R-TYPE Dimensions and Tomb Raider Beneath The Ashes
R-TYPE Dimensions is an updated version of R-TYPES 1 and 2. I downloaded the trial of the first level earlier. By pressing “Y” you can switch in real-time between the original 2-D in-game graphics and purty new 3-D vistas. It is 3-D in the way that R-type Delta and R-TYPE Final were – still side-scrolling but with 3-D sprites and scenery. It all looks bloody brilliant! Another cool thing about this is the addition of “Infinite Mode” which affords you infinite lives (R-TYPE games are notoriously hard and not particularly generous with extra lives). The best thing though, is that R-TYPE Dimensions allows you to play 2 player co-op on a single machine or using XBOX live. Not even R-TYPE Final (the seminal R-TYPE game on PS2) had this features, it had only a baffling (and terribly disappointing) A.I. mode, where you sat and watched random spaceships fight while you imagined you could actually fly them. Bugger that.
