Impressions - Contra 4cking Hard

Remember me whining about how hard Dracula X Chronicles was? Shame on me. It seems Konami is trying to make me feel like a very small infant child this year.

This is pure old school Contra plain and simple. The two screens perspective is actually pretty neat and game looks and runs smooth but ZOMG the game is hard. This game isn't just hard in the "OMG enemies and bullets everywhere" way, but it actually has a crappy "no-save, beat in one play-through" system.

This is trying to make the game too much like the old Contra games which realistically fails in a modern setting. This system is the number one reason why I don't bother with a lot of shmups most of the time. Believe it or not, you can have a hard game of this old school genre and still allow saving after each stage. Rondo of Blood does this and the game is still extremely difficult. The thing is... I will eventually beat that game because I'm actually gaining progress over time, while in this game I have to restart each time.

Well sort of.... The game does have a system where if the player decides to turn off the DS in the middle of a play sessions the game auto-saves. If the player chooses to resume from that level they can at the cost of a continue. This isn't terrible, but I have a feeling they are making the save system intentionally unforgiving in order to extend the life of the game. The problem with the set up is that the game forces the player to constantly replay levels they have already beaten to get back to the point they were at before. The problem here (and with a lot of shmups) is that the player needs to memorize level layouts to get to the later levels w/o wasting lives or continues. I hate games that have an equal amount of weight on level memorization as it does on twitch based skill. I'm looking at you F-Zero.

With that said... the game is still awesome. It's fast paced Contra action that is a ton of fun to play even when dying repeatedly. The first stage if very standard Contra as is the second stage, but there is an occasional twist or new trick that is new to the series. Most of these involve the second screen and the nifty grappling hook. Let me tell you this though. I'm currently stuck on the boss of stage 2 and I got those old school "shakes" today. This hasn't happened to me since maybe Devil May Cry 1 or certain secret Castlevania bosses. It happens when I'm on a very very hard boss and I'm actually on a good run, but then I make a mistake and I get so nervous that I start making more mistakes. From there it's full tilt and I usually lose the fight. I was so nervous fighting this boss today that I couldn't stop the DS from shaking. It was hilarious and pathetic all at the same time.

This game has put me in my place so to speak and I do respect it for that.

-Brad