You play a shirtless, time travelling super soldier tasked with defeating the Red Falcon alien threat, under the control of Chief Salamander, that has invaded Earth in 2633. You face the impossible task of defeating an endless horde of aliens, robots and mutants, armed with only your wit, quick reflexes and a machine gun with infinite ammo.
The latest installment to the Contra franchise continues the success of Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS by staying true to the classic run & gun gameplay of the series and is indeed a worthy sequel to the great Contra III: The Alien Wars.
Space-time ship hull breach!
Going to take more to stop the Contra.
The Story…
“Chief Salamander and his Neo-Salamander Force travel back to 1973 AD to invade Earth. They land in Central America and take control of the Shizuoka ruins on the Yucatan Peninsula. There, the aliens plan the destruction of all the “Contra” on Earth. The Galactic President calls on Lance Bean, a member of the elite “Contra” warriors to save the Earth, but his sudden disappearance jeopardizes the safety of the planet. Now, Bill Rizer and the samurai, Genbei Yagyu are the last hope for Earth and must pick up their weapons and defeat the evil Neo-Salamander Army before all is lost.”
And on that note, grab your guns, we are off to save the planet! Could this be one of the most ridiculous, over the top story-lines behind any game? Absolutely. Does it in any way impede the ensuing alien bloodbath? 8-ball says no, Timmy.
So this tale sounds somewhat familiar, just how does it differ from previous Contra installments? Well, this time around the Red Falcon is being controlled by someone or something called Chief Salamander and his Neo-Salamander army. In addition we are introduced to the idea of the Contras being from sometime in the future, traveling back through time to face the alien threat. Previously, the Contras just were, they needed no back-story.
Throughout the game we are put through short cut-scenes that advance the story of game, revealing a minor detail about the overall plot each time. Usually this involves the other characters you don’t even encounter throughout the game, updating you on their situation as if they mattered. The narrative elements are a very strange inclusion as they are not in any way essential to the game, and in fact detract by bringing the action to a screeching halt between levels, instead, having you read about a cross dressing Contra or other bizarre plot detail.
The producers really decided to make a point, beating us over the head, of how the game was not to be taken seriously. Somehow I can’t help but feel this has to do with detracting from the naturally violent imagery of a mass murdering super soldier in order to ensure they get their non-restricted ESRB rating of E10+.
Angry headless robot.
Ah, nostalgia…
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Went back to play Hard Corps on the Genesis yesterday. There is no real comparison in the difficulty between then and now. I’m sure that’s something I will write about in the future.