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Repackaged, repriced and re-released Amstrad version of one of the all-time coin-op greats. R-Type in the arcades was a storming success and quite rightly so.

The Amstrad version was unfortunately a Spectrum port, relief then that the Spectrum version was an absolute classic. The CPC version has all the features present in the arcade version.

The plot is minimal, something about twisted alien space demons and the Bydo Empire. The action doesn't really rely much on plot anyway, the objective being to fly right through a scrolling alien landscape, killing everything.

The horizontal scrolling works well enough. All of the extra weapons are there, and the end-of-level baddies can be just as nasty as their arcade parents.

Some of the extra weapons are very juicy indeed, the ripple and reflective lasers being particularly impressive.

Decent, detailed but unavoidably Spectrumesque graphics. They move well enough, however. The spot effects are nice, and complement the action.

Note: R-Type does not work on Plus machines.

Overall 72%
Great, but for Speccy graphics.