R-Type Tactics II: Operation Bitter Chocolate
Encyclopedia
R-Type Tactics II: Operation Bitter Chocolate is a turn-based strategy game/tactical role-playing game
released in 2009 in Japan
for the PlayStation Portable
game console. It is a direct sequel to 2007's R-Type Tactics. The main part of the game consists of three campaigns, in which the player controls two human factions, then the Bydo Empire.
Like other turn-based strategy games, the playing field is also divided into hexagons with varying effects. The game maps are also larger than those found in the first game, with some levels encompassing behemoth space facilities. Some stages are also vertically scrolling.
Players can also customize their avatars under a new profiling system and can also interlink with their old profiles from the first game. The profile from the first game represents the Bydo commander who was forced to leave Earth for good at the end of Tactics. The player will assume this profile when the Bydo campaign is unlocked. However, this feature is only present in the Japanese release. The game also features branching mission paths that can be unlocked based on choices listed in the player's journal. The missions on the other path would be available when the player completes a campaign chapter.
. Each fighter has unique abilities such as sub-space movement (called "desynching") and a distinct set of attacks. During the game, the player acquires abilities enabling new units and upgrades to existing units to be purchased for his army. Furthermore, new units can be acquired by capturing certain objectives in levels, such as derelict space stations and starbases. The unit's development can also be tracked through a special technology tree. More powerful versions of unlockable units in the game are also available as downloadable content from the Playstation Network, but unlike the other units, the player can only acquire one of each.
Support units range from large carrier ships to maintenance units as well as the Force pods.
Force units can either be controlled separately or they can be attached to fighter craft. Attached Forces function as a unidirectional shield while providing the fighter with stronger attacks. When not attached, a Force is an independent unit that can be used as a tank
.
Aside from mining Solomonadium, Etherium, and Bydolgen, the Rr2o-3 is also capable of building a space station
on certain stages featuring core blocks, though at a cost in Solomonadium mined on the spot. The kinds of modules that can be assembled include expansion conduits, docking bays, missile and laser turrets, fixed Wave Cannon turrets, and radar stations. The player can assemble up to 30 modules per stage. Once a core block has been destroyed, the entire station complex is destroyed as well.
The EAAF's arsenal comprises most of the Force-capable R-series fighters seen in the history of the franchise. The Granzera Revolutionary Army (GZRA) has only one fighter with a Force system (the R-9A Ragnarok and the non-Bydo based Shadow Force, respectively), but have jamming
support, which can mask units under a fog of war. Sonar can also be used to uncover "desynched" units without having to bump into them during a turn. Regardless of what faction the player starts with, most of the other faction's units can be unlocked later in the game. The player can also exit the mission without having finished it and retain whatever bonus boxes recovered in the level.
The Bydo feature evolved versions of previous units seen in Tactics, such as the Boldo cruiser.
Enemy units that are close to being defeated can be converted to fight for the player.
while the female character is voiced by Yukie Maeda
. The assistants will still be available in the Bydo campaign, but no voice options are available for the main character in the journal.
, the player encounters an unknown machine civilization. The factions prepare for an attack on the Glitnir hyperspace station upon discovering that some GZRA members are planning something. Depending on a choice made at the end of a mission to Neptune
, the player can swing around Triton
to attack a GZRA outpost and mount a side attack on the Utgarda Loki beam cannon in the Kuiper Belt
or directly attack the Utgarda Loki before the siege of Glitnir. It is discovered that the GZRA units occupying Glitnir are a new faction - the Solar Liberation League, an extremist wing of the GZRA. After conquering Glitnir, the joint EAF/GZRA force fights the SLL over the Tesseract, wherein they discover that the SLL are fighting alongside Bydo units. It is revealed that the SLL are able to field Bydo units using the so-called Bydo Bind System, a special mind-control system based on the Force pods. After defeating the SLL/Bydo forces in the Tesseract, the player gets word that the Bydo have invaded Earth again. As a result, the player's forces go out of warp space and go back to the Solar System and defeat the enemy (including recapturing the Gail Rose fortress). After driving the Bydo out of Earth, the human forces engage the aliens on another part of the Solar System and defeat the Bydo's Kombiler Lilil flagship.
In the last stage, the player's forces enter a stage with a yellow mist and representations of the Solar System's planets to face the Bydo Core, called the Amber Eye. However, despite defeating it, the player's forces are sucked by the Amber Eye and are all turned into Bydo.
and also has a co-operative two-player mode available through ad hoc connection and game sharing modes.
In the PlayStation 3
's community-based social gaming network, PlayStation Home
, Irem has released a Game Space in the Japanese Home on December 3, 2009 to promote the release of R-Type Tactics II: Operation Bitter Chocolate on the PSP and PSPgo. This is the first PSP title to receive a PlayStation Home Game Space.
Tactical role-playing game
A tactical role-playing game is a type of video game which incorporates elements of traditional role-playing video games and strategy games. In Japan these games are known as , a designation which might seem peculiar to native English speakers...
released in 2009 in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
for the PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
game console. It is a direct sequel to 2007's R-Type Tactics. The main part of the game consists of three campaigns, in which the player controls two human factions, then the Bydo Empire.
Gameplay
Bitter Chocolate features the player as he navigates a fleet of space fighters and support units, as one of three factions - the Earth Allied armed Forces (EAAF; an evolution of the Earth Space Corps in the first game), the Bydo Empire, and a new human faction called the Granzera Revolutionary Army (GZRA). The side-scrolling nature of R-Type Command's gameplay is retained in the sequel. Most levels are structured as in a side-scrolling shooter, with the player's units and the objective on opposite sides of the field. Units cannot change the direction they are facing, which has an important impact on gameplay, as certain attacks can only be performed in one direction. Although certain missions have the player's units facing right, there are missions in both Human and Bydo campaigns where they will face left. Players can also earn veterancy levels, which improve their units' hit points or evasion levels.Like other turn-based strategy games, the playing field is also divided into hexagons with varying effects. The game maps are also larger than those found in the first game, with some levels encompassing behemoth space facilities. Some stages are also vertically scrolling.
Players can also customize their avatars under a new profiling system and can also interlink with their old profiles from the first game. The profile from the first game represents the Bydo commander who was forced to leave Earth for good at the end of Tactics. The player will assume this profile when the Bydo campaign is unlocked. However, this feature is only present in the Japanese release. The game also features branching mission paths that can be unlocked based on choices listed in the player's journal. The missions on the other path would be available when the player completes a campaign chapter.
Units
R-Type Tactics II offers more than 200 different units, including many of the R-series fighters from the other R-Type games such as R-Type Final, plus units from other Irem games such as the Granvia-F submarine from In The HuntIn the Hunt
is a horizontal scrolling shooter arcade game by Irem. It was released in 1993 and later ported to the Sega Saturn, the PlayStation and Windows 95 for the PC by Kokopeli....
. Each fighter has unique abilities such as sub-space movement (called "desynching") and a distinct set of attacks. During the game, the player acquires abilities enabling new units and upgrades to existing units to be purchased for his army. Furthermore, new units can be acquired by capturing certain objectives in levels, such as derelict space stations and starbases. The unit's development can also be tracked through a special technology tree. More powerful versions of unlockable units in the game are also available as downloadable content from the Playstation Network, but unlike the other units, the player can only acquire one of each.
Support units range from large carrier ships to maintenance units as well as the Force pods.
Force units can either be controlled separately or they can be attached to fighter craft. Attached Forces function as a unidirectional shield while providing the fighter with stronger attacks. When not attached, a Force is an independent unit that can be used as a tank
Tank (computer gaming)
A tank is a style of character in gaming, often associated with a character class. A common convention in real-time strategy games, role-playing games, MMORPGs and MUDs, tanks redirect enemy attacks and/or attention toward themselves in order to protect other characters or units...
.
Aside from mining Solomonadium, Etherium, and Bydolgen, the Rr2o-3 is also capable of building a space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
on certain stages featuring core blocks, though at a cost in Solomonadium mined on the spot. The kinds of modules that can be assembled include expansion conduits, docking bays, missile and laser turrets, fixed Wave Cannon turrets, and radar stations. The player can assemble up to 30 modules per stage. Once a core block has been destroyed, the entire station complex is destroyed as well.
The EAAF's arsenal comprises most of the Force-capable R-series fighters seen in the history of the franchise. The Granzera Revolutionary Army (GZRA) has only one fighter with a Force system (the R-9A Ragnarok and the non-Bydo based Shadow Force, respectively), but have jamming
Radar jamming and deception
Radar jamming and deception is the intentional emission of radio frequency signals to interfere with the operation of a radar by saturating its receiver with noise or false information...
support, which can mask units under a fog of war. Sonar can also be used to uncover "desynched" units without having to bump into them during a turn. Regardless of what faction the player starts with, most of the other faction's units can be unlocked later in the game. The player can also exit the mission without having finished it and retain whatever bonus boxes recovered in the level.
The Bydo feature evolved versions of previous units seen in Tactics, such as the Boldo cruiser.
Enemy units that are close to being defeated can be converted to fight for the player.
Characters
For the first time in the franchise, human characters with dubbed voices are introduced in the game, with both the EAAF and the GZRA having male and female characters that act as the player's in-game assistants.Main Character
The player's alter-ego is the main character, which can be designed according to gender, birthplace, and favorite food and color. The main character's voice can be heard in the journal entries, which also have choices that can affect the campaign and determine the player's rating in a special profile graph. The male character is voiced by Tetsu InadaTetsu Inada
' is a seiyū who works for Aoni Production.-TV:*Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales *Bakugan Battle Brawlers *Bakugan Battle Brawlers New Vestroia *Bamboo Blade...
while the female character is voiced by Yukie Maeda
Yukie Maeda
Yukie Maeda is a seiyū from Nara, Japan.-Shows:*Beyblade as Yuu*Blood+ as Alison ; [+ unlisted credits] Yukie Maeda (前田 ゆきえ Maeda Yukie, born October 14, 1973) is a seiyū from Nara, Japan.-Shows:*Beyblade as Yuu*Blood+ as Alison (eps. 10-11); [+ unlisted credits] Yukie Maeda (前田 ゆきえ Maeda Yukie,...
. The assistants will still be available in the Bydo campaign, but no voice options are available for the main character in the journal.
Earth Allied Armed Forces
- Gerald McKellen (voiced by Shinya Hamazoe)
- Dietrich Atterberg (voiced by Kanehira Yamamoto)
- Hiroko F. Gazarov (voiced by Ryōko ShintaniRyoko Shintaniis a voice actress and singer from Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. She is under the Lantis and Vi-vo Recording Label and famous as the voice of Milfeulle Sakuraba in the Galaxy Angel Series...
) - Diana Verano (voiced by Junko Asami)
Granzera Revolutionary Army
- Ryota Wyatt (voiced by Mitsuki SaigaMitsuki Saigais a female seiyū who was born in Saitama. Saiga works at Ken Production.-Anime:* .hack//Roots * .hack//Sign * 07-Ghost * Ashita no Nadja...
) - Claude Rhan (voiced by Kenichi SuzumuraKenichi Suzumurais a Japanese voice actor who was born in Niigata Prefecture, but raised in Osaka Prefecture. He is currently affiliated with Arts Vision. He made his television animation debut on Macross 7 in 1994...
) - Ema Crawford (voiced by Mami Kurokawa)
- Irie Hugel (voiced by Yuzu Satonaka)
Story
The game is set in MC 0074, nine years after the events of Tactics. The Space Corps has successfully fought off the invasion of the Bydo Empire and peace has reigned. However, tension rises when the EAAF resists calls to demobilize and scrap much of its Force-based arsenal as the Bydo no longer pose a threat. Fed up with the EAAF's defiance, a faction based in Mars called the Granzera Revolutionary Army declares war on Earth and attracts many people to their cause.EAAF/GZRA
Over the first two chapters, both factions skirmish within the inner planets of the solar system. They encounter the Bydo in Jupiter and fight to capture the Gail Rose space fortress outside Saturn. Outside OberonOberon (moon)
Oberon , also designated ', is the outermost major moon of the planet Uranus. It is the second largest and second most massive of the Uranian moons, and the ninth most massive moon in the Solar System. Discovered by William Herschel in 1787, Oberon is named after the mythical king of the fairies...
, the player encounters an unknown machine civilization. The factions prepare for an attack on the Glitnir hyperspace station upon discovering that some GZRA members are planning something. Depending on a choice made at the end of a mission to Neptune
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
, the player can swing around Triton
Triton (moon)
Triton is the largest moon of the planet Neptune, discovered on October 10, 1846, by English astronomer William Lassell. It is the only large moon in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit, which is an orbit in the opposite direction to its planet's rotation. At 2,700 km in diameter, it is...
to attack a GZRA outpost and mount a side attack on the Utgarda Loki beam cannon in the Kuiper Belt
Kuiper belt
The Kuiper belt , sometimes called the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt, is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, although it is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive...
or directly attack the Utgarda Loki before the siege of Glitnir. It is discovered that the GZRA units occupying Glitnir are a new faction - the Solar Liberation League, an extremist wing of the GZRA. After conquering Glitnir, the joint EAF/GZRA force fights the SLL over the Tesseract, wherein they discover that the SLL are fighting alongside Bydo units. It is revealed that the SLL are able to field Bydo units using the so-called Bydo Bind System, a special mind-control system based on the Force pods. After defeating the SLL/Bydo forces in the Tesseract, the player gets word that the Bydo have invaded Earth again. As a result, the player's forces go out of warp space and go back to the Solar System and defeat the enemy (including recapturing the Gail Rose fortress). After driving the Bydo out of Earth, the human forces engage the aliens on another part of the Solar System and defeat the Bydo's Kombiler Lilil flagship.
In the last stage, the player's forces enter a stage with a yellow mist and representations of the Solar System's planets to face the Bydo Core, called the Amber Eye. However, despite defeating it, the player's forces are sucked by the Amber Eye and are all turned into Bydo.
Bydo
The Bydo campaign sees the player taking on a so-called Unknown Civilization that has advanced technology. Halfway to the campaign, the player takes the fight to the Unknown Civilization's planet, but spare it from attack and fly back to Earth once more. There, the player faces the same force of units from the final stage of Tactics before taking on the SLL.Multiplayer
The game also supports multiplayer combat via Wi-FiWi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
and also has a co-operative two-player mode available through ad hoc connection and game sharing modes.
Demo
Irem released two demos of the game, with one demo sampling the EAF and the other for the GZRA. Both contain three stages each, with one of them a remake of a classic R-Type stage featuring the alien boss Dobkeratops.Full Version
As a pre-order bonus, a soundtrack disc was included. No announcements have been made for a release outside of Japan., although Irem is considering releasing the title on their own after being disappointed with Atlus' translation of the first game.In the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
's community-based social gaming network, PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home is a virtual 3D social gaming network developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio for the PlayStation 3 on the PlayStation Network . It is available directly from the PlayStation 3 XrossMediaBar under PlayStation Network. Membership is free, and only requires a PSN...
, Irem has released a Game Space in the Japanese Home on December 3, 2009 to promote the release of R-Type Tactics II: Operation Bitter Chocolate on the PSP and PSPgo. This is the first PSP title to receive a PlayStation Home Game Space.
External links
- Official Website (Japanese)
- Official Website (English)
- R-Type Tactics II: Operation Bitter Chocolate at Playstation.com (Japan) (Japanese)
- R-Type Tactics II: Operation Bitter Chocolate at PSP Games (English).