Really Done Playing: R-Type Command Demo (PSP)

Ok, now I’m really done playing. After about six more tries I’ve finally finished off the Dobkeratops seen above, and believe me it wasn’t easy. That’s actually why I’m writing about this game again; I’m concerned. Instead of developing a strategy as the game played out I found the only successful plan was to memorize what enemies appear where and what they’re capable of. You’ve got an AWACS-type ship that extends your visible range but even it didn’t prove to be enough help. Since a unit’s turn is interrupted when an enemy is revealed my radar guys usually get cut off and destroyed by the first wave of enemies they find. Then it’s a game of leapfrogging one unit at a time to slowly reveal the enemies again after they’ve disappeared back into the ‘fog of war’ while trying to reach the end without running out of turns.

Since there aren’t any “magic points” involved in using your Charge attacks the game limits how many turns you can take to finish a mission.  If they didn’t you could endlessly charge up, attack, fall back and repeat. I agree with the limit but until I had the enemy positions down pat I kept running out of time to take down ol’ Dobkeratops up there. Hopefully being able to save will eliminate this prolonged play time, I only hope that saving is unlimited and loading is fast.

I suppose a prolonged experience isn’t necessarily a bad thing but if half a dozen missions take as many retries and memorization as the one in the demo, well, my time with R-Type Command may be cut short. Having finally finished the demo, though, I’m even more excited to get the full game in May. Any demo that lasts for a week and holds my interest, even with pattern memorization, is definitely worth picking up. I just wish it weren’t a $40 release.