Ah, the shoot 'em up. It feels like you're an ever-present in gaming history, with yet another one of your numbers making the 1001 list in the form of R-Type Delta, a PlayStation title described as 'the one shooter you should get' for the console.
Must be good then. Bad news for Einhänder, though...
Fun Times
The R-Type series - and many other shoot 'em up series - have always had a look about them that makes me want to play for a while. Their arcade roots give off the sense that the focus is on the gameplay, not the story, and that skill will get you through from start to finish unscathed.
I'm lacking in skills, but from my selection of three difficulties and three ships, I stuck with the default set up of a 'Standard Type' R9 flying through the city in Normal difficulty.
'Flying through the city' is exactly how you start R-Type Delta. It is the distant future, 2164, and somewhere in Asia, something is happening. I don't know what and I don't think anybody cares because we are thrown into the thick of things and left to fend for ourselves.
Controlling your ship is simple, not only because you're locked to a 2D plane within your 3D environments, but because beyond moving, all you have is the ability to shoot and alter the speed at which you move. It's as arcadey as they come, and you'll get stuck in with no time at all.
Enemies come in all shapes and sizes and can be blown apart in many different ways. To be honest, most of the time I don't know what's going on and am just spamming the fire button. Things seem to be going where I wanted them to go, ships are turning into fireballs... all is good. There are pickups which appear to pad out your arsenal a bit more, and they all make the screen look much prettier than these screenshots do, especially when you charge up a shot.
The longer you hold the fire button the further your beam powers up, ready to be unleashed as a more powerful shot. It even overcharges for another light show that the enemy most definitely doesn't want to see.
Frustrations
What I as a player don't want to see are boss battles that result in my fiery death again and again. Learning patterns and honing skills is fine, it's part of the game - it's part of every game. But you know the pattern I go through by now, don't you?
Die, respawn, make a little progress, die, respawn, rush, die, get irked, respawn, make silly mistake, die, respawn, moan, die...
R-Type Delta is so arcadey that there is a credit system in place, and boy did I eat through my credits in my first run. Not necessarily because of the difficulty, mind - I'm definitely laying blame on myself here. The checkpoints were pretty generous too, so I shouldn't complain at all.
Further Fun Times
As is often the case, finally managing to push past a problem area often gives you a much-needed buzz to keep you going until the next, and I was enjoying how R-Type Delta looked and played. Looked more than played, because it does feel like my inputs are made ten times more interesting once they've been turned into laser beams and rockets shooting out of holes I didn't know my ship had.
It's a looker, reminding me of a really polished Einhänder, which, with another year or so of learning what the PlayStation could do, should be easily done - though I'm clearly not a PlayStation developer, so what do I know?
Further Frustrations
The next wall hit soon afterwards. Death after needless death. I just haven't learned anything from gaming. Patience? Bah!
Final Word
My time with R-Type Delta was brief, but I think I'll check it out again if only because it looks pretty neat.
It's satisfying to have lots of stuff happen when you do something, and when you 'doing something' means 'moving a little and pressing square' and 'stuff happens' meaning 'having a squadron of drones explode in front of you, lightening arching from ship to ship', then I won't be arguing with you for a while.
However, there will probably come a point when that gets old, and knowing me like I do, that point will be when the difficulty throws me off and I just decide that I don't need to try any harder - I've had my fill of flashy explosions, thanks.
I read that it is perhaps more difficult than it needs to be in places. Will I ever get to those places? In time, I hope.
If you just want to sit back and blow stuff up, you can do worse than playing a little bit of R-Type Delta.
Fun Facts
Some reviewers noted that while it is a nice game to look at, its trial and error, memory-driven gameplay comes right out of the 1980s. It's much easier to see that when you go through a list like this.
R-Type Delta, developed by Irem, first released in 1998.
Version played: PlayStation, 1999, via emulation.