Wave Cannon Your Way to Success: R-Type Final 3 Evolved Review

By Teepu

Players: 1 (2-6 Online)
Platform: PlayStation 5

R-Type is one of the oldest side scrolling shooters, and help define the genre. With R-Type Final 3 Evolved, it aims to enhance the tried-and-true formula in as many ways as possible. Read on to see if the PS5 version is worth the upgrade. It is important to note that while R-Type Final 2 will continue to get support on Switch and PS4, the extra features in the PS5 release of this game will remain exclusive to the PS5.

So, then what exactly is R-Type Final 3 Evolved? It is a PS5 release of EVERYTHING that was done in R-Type Final 2, 7 brand new stages and a couple other features like an upcoming PSVR2 mode for looking at your ship. Something that may or may not bother players is what seems like an utter waste of the PS5. When I played through the game, I didn’t ever notice the adaptive triggers or haptic feedback to be used. Seems like an odd choice to force this next tier of the game into a new console but not entirely utilize the console. The DualSense is criminally underutilized.

Perhaps I have been spoiled by PS5 and Xbox Series X games lately, but this game looks visually underwhelming. You are booted into an intro cutscene that has constant frame drops and looks like something out of a PS3 pre-rendered cutscene. The game itself looks like an early PS4 game. Normally I would not judge it too harshly for this but considering it’s now on the PS5 and it’s an enhanced version of a 2021 game, there really shouldn’t be an excuse for the lower fidelity presentation. On the flip side though, outside of choppy cutscenes, the game runs very smooth. For a shooter like this, that is integral. I did a couple runs on every difficulty, trying out various ships and I never noticed slowdown as I was playing outside of what was clearly intentional (like when special explosions happen). While they certainly could have tried to make the game prettier, I commend them for at least keeping a smooth FPS during gameplay.

Let’s be real though, you aren’t playing R-Type for its pretty graphics, though it would be nice if they didn’t force you to watch a cutscene every time you started a run. You are playing it for the well-made stages, fun and frenetic action and the plethora of ships to try out. In that way, R-Type Final 3 Evolved delivers. With all the stages from R-Type Final 2 up to the 2.0 update along with the content from its first Stage Pass included, as well as the seven new stages, and the tons of ship combinations, you will absolutely find that here. R-Type’s gimmick in the side-scrolling shooter genre is the ability to gain a special item that you can attach to your ships front, rear or have it operate independent of you to help you with various situations. This gimmick adds a lot of player specific uniqueness. This is largely due to there being different types that function slightly differently. 

Each ship has a slightly unique way it feels to control, has different options for what upgrades you can get and also let’s you customize the look quite a bit. You may, like me, try the first ship and feel like you are a submarine underwater rather than a spaceship, but then as you play more, experiment with different ships and learn the mechanics of the game, you will eventually gravitate to a combination that works best for you. Do not be fooled by the high level of customization though, the game is still stinkin’ hard. There are a lot of welcome difficulty options to cater to your needs, but even if you turn on every handicap you can find, you will likely not be able to finish the game on your first run. The very nature of the genre involves trial and error until you get the mechanics down. Eventually you will reach a point where new things don’t surprise you because it’ll be second nature, but that will take practice. Of all the side scrolling shooters though, this is certainly one of the more newbie friendly ones that still retains the core challenge.

I mentioned earlier that the stages are well designed, which they are, mechanically. One problem I had though would be the fact that a lot of enemies do not have tells before they attack, which means you could just get shot without having any idea that shot was going to come. You’ll eventually get used to the patterns and just know the timings of things, but it would have been nice to have a more visual tell for these things, so the newer players won’t feel as frustrated by sudden deaths.

The online mode I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with, unfortunately, but the little I played was fun. You can play through competitive stages to compete for the best run, where you can see the ghost of the other players while you play without them physically affecting you. There’s also the R Park, a place to just hang out as well as the ability to customize your room to show off to others. They also said that there will be DLC for this game, meaning it will likely be supported for a long time.

This was actually the first R-Type game I had played since the original. I have put in a lot of time in other games in the genre like Raiden, Ikaruga, and Gradius, but I oddly never spent much time with R-Type. As a result of this, a lot of the game felt fresh to me, and I had a fun time with it overall. With tons of stages, tons of ships and ship combinations, online competitive stages, and DLC, fans of the genre will find plenty to enjoy in R-Type Final 3 Evolved.

For More Information on R-Type Final 3 Evolved:
https://nisamerica.com/r-type-final-3-evolved/

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Story: C+
Gameplay: A-
Graphics: B-
Sound: B+
Value: A+

OVERALL: B

Pros:
+ A large amount of content allows for endless combinations of runs.
+ Online competitive mode isn’t fancy, but is exactly what I’d want from a game like this.
+ Large variety of enemies.

Cons:
- For a mostly non-existent story, they spend a lot of time forcing it down your throat.
- Game looks somewhat dated.
- Doesn’t utilize the features of the PS5.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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