Review
Release Date: 11.13.2007
Platform:
Nintendo DSDeveloper:
WayForward TechnologiesPublisher:
Konami of America, Inc.Reviewed by
Burk Frey on 11.24.2007
| Review Rating: 10/10 | User Rating: 9/10 |
Consider, if you will, the text message I sent my gamer friend upon buying
Contra 4:
dude, the contra 4 manual is ROCKIN'. i haven't
even popped in the game yet and it's already
worth my $30. buy it now, life on earth depends
on it
Yes, that last part was a little dramatic. But it's true: everything about
Contra 4 oozes quality, right down to the manual. And it only gets better when you start playing.
The story for
Contra 4 is short and sweet - Black Viper (the nemesis from
Operation C and Red Falcon's evil partner) has come to wreak havoc on Earth, and all of our attempts to fight back have failed. In a final desperate move, mankind calls on its four finest warriors - Bill Rizer, Lance Bean, Mad Dog, and Scorpion - to bring peace to our planet. (With as much ass-kicking as these four do, it's a wonder they weren't called first, but they're here now.) And so
Contra 4 begins.
If you need brushing up on your
Contra knowledge, here's a refresher:
Contra began in the arcade in 1987, before being ported to the NES one year later. Another arcade-to-NES game followed, as well as renditions for the Game Boy, SNES, and Genesis. All of these early titles are considered classic. After that, two PlayStation
Contras were released in 1996 and 1998. They were seen as failures and, in fact, have since been retconned from the official timeline. The pair of PS2 installments fared better, with many fans enjoying
Contra: Shattered Soldier in particular. Nonetheless, in recent years the series has definitely fallen from the height of its glory. With that in mind,
Konami and
WayForward Technologies took a close look at
Contra's roots to bring us the newest game. Simply put, that approach worked.
The first thing the developers nailed was the
Contra "attitude." It's in the manual, it's in the
official website (check it out if you haven't, it's become somewhat of a small Internet phenomenon), and it's in the game itself. Much like
God of War or the movie
300, the
Contra series is about unbridled and unapologetic MANLINESS. Explosions, automatic weapons, chiseled abs, wailin' rock tunes. The gameplay and control mechanics, also, are honed to perfection. They harken to the run-gun-and-dodge formula of yore without ever feeling simple or dated. Further maintaining the fresh experience, a brand new grappling hook has been added for
Contra 4. By latching onto pipes or railings overhead, it enables several new abilities: it allows you to move your soldier to the top screen, avoid enemy fire, or recover from a missed jump in some cases. Much to my relief, the grappling hook complements the existing mechanics perfectly and never feels out of place.
Most gamers have heard of the
Contra series' legendary difficulty, and the unlucky ones have experienced it firsthand. These games are
hard, and
Contra 4 kicks your ass with the best of 'em. You've got the main adventure (hard), an extensive Challenge Mode (hard), and the unlockable
Contra and
Super C (hard and hard). It's good to see that Konami didn't skimp on the difficulty in this modern day and age; the new adventure is easily as testing as the two NES games. Normal mode starts you with a paltry 4 lives per continue. And unfortunately, while the ol' Konami Code
is included (yesss!), it has a purpose other than granting you more lives. So alas, no help there. This game will test all of your skill as a hardcore gamer, and then some. I can recommend
Contra 4 universally, with one caveat.
Contra 4 requires an advanced skillset to play - so as fun as the game is, I would not recommend it for the younger crowd or for casual gamers.
A prime example of
Contra 4's difficulty, and one of the best additions to the game, is the aforementioned Challenge Mode. Challenge Mode consists of 40 individual challenges set in portions of the main game's side-scrolling stages. Only each challenge sets a certain requirement such as a time limit, low ammunition, or - devilishly - no ammunition at all. The great thing about the challenges is that a lot of them seem (quite literally) impossible at first playthrough. But then you stop and realize that
Contra 4 is just demanding more from you than other games. Every movement, jump, and shot must be choreographed with exact timing and precision. In the harder challenges, you have to learn not to react, but to predict - in other words, you have to learn when that enemy is going to shoot and pre-time your jump or duck with confidence. And the crazy part about all of this? It's downright fun, and it's quintessential
Contra. I would have preferred some stat tracking (completion time, shots fired, etc) for Challenge Mode, but the challenges themselves are perfect.
In addition to the legendary difficulty, you'll find all the other
Contra essentials here too. Co-op play is back, gloriously. The wireless interface is quick and simple, and gets you right into the game... which is how it should be. Regrettably, co-op is multi-cart only and LAN only (no Internet play). But honestly, the multi-cart thing isn't a huge deal; 99% of gamers with a DS should buy this game. As for other essentials, there's a great set of classic gun upgrades, along with a new upgrade system. You can carry two guns at a time still, but they cannot be dual-wielded like in
Contra III. Instead, each upgrade is stackable: if you pick up two homing missles, for example, you'll equip a powered-up homing gun. Not only that, but upgrades can be "dropped," which is a brilliant addition for co-op play. That way if you're the one getting all the upgrades, you can toss a few to your buddy if you want. Finally, like any good side-scroller, the latest
Contra is home to several memorable bosses and mid-bosses. Most of them are of the classic "enormous sprite" variety - and since we're on the DS, that means many bosses are two screens tall or more! Not only that, but there's a particularly fun battle in level 4 which is actually a mid-boss
on a mid-boss, which then crash lands next to the level boss. Figure that one out.
What surprised me most about
Contra 4 was the quality of the visuals. From the very first level, when your
Contra soldier of choice is air-dropped into the jungles of Galuga, the graphics amaze. The splash of wake behind your soldier as you wade through the water, the palm trees gently swaying in the background, the gorgeous detail of the textures. The character animation is smooth and crisp as well. I expected
Contra 4 to look more polished than
Contra III for the SNES, but it's not even close.
Contra 4's graphics
far surpass those of its older brother.
And that's not all. The soundtrack, composed by Jake Kaufman (formerly of
VGMix), is a real winner. All of the music is in that upbeat, hard rockin'
Contra style that gamers know and love. There's not a bad track in the bunch; every single one is catchy and high quality. On the sound effects side, things are a bit more average but no less appropriate. Gunshots, explosions, and other effects all sound like
Contra. There are a few voice samples for the playable characters as well; these can be turned off, but I didn't need to as they never really got annoying. Overall, the sound is yet another strong point for
Contra 4.
The release of
Contra 4 fell on the 20th anniversary of the
Contra series, so Konami saw fit to include a whole bunch of extras for the occasion. Available from the beginning is the Museum, which showcases all of the games in the
Contra series, along with screenshots and pictures of the Japanese, American, and European boxart for each title. And it'll take some work in the main game, but you can unlock an interview with post-NES producer Nobuya Nakazato, some
Contra comic books, and - most importantly - the NES games
Contra and
Super C (Contra II) in their entirety. Add on top of that several cool unlockable characters for the main game and some other extras, and you've got yourself quite the laundry list of bonus content.
Let me state it bluntly:
Contra 4 succeeds where similar attempts have failed. It's meant to be a nostalgia trip, in part, but
Contra 4 is also a genuine sequel where other nostalgia trips tend to be subpar rehashes. It's been since 1994 (arguably) that we've seen a proper
Contra, and the gaming industry has seen a world of change since then. Yet somehow,
Contra 4 manages to achieve not just a place
alongside the classic
Contras, but
atop them. You read that right - I feel that
Contra 4 is the best game in the series (though I admit to having never played
Hard Corps, which is acclaimed as one of the finer titles). Still, any way you slice it, that's some high praise... and
Contra 4 deserves it all. An epic main game, great replayability from the new Challenge Mode, wireless co-op, sweet bonus features, AND the two NES
Contras included? That's a recipe for success, and Konami and WayForward followed it to the letter. Consider this one an instant classic.
