Filed under: R-Type

It didn't take long for Atlus' R-Type Command to go to the bargain bin. The Irem-developed SRPG had a great Advance Wars vibe, but for many, going away from the series' arcade legacy kept them disinterested. Well, the game is now 50% off its original price on amazon.com. You can pick it up for $19, plus shipping.

[Thanks, Eric!]

For some reason, PSP games take a while to reach the European market. The upcoming release of Crisis Core, for example, is comically late compared to the Japanese and American releases. (At least Square Enix is making up for the tardiness through a number of great bonuses in the territory.)

R-Type Tactics, Irem's strategy game for PSP, is finally announced for release in Europe. It will be available on September 26th, and will be distributed by Rising Star Games. The game is unlikely to be enhanced for its release there, but who knows? Maybe Rising Star will figure out a pre-order bonus as cool as Atlus'.

When Atlus revealed the pre-order bonus for R-Type Command, we were pretty excited. Getting a replica ship sounded awesome ... until we found out that assembly is required. Yeah, we're lazy bums: we like having our ships pre-built for us! While the process of building the R-9 model isn't too cumbersome, one step (as seen in the instructions) had us completely frustrated: "if hard to attach, file off some of excess plastic." Why weren't these cut correctly in the first place?

If you were on the fence about picking up R-Type Command, you may want to think again. Pre-orders of the upcoming tactical game will receive a rather spectacular bonus: a replica R-Type ship! For fans of the franchise, this bonus alone should be worth the cost of admission. Pre-order bonuses are available at amazon.com, GameStop and GameCrazy.

There are a lot of different ships you can use in the upcoming R-Type Command. And you must use them strategically! Here are some of the units you can take control of in Atlus' upcoming PSP exclusive:

ACHILLES / Human
As the R-Series went into mass production, an obvious flaw emerged: its melee capabilities were severely lacking. To balance this weakness, development began on a line of bipedal modules. The first of these was the Achilles, a unit equipped with multiple beam swords.

The screens keep coming in for Atlus' upcoming R-Type Command. As one of the only games to come out on PSP for the next few months (seriously), we've resigned ourselves to pay close attention to the game. Thankfully, what we've played hasn't looked too shabby -- if we did, we really wouldn't have anything else to play in the coming months.

Check out our updated gallery:

We recently sat down with Irem's upcoming R-Type Command. Atlus is publishing the game in the States, and we have to admit that we were surprised by the new direction for this classic franchise. While we do wish it were a traditional shooter, we think Command's strong production values and accessible gameplay make it a nice addition to the PSP library so far.

Anyone who has played Advance Wars on GBA/DS will find themselves in very familiar territory. This turn-based strategy game has players taking command of various units in an attempt to wipe out the invading Bydo army. Players are given an assortment of vehicles to choose and place, each with their own abilities and weaknesses. As is traditional, units can only move a certain number of spaces, and can only attack within a certain firing range. Tiles within the environment can affect the evasion of certain units, so movement is crucial to every battle.

Each unit has multiple types of ammo, each with their own accuracy and damage. When defending, players can sometimes opt to evade altogether, or attempt a counter-attack. Every step of the battle will require some crucial decision making skills from the player.

Atlus is bringing over R-Type Command over to the States, and IGN has some direct-feed footage of the game in action. As is well known around these parts, Command ditches the usual shoot-everything-that-moves formula that the franchise is known for with a much more tactical approach. Watch, and tell us if you're still intrigued, or if you're trigger finger is begging for a more traditional shooter.

One look at the PSP release calendar in April will send shivers down your spine: there's almost nothing coming out on PSP this month. Why is that? We're not exactly sure. Perhaps developers are in a post God of War and Crisis Core daze?

The next big game on our radar is R-Type Command, set for release in May. While that's a long while away, we can at the very least, look at these new screenshots released by Atlus. That's something, right?

If it's on the PSP, it's going to be tactical. R-Type Command is a unique strategy-infused interpretation of the classic side-scrolling shooter. Atlus is handling the US release, and they've just unleashed a few new screenshots for you to enjoy.

These new screens will give players a new glimpse of the battle against the Bydo. R-Type Command is scheduled to release on 5/6/08.

Guess that God of War disc that Sony sent us had us a little ... distracted. We forgot to show you the debut trailer for R-Type Command, coming to PSP this May. This new iteration takes the series to a bold new direction. But is it the right one? Take a look at the trailer and tell us if you think a strategic approach on Irem's classic shooter works for you.

It seems the rumour from November turned out to be true. Atlus USA has today announced that R-Type Tactics will be heading to the US under the new name of R-Type Command. This entry into the R-Type saga will be in the form of a turn-based strategy game and will be available from May 6th for the recommended price of $39.99. We're happy to see this game finally make its way out of Japan, but why so late? May 6th couldn't feel further away.

One of our favorite publishers, Atlus, may be bringing Irem's PSP-exclusive tactics game, R-Type Tactics, to the US soon. The tentative date for release is supposedly March 4th and will retail for $39.99 under the title R-Type Command. Unlike previous R-Type games, Command is a turn-based strategy game.

[Thanks, Joe! Via Kotaku]

What we've heard of R-Type Tactics is minimal, but today we've got a more comprehensive update for you to munch on, in between tidbits of PSP sales skyrocketing. Seems the concept of turning one of the more difficult side-scrolling space shooters into an SRPG was good on paper, but according to 1UP, something was lost in the creation of this hex-based tactical adventure.

The game plays out like a hexagon-checkerboard-style Jeanne D'Arc -- that meaning you generally move from the left to the right of a given map, issuing commands to all your units in one "phase". Each unit has a plethora of innate abilities and the options are, well, there are a lot of options for even the simplest of missions. This can prove frustrating, unless you're very much into the intense micromanagement of classics like Ogre Battle. Also, load times are horrendous: waiting for an attack animation to load every single time would probably grate on your last nerve after a few minutes. This hasn't been slated for a release outside of Japan, but let this serve as a warning to the SRPG importer -- this one might be a bit much to handle, even if you've got a pretty good grasp of Japanese. It's a shame, we would've liked to see an R-Type game of a different genre stand out.

It's no secret that among the horizontal scrolling shooters, Irem's R-Type and Konami's Gradius series' are the best of the best. If you disagree, go play them. Seriously. Anyway, we were alerted via e-mail today that Play-Asia is selling R-Type Tactics today, as it was released overseas. Normally, importing games requires some kind of knowledge of another language, unless you don't mind having no idea what's being said, but this is R-Type at its core. The story won't revolve around much more than "kick ass, don't take names, but do it tactically this time." So go ahead, if you really want, snag this game and take advantage of the region free PSP! We're tempted to.