Super Contra (Xbox Live Arcade) Review
Posted by Mike Minotti on 08.31.2007
Have you ever heard phrase "run and gun"?
My friends, let me take you back. Back to a time when men were men, aliens needed shooting, and videogames didn’t have the worries of copyright infringement that they now have. It was a time when, while playing on the NES was fun and all, the real games were at the arcade, and these games were fast paced, full of action, and hard as hell.
Few games better epitomize that nostalgic arcade shooter than the early Contra games. The original was such a hit when it was released in arcades in 1987, that a sequel, Super Contra, was released the following year. This sequel has a lot in common with the original game. You’re still shooting (a lot) through a variety of levels, either solo or with a friend, collecting power ups that fly through the sky and dodging enemy fire like mad men.
Not say there aren’t qualities in Super Contra that are unique. While all of the surfaces in the original Contra were flat, Super Contra had inclined surfaces. While this may not sound like an earth shattering design choice, having to worry about enemies coming at you from angles actually made the game harder. You can aim your gun in all 45 angles, but angled shots cannot be done standing still. You have to be moving or directly below overhead enemies in order to shoot them, and since the screen can be littered with so many bullets, moving is often the last thing you want to do.
I know this hardly a shocking statement, but Super Contra is hard. One hit kills you, and you only get a handful of lives and a few continues. You are unlikely to beat this game on your first try. Heck, you may not even beat the first level on your first try. With persistence, you will notice that your skills improve, and you will begin to slowly advance further in the game with each try. There are only a handful of levels in the game, some which feature the classic Contra side scrolling shooting, while others are actually played from a top-down perspective. These levels, while played from a different perspective, still feel inherently “Contra”, and are just as hard (if not harder) then the rest of the game.
Not much has been changed for the Xbox Live Arcade re-release. The music has been updated, and it does sound rather nice. I don’t know the words to describe good “alien shooting music”, but Super Contra has it. The graphics have been given slight updates in spots; most notably the explosions have been reworked to resemble neon-ish clouds of sort. The updated graphics can be turned off for Super Contra purists who prefer the old school flavor of the original arcade version. Co-op can also be played online, which is an expected, but still appreciated touch.
The gameplay is simple, but it’s still fun. Sure, there are better, newer games like this on the Xbox Live Arcade (Alien Hominid HD comes to mind), but those games don’t have the nostalgia that this game offers. Sure, in turn for that nostalgia you’ll be getting a game that’s repetitive, unoriginal (seriously, the aliens in this game came straight out of the Aliens movies), hard, frustrating, and short. But it’s Super Contra, and god damn it, Contra is awesome! Still, you may be able to get your fill of Super Contra from the demo. You may not be able to even beat that short demo, so you could be saving yourself some money.
The 411
Super Contra is a hard game. I don’t care if you’re playing with yourself or with your friend, you will have a hard time with this one. The difficulty is where a lot of the charm comes from, but it’s still frustrating when you occasionally find yourself bombarded by enemies and bullets. These no win situation are a bit more frequent then a would like, but carrying the spread gun, which is the second weapon upgrade that flies by in the first level, can make things much easier. If that’s not enough, well, there’s always the Konami code.
Graphics
6.0
The graphics have that old school charm, though that background pciture of the two characters is so ugly it brings this score down.
Gameplay
7.0
It's simple, but the mechanics still work.
Sound
8.0
Gotta love that music.
Lasting Appeal
6.0
It may take you a while to beat, but that has more to do with the game's difficulty than its length.
Fun Factor
6.5
It's hard, straight forward, and derivative, but it's still Contra.
