After playing some more R-Type III, I was thinking of expressing some reasons why it's not as good as R-Type, or R-Type 2, or Delta.

As I've said, it's considerably less challenging than those other games, and generally that'd be enough to rank it lower than those masterpieces, but I can be more specific, dig into the game deeper.

Okay, I've said this before, but: I've heard it said many times that R-Type is a "memory shooter", and I've always disagreed. It has always seemed to be than any part of the R-Type games that involve memorization put using knowledge of enemy patterns into forming a strategy above rote memorization.

R-Type III does have some parts that are pure memorization, though. The most blatant example is in stage 4. There's a part that's set up kind of like a maze (vaguely like stage 6 from R-Type). Huge flows of molten metal flow through the paths there, certainly too quickly to avoid if you aren't expecting them. The only way through this part is to use trial and error to find the correct path, where the lava flow won't be at a particular time.

I'm also tempted to say that, at least in its first quest, R-Type III has no real skill challenges whatsoever. The other R-Type games have really exciting parts that require a lot of skill and coordination, like the dodging during the final boss fight of R-Type. But in R-Type 3, there aren't really any parts where the number of bullets on screen could ever be overwhelming, or when the action becomes really fast (if an attack ever IS fast, it's usually so fast you couldn't possibly dodge it - like those molten flows from stage 4).

This is rectified slightly in the second quest. The stage 4 miniboss have a part where two drones slide across the ceiling and floor, and shoot out a pattern of 3 missles each. In the 2nd quest, those missles can move fast enough to be kind of hectic. The stage 4 actual boss can require some concentration and coordination as well.


But there's another reason why I think I'm not as excited by R-Type 3 as some of the other R-types. Some of the challenges of R-Type 3 are based on doing everything exactly right. That might sound like a good thing. However, while strategies can be helpful in R-Type, sometimes the most exciting moments are when you screw up and then use skill to save your ass in a bad situation.

Tension is generated when you're always on edge - if you're safe in a game, there's no tension, and if you know you're gonna be blown away by something you can't avoid, there's no tension, either. If you like Tetris, you probably think that the most exciting moments are when you screw up, accidentally block an empty space, and then have to scramble to uncover it again. If accidentally blocking an empty space would end the game instantly, it wouldn't be exciting.

Consider R-Type 3's final stage. There's a lot I could describe about the stage - how it keeps warping between two dimensions, etc. - but what's relevant are these scarab enemies. They can take a lot of damage. A big part of the strategy of the final stage is figuring out when to charge your beam, and when to use it to blast those enemies. It takes a fully charged beam to kill them, and it takes a long time to fully charge. Therefore, if you miss, or just graze those enemies, or hit the wrong enemies, and are about to be overwhelmed by others, you have no way of fixing the situation. It'll take far too long to charge another shot to kill them before they kill you (I should point out that some pods' special weapons can kill those enemies in a reasonable amount of time, with rapid fire. But even then, it takes enough rapid fire shots that those enemies still can't be quickly disposed of to make a last instant save)

Another reason you can't always make quick saves is because of the speed of your craft. This game uses speed powerups, like R-Type and R-Type 2. Without a speed up, you seem faster than in R-Type 1 and 2, but even with a lot of speed ups, it doesn't seem possible to move as fast as you could in those older games. In some ways, this could be good - the control is never too "twitchy" - but it also never seems like the R-9 in this game can keep up with your reflexes. There are times when some slow moving enemies are homing in on you, but you just aren't fast enough to outmanuver them.

Anyway, probably the best part of the game, imo, is the beginning of stage 5 - especially the second quest. This part does have some features I mentioned above - fast enemies that can close in on you before you can dodge them, a strategy that must be rigidly adhered to. The reason why this part is better...

I'm tired. I don't think I'll write any more tonight.
I LOOOOOOVE Flying Omelette!!
Crawl and 1000