it would have gone out on a fairly high note, as R-Type Final delivers an atmospheric trip down memory lane and features dozens of different ships for the enthusiast to collect, as well as a branching route through the stages. Fans of the old games will see familiar bosses such as Dobkeratops (the one that looks like H.R. Giger's Alien) in new surroundings, and stage three is another huge enemy dreadnought as is tradtional with the series.

Even on the absolute lowest difficulty setting of Baby, R-Type Final can be an absolute bitch. Don't expect to get very far into the game on your first try. Luckily however, each time you see the game over screen the game gives you slightly more credits than the last time, and your skill should also have improved a bit so you should get slightly further in. I'm not really a fan of the modern day bullet hell shooters myself, I prefer the old style games where the enemies attack in exactly the same way each time so you can learn and adapt through trial and error. This is the category that R-Type Final falls into.

It's not my favourite game in the series by any means (that would be R-Type Delta for the PS1) but it does have it's charms and it holds infinitely more charm to me than whatever me-too FPS is currently in vogue at the moment. The game was released by Metro3D as a budget title in Europe so you shouldn't have to pay very much for it even if you manage to find a brand new copy.

This is the first boss in all its shape-changing, stabby, T1000 style glory.