KingSmoth

Well, even though I've been looking forward to this game for a while, I had convinced myself not to buy it a while back, because I'm low on $$$$$ right now. Well, last week I started really getting hyped for it, as I'm a Contra nut from way back in the day. I had a rental copy reserved at Blockbuster and a local store, depending on who got it in first. Neither one has it in yet, nor do any other rental places. I at least wanted to see the game, so I went to Best Buy, Circuit City, and Babbage's, and no one had it, and didn't know when they would get it. I head to EB, they had it, I told them I had been looking all over for it, they said "You should have come here first man, we're the only place that cares about gamers. We have any game on time every time." Needless to say, holding the game in my hands, I couldn't resist, so I bought it. This game rocks! It has an awesome soundtrack, and looks great. The opening video is sweet, has awesome music playing throughout. This game is just like the original Contra, but it's very fast-paced. I've only been playing it for about an hour, but I'm hooked, and probably won't get a bit of sleep tonight.
I definitely recommend that you check it out, if you can find it anywhere.

Noonan

Thanks for the quick review. I myself was wondering if I should pick it up or not. After reading your post I'll give it a try. Probably not till next week though. I'll have the money then.

KingSmoth

Did you ever play The Aliens Wars on SNES, or Hard Corps on Genesis? It is a mix between the original Contra and those two games, which I consider the best of the series. It is pretty tough so far, but it does give you 99 continues for once. I've already gone through 3 of them(each starts you off with 8 lives), and only made it halfway through the first level(the continue feature lets you choose where to start - beginning or middle of level if you made it there, but affects your score if you start in the middle I believe). Aside from being similar in gameplay to those, there are a lot of scenes reminiscient of those games as well.
I love the feature of starting out with all the weapons, though I do miss the spread gun.

MrSneis

CONTRA!!! SUIKODEN 3!!! THPS4!!! VICE CITY!!! TOO MUCH AAGGHHH!!!!

Stoolie

What does the code do?

bothanspy

I was kinda curious if the Konami code is intact.

SPY

Lastblade

Is it as good as Metal Slug 3?

DVDHO

I had read awile back that they took the spread gun out because it made the game way to easy,but it might be a bonus gun or somewhere hidden in the game later after you beat it,this game is all mine this weekend,thanks for the review.

young

NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!! yes, i loved contra - the arcade machines, that is... a friend and i spent way too much time at the video arcade beating that game.

i will get it as soon as i can get it for under $20 and i finish a game. that is my goal... finish at least one game before i buy another. maybe...

DVDKrayzie

i didnt even realize this was out. im starting to feel old. i went and asked the pimply kid in the electronics dept at Target and he was like "contra, what's that?"

ChefWinduAZ

When I went to my local GameCrazy today to trade in some games and pick up SOCOM and Toe Jam and Earl III, the guys working in there were playing this. They tried to get me to buy a copy but I am not a big Contra fan. They said that if you really like Contra, especially the sequels on Genesis and Super Nintendo, then you will love this one.

Ralph Wiggum

I played C:SS tonight for a couple hours and don't think I'm going to buy it now. I already have Contra 3 for SNES and this game borrows *heavily* from that. Large sections of the levels are identical as are some bosses. The control is definitely more sluggish than that game too. It's harder than most games now, but nowhere near as hard as NES Contra. After playing each of the levels I'm pretty disappointed thus far.

Are there more than four levels? What are the unlockable extras like?

MrSneis

im a die hard contra fan and i got into playin SS a lil bit and i found myself underwhelmed, my reasons are this: the graphics dont look ps2 esque, i mean, they weren't horrible, but they could have been lots better. The guns: dual guns while jumping was the shiznit! I don't understand why they took this out! Weapon upgrades: What weapon upgrades? There's no fun in having all the guns all the time, one of the best parts of contra was earning a good gun and staying alive long enough to kick some ass with it! I think they spent too much time making the game difficult and not enough time ensuring that the game kicked ass and took names... Maybe I'm wrong because I only got about 20 minutes into it, but i'll stick with contra, super C, and the alien wars. I work in gamecrazy BTW and it's goin for 39.99 right now, great deal on a new release game!

KingSmoth

I agree it does suck(somewhat) to start out with all the guns - on the other hand, I enjoy having them all at my disposal for kicking ass in various ways, and not worrying about touching something and losing the frickin gun, which has happened thousands of times over the years, with me being stuck with the crappy gun against a boss. I do want my spread gun back though, that is my complaint with the game .
To me the graphics are just fine - of course, I've never really cared for graphics anyway, as long as the game is fun as hell, which this one is for me.

KingSmoth

Well, in typical Contra style, once you learn the patterns, it's pretty easy to finish the game.
I just beat C:SS on Easy Mode. From start to finish of this game took me 2 hours 8 minutes, and over 160 lives. Of course I won't give away the ending I got, but it was a loooooooooong battle. When I finished, it told me to try Normal Mode to be able to unlock secrets, so I'll work on that later. In the game menu, there's three sections marked with "???????", I want to know what's to be found.
The final stage is awesome - won't give it away, but it brings back good memories of the original Contra.
The entire game is full of things from the previous games - good or bad, depending on how you view it. I enjoyed seeing all the throwbacks to the old days, but I'm sure some would think it's a waste to go through the same old stuff...
Overall, I give it an 8/10. The levels could be longer, and I want my frickin Spread Gun.

zero

A customer bought this today and I asked him if he could demo it for us. He said "sure" He and I played it for about 20 minutes. And DAMN I was so envious of him I came home and booted up Contra 3(SNES). Why envious? Well Im PS2 less right now. I had to ship it out because the laser is effen-up on me. But come next month I will own this game .

darqleo

Just started playing this game last night. Great game. I was laughing at myself because it took a while to adjust my mindset back to play a 2-D scrolling game. For those that miss the spread gun, I don't see what's wrong with using the "power up" versions of the machine gun (shoots out a mechanical ball that rotates and shoots everything on the screen at once) or grenade laucher (shoots out guided missles ala ROBOTECH) they basically do the same thing. I do miss getting power-ups, so far I haven't found anything you'd pick up and use.

Gromit

I bought this as one of my ToysRUs 3 for 2 games. I haven't opened it as I'm hoping to trade it for Shenmue 2.

I didn't think this was a game I'd like, maybe you guys can confirm.

I never played Contra and based on the reviews, I think this game would drive me nuts. I don't mind shooters, but I don't think I'd like it if it's a "jump over there to avoid that, move to the right to avoid this, jump over the doo-dad, all while shooting". Is it a reflex testing shooter?

The 2 player aspect sounds great, but I'm afraid I'd just get frustrated with it.

zero

YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED CONTRA!!?!?!?!

....man I thought I knew you

s}{ammer

I had never played contra before but I was in fry's picking up Vice Ciity so I looked at the game. I didn't like the graphics. The game is fun to play but it just isn't a pretty game to look at.

zero

If you've never played Contra..then you wont appreciate this game. Contra isnt about looking pretty, its about the gameplay.

djones6746

The problem with many games today is they look too good and do not play all too well.

zero

Too true

s}{ammer

I have to say it was fun to play, brought back the old 2d side scrollers and that was fun.

Aghama

If that's true, it's not a very good game.