Attic of the Underdogs

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Review by Davide Mascolo:

One of the best Japanese freeware shmups I've ever played, G-Type is a crazy and the same time admirable fusion between two classics of the genre: R-Type and Gradius. Your ship is the R9 of Irem's game, complete with chargeable laser, pod and familiar weapons like the "bouncing" lasers, but the power-up system is the same as Gradius. The pre-level phases, where you can collect power-ups, are like Konami's game. As expected, enemies are from both, same for the bosses - one of them is a delirious fusion between R-Type's serpent and a Moai!

The gameplay is worth of the originals, I could even say it's flawless, if it's wasn't for a little gripe about the chargeable laser: there's a small recoil when it's fired, which could lead the ship to crash into a nearby wall, especially in stages where you have to manouver between tight mazes. Fortunately, the game has a fourth key for autofire, so you can rely on it in such circumstances.

Though taken from the originals, the graphics are made so good, they don't feel ripped: crisp, full of colors and details, with a smooth scrolling and nice animations and explosions. Music tracks are also taken from both games, if you played them at least some times, you will surely recognize some familiar themes. The game is tough already at Normal difficulty, and, much more important, levels and bosses change almost completely depending on the difficulty! So, while you have to complete five levels to finish a game, they are a dozen in total. Not content, the programmers put some nice surprises: for example, you'll meet an unexpected boss, and they threw some bits of Taito's Darius Twin in. Also, when you set the difficulty to Hard, try to exit and enter the options screen some times...

A great homage to two classics, and a great game overall. Whether you loved them, or you never had the luck to play the originals, don't miss it.

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