I only played Contra 4 a little. I bought it long ago. One of these days I will play through it. I need to play through Metal Slug 7 (DS) too.
Contra 4
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 On 02/19/2015 at 06:14 PM by Aboboisdaman See More From This User » |
Not having access to a DS for the longest time meant that I missed out on this game. It's always been there lurking in the back of my mind though. When my brother got me a 3DS for Christmas, owning this game suddenly became top priority. Having completed the Arcade Mode and most of the Challenge Mode recently, I can say that it was worth the wait.
Contra 4 was developed by WayForward Technologies and published by Konami Digital Entertainment in 2007 for the Nintendo DS. Despite that four in the title, this is actually the eleventh entry in the Contra series. They named it like that because it's a direct sequel to Contra III: The Alien Wars on SNES. WayForward is no stranger when it comes to playing on nostalgia. Just look at Double Dragon Neon and DuckTales: Remastered for proof.
The year is 2638. With the defeat of the vile Red Falcon, Earth is once again at peace. Peace doesn't last long unfortunately. An alien entity known as Black Viper appears and begins launching catastrophic attacks against humanity. Unwilling to sit back and casually accept this hellish fate, the Earth Federation sends a strike team of their most elite Contra Force commando units. Their mission is to destroy Black Viper and it's vast legions of aliens, robots, and mutants.
It won't be easy. Contra games are renown for their punishing difficulty and relentless pacing. This one is no exception. If anything it amps up the difficulty to extremes at times. Practice, practice, practice and memorizing enemy placement will help immensely. Different soldiers are available. Lance Bean and Bill Rizer return from the original Contra. Mad Dog and Scorpion are also introduced. Granted, they are all basically the same except with different palate swaps. The important thing is they are all muscular, shirtless dudes with bandannas. Five hidden characters are also unlockable through the Challenge Mode.
Contra 4's Arcade Mode is the meat and potatoes of the game. It consists of nine stages. Some of these are remixes of classic levels featured in previous games. Like the Jungle, Waterfall, and City levels. Pseudo 3D base levels from the original Contra are back as well. These place the camera behind your soldier as you push forward through alien bases destroying everything in your path. Most of the action takes place with a side scrolling 2D view. Touching an enemy or enemy gunfire kills you instantly. Tight, responsive controls are a blessing. Plus you can gain extra lives through score and have four continues.
This level looks familiar...
And so do those aliens!
In order to combat Black Viper's army you'll need weapons. A pea shooter is provided as a default weapon. It's rather weak, however, so thank the Maker different kinds of weapon upgrades are doled out via flying orbs that pass by. You can equip two different weapons and freely switch between them at any time. Weapons can also be leveled up by collecting them again. This is extremely important for survival. A powered up Machine gun can tear through bosses with ridiculous ease. Spread makes a welcome return. As does Flame, Laser, Crush (missiles that explode repeatedly) and Barrier. Which renders you invulnerable for a brief period of time. There's also Homing missiles and Smart Bombs.
Of course this wouldn't be Contra without some epic boss fights. Some of the bosses are huge, menacing, and quite powerful. Towering aliens that take up both screens. Giant Robots threaten to smash you into a bloody pulp with their mechanical fists. Tanks, Spider Droids, some kind of weird alien fish thing, and more! Black Viper is no joke either. I try to avoid spoilers in my reviews, but let me just say that this hideous alien mofo didn't disappoint. In the end it's all about learning patterns, adjusting your strategy, and perseverance. Leveled up weapons also helps out tremendously.
Base levels are back!
Look out Bill!
My only real beef with this game is that the action takes place on both screens. A grappling hook is used to navigate back and forth between them. Enemies will be raining death from above, behind, and all around you. Having to look at two screens simultaneously takes a bit of time to adjust to. It's not too bad, but anybody interested in this game should definitely be aware of this. There's no hand holding here. Your thrown head first into the madness and it never stops until that final triumphant jingle plays when Black Viper goes down.
As for the visuals, this game looks quite nice. Slowdown is nonexistent despite a ton of action going on almost constantly. Everything looks vivid, colorful, and the chunky sprites have a nice amount of detail. Animations are silky smooth. Base levels are a bit on the fugly side, but that didn't bother me much, or detract from the overall experience.
The music was composed by Jake Kaufman. It's intense, ominous, sometimes creepy, and sounds fitting. Sound effects are mostly recycled from earlier games, but that's completely fine, and even adds a nostalgic touch. Characters have voices that can be turned off. They spout cheesy one liners when you respawn. Like: "Let's Party!", "Take em out!" and don't forget about those dramatic death screams. Here's a couple of my favorite songs.
My Score: (9/10)
Contra 4 is a hardcore game. I probably wouldn't recommend it to everybody. I would definitely recommend it to fans of this series, or anybody looking for a good 2D action game on DS that will put up a challenge. Once the main campaign mode is completed there's a ton of fun little challenges that can unlock hidden characters and bonus content. Even the original Contra and Super C on NES! I wouldn't recommend buying it for that alone though since the emulation is off.
That's my opinion anyway. Thanks for reading.
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