A nice move for Irem to finally take a step into the beyond.
Since R-Type final must have been their truly final game, Irem must have decided to venture towards something different and break away from the norm. Lo and behold, we have R-Type Tactics (or Command in US). I have to admit, this was actually unexpected and unbecoming of Irem; but after years of having the same genre, one might want a new change of pace.
For first impressions, the game runs rather slow even on UMD, so that's not good. The opening movie looked good, but didn't exactly run smoothly. It was a nice introduction to the various ships that you'll get to unlock, control etc. The loading times were definitely appallingly slow, that even if you overclocked your PSP; it will still run slowly.
The battle system is turn based, you move your units, attack, repair, supply etc. Some ships have the ability what is known as desynch/resynch which will enable you ship to move further but at the high cost of fuel. There are also warships which you may use to attack, dock your ships in to repair and supply. Also some units have the ability to conquer unclaimed stations or mine resources which becomes spoils after battle.
Spoils can also be found scattered across maps. Also on the map is the good ol' "fog of war" situations where you'll need to tread carefully. But not all the stages are that easy, there are times when even are against all odds. Well actually, most of the time that you are against all odds as the AI isn't at all that predictable.
At the end of your missions, sometimes you can earn new pilots that you can train during missions and level up their pilot skills. This means that you increase the probability for hits and evasions. You can assign pilots to warships, fighters and so on. The other good thing about the missions are the battle animations. While it may not look as spectacular, you get to see the variety of arsenal they have in store. As for the different types of wave cannons, the bydo too have that ability. Attacking them will reset the wave cannon to zero, conversely this applies to your allies too. But the other aspect that brought in the realism is that friendly fires do occur. Wave cannons can hurt you too and not just the enemy.
At the end of the missions, you are then ranked through you efforts depending on the number of turn you take, the number of enemies destroyed, the number of allies destroyed and the ship you used as a finisher. You will then be given the respected nickname. I was given the title of Iron Wall Devil due to no allies lost. Rookie if you lose some.
While the music isn't as bad, the gameplay really was interesting, the overall AI were not that entirely dumb and there were many times that I was easily ambushed. There are unlockable galleries that you can use them as wallpaper for you loading and title screen. You can also view movies too.
Overall the game was good that I couldn't stop playing.