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We’ve been looking forward to the release of R-Type Dimensions III, a remastering of the original game from developer ININ Games. The IREM classic has had a new lick of paint and is out now on PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, and Steam, priced at $35. For our initial look at R-Type Dimensions III, we’ve been blasting through the Steam port and share the same opinion as other players that, so far, this hasn’t lived up to the hype. We always try to concentrate on the positives of all the games we play, but seeing the importance of this release, our initial impressions are that this is disappointing.
The biggest issue with R-Type Dimensions III is the music and sound effects that clip off or don’t always seem to line up with the action. There are also issues with sound levels and music tracks not starting when they should. The other big issue is that some of the collision detection feels off, especially if you’ve played the original release extensively. Following the developers’ responses to some of these issues, we’re confident that much of it will be ironed out in future patches, but as it stands, this is hard to recommend in its current state. But it isn’t all bad, and in fact, there are great aspects of this remaster, especially the new graphics.
The main selling point of R-Type Dimensions III is the new 3D graphics that make an attempt to give a fresh, modern visual aesthetic beyond the original pixel art. For the most part, this is achieved, and we did like the new art design, especially the new detail on some of the enemies that really make this feel like a new experience. The new graphics can be switched on the fly, so at any time during play, you can go back to the original pixel art if you see fit.
The only issue we ran into when switching between the two graphic configurations was that the new 3D graphics had some awful hit detection that made playing certain sections of levels almost impossible, and the only way through was to switch to the pixel art setting, so enemy bullets were colliding with the shield correctly. This is a shame, as we wanted to play the entire game with the new graphics, but it just felt too hard in places to get through.
We are hoping that many of these graphical and sound glitches are sorted quickly, as we plan to revisit R-Type Dimensions III once the patches are released. In the meantime, we feel there is a good game underneath that is waiting to come to the surface. The new music arrangements are great, and it’s good that you can switch around the graphics and different soundtracks to make an exciting mix of modern and retro on the fly. Overall, as it stands, we can’t with a good conscience recommend R-Type Dimensions III yet.
