The Contra games have always been especially light on story – Neo Contra is no exception. Essentially, Bill Rizer is back after disposing of his one time friend and ally Lance in Shattered Soldier, and has a new associate; Genbei Jaguar Yagyu, a rather mysterious futuristic Samurai warrior. The aim of the game is to take down the Elite Four, all of which have some special power linked to their name, such as Animal Contra, who happens to be a talking dog dressed up in a rather adorable little military uniform, with sabre and all, who just happens to command a massive airship. It’s this sort of over the top design that really gives Neo Contra its flare – the game never really takes itself seriously.
Better call the guys from Pimp My Ride
Shattered Soldier took the Contra series back to its 2-D roots, but Konami has decided to return to the 3-D playing field for Neo Contra. Thankfully, they’ve recognised the error of their ways in 3-D Contras past, and as such Neo Contra features a much more streamlined approach to 3-D gameplay. In fact, it controls a lot like a mish-mash of the over the shoulder levels from Contra III: The Alien Wars on the SNES and Midway’s arcade hit Smash TV. Players run around wildly on a 3-D plane, but are unable to jump, with a roll manoeuvre offering temporary invulnerability. Any Z-axis enemies can be taken care of with your homing weapon – players themselves are planted firmly on the ground, and can only aim on the X and Y axis. The game allows the player to pick one of the four stages available from the start (each representing one of the Elite Four), and then gives a choice of one of several different weapon load outs. Yes, once again, the power-up system of Contra has been left by the wayside – each weapon set has two regular weapons and a homing weapon (for those pesky aerial targets). Choose carefully, as once you’ve selected a weapon set, you’re stuck with it until the end of the game.
Stages are packed full of enemies waiting to be blasted; players have a hit % meter at the bottom of the screen that indicates how many bad guys you’ve disposed of – the higher this percentage is, the higher your end of stage ranking will be, provided you don’t lose a ton of lives in the process. The regular enemies aren’t that varied – there only seems to be a handful of different types, and players can easily differentiate between the ones that count towards their hit % and which ones are just the randomly appearing, life stealing bastards (who tend to sneak up behind you when you’re on the edge of the screen). Each of the levels varies greatly from the last, and the game has an outrageously fast pace. One minute you’re being chased by Russians who’re Cossack-dancing on top of builders, the next you’re running on top of a helicopter, chasing down an air ship – it’s this high energy gameplay that makes Neo Contra a real joy to play.
In the future, armoured lizards are the most prestigious method of transport
Each level has multiple sub bosses, as well as an end of level boss, who (early on) happens to be one of the Elite Four. The boss designs are absolutely fantastic – the first mini-boss you meet is a disgusting pit creature, which subsequently sprouts a vomiting baby’s head, and tries to douse you in said nausea. Each boss has a distinct pattern; figure these out and you’ll save a lot of lives and improve that final hit rating.
Neo Contra’s greatest weakness is its length. Although it is a point of argument that old-school shooters can be allowed to pass with shorter game lengths, Neo Contra is ridiculously short – in fact, the first play through on the normal difficulty will take players a mere 15 to 20 minutes. Of course, you can drag this out to a couple more hours by trying to get S ranks on each of the game’s seven levels (only five are accessible on the lower difficulties) and unlocking the extra characters, but it still seems ridiculously short in the end. To add insult to injury, Neo Contra is also by far the easiest game in the Contra franchise, especially compared to the devilishly hard Shattered Soldier released two years ago. Of course, the game comes with a co-operative mode, which adds greatly to the overall experience, but the game never really mixes things up or increases the difficulty. Also disappointing is the fact that the other player can’t join in on the fly – a specific two player game must be started.
Brendan, aged 2.
The over-the-top atmosphere of Neo Contra extends into its presentation, as the game features some rather action packed yet amusing cutscenes. These are actually of a rather high quality, and suggest that maybe a little too much went into the CG budget. The game is about on par with Shattered Soldier graphically, but the different perspective and the larger number of enemies on screen push it over – though you must take into consideration that the previous title was released quite some time ago. The character design of the game is a particular highlight, with many of the games enemies and bosses having been inspired by popular 80’s action films. Konami have always been known for employing particularly talented artists and their imagination and ability really shows with some of Neo Contra’s bosses. The framerate is mostly solid, but can stutter a little when a second player is involved. The soundtrack is largely techno-synth which suits the game’s action well, but those with good hearing and better memories should be able to recognise a few of the tunes from older entries in the series. Voice acting is quite terrible – we’d imagine the actors were probably holding back their laughter when reading some of the ridiculous lines featured in the cutscenes.
Neo Contra is a fast paced, over the top action game that fans of the series are bound to enjoy, but is let down significantly by its short length and comparatively easy difficulty. The game features some excellent art, and some of the silly moments throughout the game really must be seen to be believed. Unfortunately, due to its limited appeal and short length, Neo Contra is going to be a rental at best for everyone but the most die-hard of the Contra fan base.
This review is brought to you courtesy of Infinite Gameplay, with unlimited game rentals starting from $19.95 a month.
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