R-Type CommandFollow

The short version: Unless you're a die hard R-Type fan, skip this title.

The long version: This is an ambitious game, a side scrolling shooter strategy game. It's an odd game, and it could be so much better than it is. It has a very steep learning curve, and virtually no tutorial. By virtually no tutorial, I mean, the only tutorial is the instruction manual.

My main gripe is that there is no way, that I can see, to preview chance to hit, or estimated damage, or ANYTHING about the possible outcome of attacking. When enemies attack, and you have the opportunity to react with a defensive maneuver, or to counterattack, there is no way to really determine possible outcomes either. As an extra irritating fact, more often than not, you can't even tell what ship is attacking you because it's covered by menus.

The graphics are pretty, backgrounds, ship models, and the random full animation battles (think summons from recent FF games, sometimes it shows a flashy animation, sometimes not) You can change it to always show the animations, never show them, or even show/randomly show them in a PIP type window. Personally, I turned them off almost immediately because of the insane loading times. Even on random show, they turn a ten minute battle into a 45 minute snorefest.

Actually, I've changed my mind, even if you are a die hard R-Type fan, skip this game.