I finished my playthrough of Cave Story on the PSP last week. The buzz on this game is justified, and it’s become my favorite 2D platformer to come out since the original Metroid. While I’m done with the game for now, there’s all sorts of secret bits for the completionists out there, including a hidden location, mystery items, and multiple endings (I received the standard ending). Play Cave Story!
Final Grade: A
This demo version of R-Type has some differences from the full game.
Developed by Irem, the same folks behind the rest of the R-Type games, the R-Type Command demo begins with a pre-rendered cutscene featuring the good ol’ R-9 and HR Giger inspired Bydo, followed by a drop into the main menu to start a new game and christen your commander. From there, the demo limits you to three single player skirmish missons, an adhoc multiplayer mode map, and a fairly extensive help system slash R-type encyclopedia.
Once deployed and into a mission, gameplay is very much your standard tactics genre fare. Move units, attack nearby enemies, watch as opponent does the same, rinse, repeat. There’s a healthy assortment of ships to deploy, and most vessels have a variety of weapons and abilities to choose from. While the full game will allow you to mix up your forces and armament a bit, there’s no customization in the demo; you’re stuck with the units they’ve given you. Fortunately, the full release looks like it will have this in spades: you’ll be able to recruit new pilots, design and outfit ships, and even change the background image on the main menu.
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