It is a little onerous. I feel a check ride can't really ever be a bad thing, but I agree, if you have several types and need two hours in each (one of which can be the LPC) you're looking at a wadge of dosh. In my situation, I've got two types and am in the middle of revalidating them both. Since getting my CPL I've had no flight time (no job) and suddenly I've got to bash out two hours in the Robbo plus two hours in the Jet Ranger. Quite a hit. But, as I say, I think it's a fairly necessary evil.
I do find it a bit strange that, to keep your types current, before they lapse, you need to do a minimum of two hours, including a flight test, yet to revalidate a lapsed licence you need to do a minimum of ... two hours including a flight test.
Plus, I'd like to know what the CAA is going to do with all the bits of paper it gets when you do take the test, and how long is it going to be before they decide that having demanded we send them in, they'll just have to charge us a fortune to process them ?