R-Type Final

GameReviewer

Its flawless execution combined with the sheer amount of unlockable features and variety of gameplay makes this the pinnacle of the shooter genre today. A first class game and the perfect swan song for this much loved series.

GamingTrend

With a whopping 101 ships (most performing vastly different from one another), 7 stages (most with drastically different versions of the same stage), 5 difficulty levels, and a myriad of secondary options, you’ll invest a ton of time in this title if you want to see it all.

eToychest

For a shooter, the visuals in R-Type Final are nothing short of stunning. The environments are crisp, colorful, and many varied.

GMR Magazine

Intensely beautiful, highly playable, and downright inspired, R-Type Final is a somber but fitting end to a legendary series. A stellar combination of style, substance, and class.

netjak

While most shooters nowadays have you dodging through a hailstorm of bullets, the enemies in R-Type make you think a bit more. There a definitive patterns and ways to dispatch every creature in the game, learn them, and you don't find yourself in tight situations.

TotalGames.net

Beautiful lighting effects, crisp beam weaponry and crystal clear ordinance illuminate your way through to the heart of the Bydo Empire while Delta’s intense soundtrack has been replaced with a calmer and more mature score that settles well with both the game’s landscapes, and its pedigree.

Game Chronicles

The ultimate tribute to nearly 20 years of platform shooters. The action if fierce, the graphics dazzling, and the difficulty is guaranteed to challenge even the most skilled veterans.

TotalPlayStation

Irem has, possibly more than any game they've made in recent memory, crafted a shooter that is at once faithful to the challenge of the original shooters that came before it, and utterly accessible to anyone experiencing it for the first time, and they've thrown in a remarkable amount of depth and just plain fun to keep both sides equally true to the source material. R-Type Final is a blast, plain and simple.

Deeko

Completes the R-Type legacy and does so with an incredible mixture of graphics, sound and gameplay… and if that’s not enough, how does unlocking over 100 different playable ships grab you?

PGNx Media

If you don’t particularly care for the series, R-Type Final is still a solid shooter. The only problem is the slowdown, and well, shooters seem to have that quite frequently.

Armchair Empire

Despite R-Type Final’s high level of difficulty’s ability to bring out the masochist in all of us, this title is a wonderful close to an amazing series.

Next Level Gaming

My only gripe is a lack of multiplayer mode. It's fun, but not as fun as you and a friend taking the Bydo head on. Still, Fresh Games, Eidos, and Irem get kudos for giving us one more memory of R-Type, and the excellence it maintained all this time.

Game Over Online

A shooting game for absolute perfectionists. R-Type Final is all about getting things right the first time, because you probably won't get a second chance. I'm honestly surprised the game even offers extra lives.

Loaded Inc

Frustratingly hard at times, and very unforgiving. If you aren’t the type of person who can resist the urge to break your PS2 controller if you have to play the same 20 minutes of a level over and over because the boss kills you right before he’s about to die, you may want to stay clear of this one.

Inside Gamer Online

Swamp filled jungles and ruined cities have never looked so good in a space shooter.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

Underwater flying, several sweet detachable gun bits, a traditional stage-long battleship enounter...Final is an R-Type fanatic's dream and the best thing to happen to side-scrolling shooters since "G-Darius" (PS1) [March 2004, p.119]

IGN

From the game's alternate paths and armada of ships, to its in-depth information gallery and bizarre CPU vs. mode., shooting fans have just about everything they're looking for.

Siliconera

Fans of old school shooters should rejoice... However, it doesn't have as much shelf life as many other games unless you're up for the challenge of unlocking all the ships. [JPN Import]

GameSpot

But if R-Type must end, at least it's going out on a high note--rest assured that Final lives up to the classic R-Type name in every way.

GameZone

It is a great diversionary title, rife with action and some minor strategic game play. If you want to relive the days of yore, when you gathered around the huge arcade machines and frantically pounded fire buttons and slammed the joystick around like a jackhammer, then this game is perfect.

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

Its combination of great level design and gameplay mechanics challenges your reflexes as well as your mind.

Cheat Code Central

It's a sharp looking game loaded with action from the get-go. The range of difficulty settings ensures that hardcore gamers will get the workout that they crave while remaining totally accessible to all but the most feeble of players.

PSX Nation

While R-Type Final is the hardest of the hardcore shooters, most gamers may find it too hardcore. However, for the series' already steady fanbase, Final provides a solid, exciting, and most of all... fun, experience that's well worth the $29.99 price tag.

GamePro

Final is a difficult game, even with its multiple skill settings, and it relies on a gamer’s patience for trial-and-error and memorization as it does deft skill and trigger-finger firing.

G4 TV

So many excellent ideas are incorporated into this last outing, you'll be feeling the title's influence on similar products years hence.

GameSpot AU

It's not for everybody -- the difficulty level will see most off, and the lack of third dimensional movement will probably remove a fair chunk of the rest of its prospective audience -- but if you like your shooting action hard, heavy and repetitive, then you really need to add R-Type Final to your collection.

Gamestyle

The definitive version of an all-time classic. There is nothing else that could have been added to make this title feel any more complete or (pardon the pun) ‘Final’.

Village Voice

There are only six levels—some in space, others that involve going underwater—but many difficult-to-find paths through each. Up the difficulty setting and you'll be glad you don't have to drop in a quarter for every life. Then again, what'll that buy you these days?

Stuff

The only problem is that unlocking each of the available spacecrafts is sort of like ripping off your big toenails with a pair of pliers. Well within the realm of possibility, but in the end, it just doesn’t make much sense.

Thunderbolt

I will easily endure the boring bits in a quest to unlock my now third favourite ship, from R-Type Leo. I will continue to work at Final's most elusive ending and its more elusive unlockable campaign 'awards'. Indeed, after ten hours of play, there's still plenty of game left.

GamingWorld X

We get a game that pays tribute to its legacy by going out with a bang. It does so not by trying to add too much or expand too deeply, but by mastering the style it has become known for.

Edge Magazine

To those who treat mould-breaking games as life's milestones; those who can still smell the silver coins on their fingers ... this is dangerously close to the best in the genre. [Oct 2003, p.94]

Worth Playing

A fun, good-looking game that challenges all comers, and still isn't as sickeningly masochistic as, say, "Contra: Shattered Soldier."

Yahoo! Games

Anyone who's ever sunk more pocketfuls of coins into an arcade machine than they'd care to admit will be incapable of resisting the game's charms.

GameShark

Delivers a great graphical and audio punch as well as retaining good gameplay. While new players may feel a little lost, those who have followed the series will likely enjoy the level of customization and the great environments.

GameBiz

Its addictive gameplay and good visuals pay tribute to its predecessors by holding onto the values of its old creation. R-Type Final really allows the R-Type series to go out on a big high.

Gamer's Pulse

Best suited for experienced players searching for a serious challenge, R-Type Final is a beautiful game meant only for the hardcore.

Game Revolution

The simplistic nature of the game doesn't leave a ton of staying power, but with an MSRP of $29.99, it's a great way to go out.

Gaming Age

A glorious sendoff for the venerable series, and an absolute must-own for any serious fan. While it ultimately fails to match up the strongest entries in the series – the original "R-Type" and the fantastic "R-Type Delta" – in terms of stage design and challenge, it compensates with the vast wealth of playable craft and subtle nods to its own spectacular lineage. [Import]

Play Magazine

The background periodically moves out of synch with the action (like a movie playing behind the left-to-right flow) and the music could be a bit more charged, but otherwise I cherished every moment returning to a genre embedded in my DNA. [Feb 2004, p.46]

GameSpy

While the large ship selection is a fun idea, it's no substitute for the essential elements of good level design, consistent game speed, gameplay originality and a smokin' soundtrack.

GamerArchive

The combination of quality visuals, excellent game play, and the mass of unlock able content makes R-Type Final a truly pleasurable experience.

Boomtown

Far from disappointing, it’s just not the best in its series and not the innovation that some people might have hoped for.

PSM Magazine

A solid, if somewhat slow-paced, shooter that offers up loads of ship variety and a good amount of challenge. [Mar 2004, p.37]

NTSC-uk

There will undoubtedly be those who, having cut their teeth on onslaughts such as "GigaWing" and "Mars Matrix," will feel somewhat let down by the sparse, reheated level design on offer here. For those with a passion for the series, however, there is a huge amount to enjoy. [Japan Import]

GameCritics

Sure, the slowdown is an unfortunate negative, but the rest of the game is overwhelmingly solid. R-Type Final might not bring any new tricks to the table, but it certainly takes what it does best and enhances it ever-so-slightly for a new generation of gamers.

Total Video Games

This 2D shooter in a 3D environment may look slightly frayed around the edges and dated in many respects but with so few proper video shooters that go back to the real roots of arcade blasting this is a nice short fix.

GamerFeed

This PS2 monster is insanely difficult and action-packed, full of bizarre monsters, both robotic and organic and you have a plethora of weapons to destroy them with.

Game Informer

On the easier levels, I usually just died of boredom, on the harder difficulties I swore in anger at the title's merciless assault. [Mar 2004, p.107]

Gamenikki

Perhaps worth a rental to R-Type junkies and those who love a solid 2D shooter, but nothing is really new here... and maybe that's the point.