Contra – Shattered Soldier (PS2)
T
– Animated Blood, Violence |
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--Say “hello” to my little friend!
--X Games ain’t got nothing on
this
--Yes kids, fuel IS flammable.
--Bill Rizer goes nutso.
--Wait a second…we’re going to |
For those who remember, it was
Up Up, Down Down, Left Right
Left Right, B, A, and start. Contra revolutionized the action genre in video
games by pitting two humans armed with assault rifles and Rambo-like bandanas
against an army of aliens bent on taking over Earth. They tried many times,
and it seems that aliens can’t seem to get the message. Contra: Shattered Soldier begins
with the release of Bill Rizer, the hero from the
Alien Wars (on SNES) and crazed lunatic. After the Alien Wars, he was accused of killing Player 2 (heh heh, Lance Bean actually) and
went nuts by killing 80% of the world’s population by taking over an
ultra-magnetic weapons factory. He was captured and sent to cryo-prison for 10,000 years to serve out his sentence.
Once again, aliens come to take over the earth, and the leaders of the free
world can think of only one man to stop them. Not to mention the new, sexy,
and ass kicking cyborg Lucia is along for the ride
to aid Rizer in his quest, also there to keep an
eye on him, to make sure he doesn’t go crazy again. The previous two Contra games,
for lack of better words, sucked. The makers tried to bring Contra into the
3D world, and to no avail failed miserably. So now, with the help of the
creators of the very first Contra, Shattered Soldier goes back into the side
scrolling 2D world. The gameplay is straight
forward and simple…kill everything and anything in your path. Aliens and
assault vehicles, planes, and machinery come at you from all angles of the
screen, creating furious and fast paced action that never quits, up until you
turn the game off. What can you say about the
controls, besides having a shoot button, and a jump button? Those two buttons
will be obviously the most used, but the R2 and L2 buttons can also be used. By
holding down R2 and firing, you can fire in any angle and your player will
stay in their stationary position. Hold down L2 and your player will fire in
one direction and allowing him to walk backwards, forwards, or jump. The graphics are astounding,
paying very close attention to detail. The character models are real small
and don’t have much in terms of face detail, but the environment and settings
more than make up for the lack of character design. The animations run
smoothly, both environment and player movements, as well as explosions,
gunfire (you have your machine gun, flame thrower, and grenade launcher all
at your immediate disposal), and particle effects. It’s
graphical ingenuity sets Contra: Shattered Soldier apart from many action
games, which are predominantly first-person shooter games. The sounds are incredible, and
add to the excitement of the game. With pounding gunfire, loud explosions, no
voice acting whatsoever, and the bone-crunching heavy metal Living
Sacrifice-like guitar music in the background, the game plays more like a
Chow-Yun-Fat movie. If you beat the game on easy,
you don’t get an ending, only a suggestion to try it on normal, which puts
you in the game with three lives, and only three continues. Bummer, compared
to the 10 lives and 99 continues while playing on easy. However, the game is
worth taking the time to play over and over again until you’ve vanquished the
alien forces. Extra endings, video, and training levels (ironic that they
come after you beat the game) keep
you coming back for more. It’s the Contra that we fell in
love with when it hit the Nintendo System some twelve years ago. Going back
to their roots with insane side scrolling action, heavy hitting music and
sound effects, and graphics that set this apart from first person shooter
games, Contra is a sure winner that will please every action fan, young and
old. One little bad thing to say about this game however…where’s the spread
gun!? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Graphics – 9/10 Sound – 9/10 Gameplay – 9/10 Replay – 8/10 ------------------------------------------- Total Score (Average) – 9 --Stojan J |
