John Wayne Ain’t Dead, He’s Frozen
Interesting events have been taking place in the world of Contra. Bill (the first player from the original Contra) has been charged and consequently frozen for destroying 80% of humanity with a satellite weapon. When the remaining 20% of humanity is in peril from alien attacks, they decide to thaw Bill from his ice prison, and send him out to annihilate the threat. Bill teams up with Lucia, a female cyborg who is an unstoppable killing machine.
This Is How We Played Games When I Was A Kid, Little Billy
If you’ve played any of the pre-32 bit Contra or Probotector games, you’ll be right at home with Shattered Soldier. For those who haven’t played any of these games before, the premise is simple – run from left to right and blast anything and everything in your path, without being killed. There have been some major changes to the formula for this iteration. There are only two characters to select from, Bill and Lucia, as opposed to previous games, where there was up to 4 characters. The second change is to the weapon system. Instead of just starting with the basic machine gun, and building your arsenal through a series of power ups, you know have 3 different weapons to cycle through from the start of play, and there are no power ups or level ups for these weapons. They do have a charge up function, but these secondary fire modes aren’t very useful.
Contra’s level structure sticks close to the way things have been in previous games, but you can now choose which level you wish to start on (out of the first four, anyway). The branching paths from the Megadrive game are sadly missing, and the levels aren’t exactly as long as you’d think. Fortunately, the levels are filled to the brim with tough enemies and bosses. You will die in this game. You’ll be frustrated. Controllers could possibly become airborne. Contra: Shattered Soldier is one of the most unforgiving games released in the last few years. There are no energy bars, just one shot and you’re dead. Your supply of lives and continues is also heavily limited, especially when teaming up with a friend.
At the end of each level, your rank is calculated by taking your total hit rate and subtracting a score for each life and continue you used in the duration of the level. The ranks range from the lowly C to the highly regarded S rank. Completing the game with high overall ranks will unlock a variety of extras.
The main problems in Contra: Shattered Soldier lie in the balance. There is a fine line between difficult and frustrating, and this game does initially go over the top in its difficulty. Once the patterns of the bosses and overall layout of the levels have been figured out, you’ll find that Contra becomes fairly stale, and is actually pretty easy. With only seven levels in the game, Contra is over within a few hours. Playing with a mate will actually sort out a few of these balance issues and will lead to a much more fulfilling experience, which leaves those without gamer friends in the dark.
Visually Enhanced
Contra won’t win many friends amongst casual gamers for its graphical style by rebelling against the 3D perspective that almost every game employs, and using the traditional 2D styling. The brash choice is due to the fact Contra’s entries into 3D were horrid, and it is better that they are forgotten. The risk pays off – not only is the original feeling of the Contra games capture, but the game also looks great.
The game’s environments may be 2D, but that doesn’t imply that they aren’t detailed – on top of being constructed with polygons, the backgrounds are filled with real time lighting and other special effects. Player models are reminiscent of ones used in Contra III on the SNES; small and featuring low amounts of animation. While this can be seen as a little bit of an in-joke, and paying homage to the previous games in the series, things would look a little better with a few extra frames of animation. Boss design is a highlight, due to their sheer size and freakish appearance (a tortoise with a face on its arse, for example). The game runs at a stable framerate throughout, and even includes a 60 Hz mode for full screen, full speed blasting.
The musical score in Contra is filled with repetitive, high speed techno music – another bit of homage to the original games, though as you progress through the game, you may notice a few of the classic Contra tunes have been redone. The game’s music changes its pace and style through the levels to avoid becoming monotonous. Sound effects are crisp and clear, and very high in bass which will please those who own decent sound systems. There is no voice work to speak of, as all of the communication in the cinematics is text-based.
Game Over
Contra: Shattered Soldier is a step in the right direction for the series after its dismal attempts into 3D. This is not to suggest that the game lives up to the series of old – although the aesthetics are nice, there are still a few kinks in the structure and balance of the gameplay, not to mention the lack of a lasting factor. Patterns are relatively simple, levels are too few, and relying on two players playing the game to achieve balance all work against the game. Fans of the old games or just 16-bit titles in general should give it a look.
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