Contra
Nintendo Entertainment System
Nostalgia Factor:
Contra was released for the NES in 1988. Let me take you back. Ronald Reagan was in the Oval Office. Michael Jackson and George Michael dominated the radio waves. Eddie Murphy was coming to America. I was a mischievous 6 year old kid in first grade.
I can't tell you when the first time I played Contra was, but I vividly remember marathon sessions playing this game with my uncles and brother at my grandmother's house. So this game does have a certain sentimental value to me. Beating this game in just three lives seemed impossible back then. Hell, even using the infamous up up down down left right left right b a b a start code to get a free 30 lives was not a guarantee that you would complete this game.
I did beat this game as a little kid, though. It felt like such an accomplishment. Some people were never able to beat this game at all, so rock on little Dan!
Story:
Contra's storyline is not important, but it revolves around two heavily armed soldiers going to war against aliens and enemy soldiers. Since I do not own the instruction manual and have never looked up the story before, I prefer to make up my own story. In it, an alien vessel has crash landed on a tropical island in a small South American country, and the government of said country has taken control of the island by force, attempting to learn the alien secrets to become a global superpower. The heroes are two Americans sent in to penetrate the island's defenses and destroy the alien threat at its core.
Which probably isn't too far from what the plot actually is, really.
But like I said, the story isn't important - what matters here is the fast paced, guns blazing game play that this title is known for.
Gameplay:
Contra is a side scrolling shooter for the NES that can be played with one or two players. Occasionally the action shifts a little, and you get some nice behind the back corridor shooting levels as well. Contra is infamous for its unforgiving difficulty level for new players.
Enemies come at you from all angles. Bullets fly everywhere. You get hit, you die. You touch someone, you die. You fall off something, you die. And I would be remiss to not mention the infamous scrolling deaths that the waterfall stage in this game is known for. Play with a second player, and if either one of you climb too high and you force the screen to scroll up, it could kill anyone at the bottom that would happen to bumped by the edge of the screen. It always seemed so unfair if it happened to me.
Everywhere you go in this game, death awaits you. Contra is like the total antithesis of Jurassic Park. Death... finds a way. Which is what makes the challenge of beating Contra without cheating such a worthy task.
Which brings me to something that absolutely must be clarified beforehand with this blog entry and future blog entries. I absolutely DO NOT CHEAT in games. I have disdain for cheat codes and gimmicks that help you get through tough spots in games without actually doing the work yourself. If you can't beat the game without circumventing the rules, then you suck and probably shouldn't be playing the game.
That being said, I recently attempted to play through this game with a few friends of mine. I had attempted a single player run shortly before playing with these friends, who came in cold after having not played Contra for years and years. So I am not going to boast and say that I am this great player. But still, when you are playing something with some friends, and they die immediately, you are going to get stuck playing by yourself. And that's no fun just sitting there and playing while everyone else watches. We gave it a few shots without the code, but for the sake of my pals, I allowed it to be entered just this one time. So, you know, we could actually make it past level one.
As mentioned before, this is a game that I played as a kid, and that carries some sentimental value. Playing it all these years later definitely brings back memories. The toughest parts of the game for me were the hallway levels, where the viewpoint shifts to a behind the back perspective. This was cutting edge for its time. Most games back then were either side scrollers or took place from an over the top perspective. To go from side scrolling to a 3D like stage where you could go back and forth and up and down was a big thing.
To me, these stages are so difficult simply because there is more crap to dodge. In these levels, you have to take out wall panels or wall mounted guns in order to advance from one section to the next. Sounds simple enough, but consider that there seems to be about three times the usual amount of bullets in the air... along with having to dodge grenades and these weird rolling red explosive things. Stay put for too long, and you are toast.
One thing that I had never noticed about the hallway levels before was brought to my attention by said friend. Why are the enemies jumping? They jump, hop, and skip down the hallway, casually taking shots with their guns while lobbing grenades your way. It looks ridiculous. Can you imagine a serious action movie, where the villains are leaping and prancing down an alley while opening fire and throwing grenades at the hero? No. I mean, it would be great. But no.
Graphics:
Level design is one of the great things about the game. From the jungle to the snow base, to the alien lair, each stage has its own distinctive look and feel. The bosses at the end of each stage are unique and require different strategies to figure out. The graphics are bright and colorful. This game may not look like much to someone who has grown up in the era of today's current generation consoles. But back in 1988, and even a few years beyond, it didn't get much better than this. It looks old, sure, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I love the colors. I love the artwork. I love the effects. Visually I think this game is fantastic and one of the best the NES has to offer.
Sound:
Contra has a great soundtrack. When you think classic NES soundtracks this game is one of the first to come to mind. So many classics to be heard. As I played this game each and every one of these songs triggered some kind of fun nostalgic memory. I love it.
Sound effects are wonderful, too. This game has such an iconic sound to it. It is fantastic and as close to flawless as you can get for the NES.
Overall:
Contra's legacy is its (according to some) daunting difficulty level. I will admit, if you are a new player, or if it has been a while since you have played the game, this can be a challenge. If you are not constantly aware of your surroundings and ready to move at the blink of an eye, you will fail. There is little to no room for error here.
That being said, it is not a long game to complete. If you play it from beginning to end, it will not even take you an hour. I can't speak for everyone else, but I did not find this game THAT hard. I think that tales of its difficulty have been vastly exaggerated. Give the game a try. You'll die a couple times. Burn up your continues. Have to start over again.
But once you get the feel of things, it is not that difficult. The levels are very linear. The enemies always appear in the same place. Once you figure out how to defeat each stage's boss, it is a walk in the park. There are definitely a lot of x factors which I think contribute to tales of the game's difficulty. Stray bullets, respawning characters, those situations where you are completely surrounded with nowhere to go. But it is nothing that can't be conquered with fast reflexes and a little perseverance.
On my single player playthrough, I did not use the cheat code. I burned up some lives and I had to use some continues (mainly on the aforementioned corridor stages) but I did beat the game. That's right, one play through and I was done. I had already played this title over twenty years ago when I was a little kid, true. But although I have a lot of experience, especially with classic NES games such as this, I am by no means some super skilled gamer. If I can do it, literally anyone can.
(Getting the spread gun and constantly firing ahead as you go doesn't hurt either. And stay away from the laser gun. It SUCKS!)
Any younger players who would like to check out a little piece of history should play this game. It may not look like much, but if you appreciate games and gaming in general, you should appreciate this. Throw away the story. Throw away the fancy graphics. There are no experience points. You run, you shoot, you kill. And you try not to be killed. This is pure and classic gaming at its finest. Simple and fun carnage.
If you have played this game in the past, or grew up playing games like this such as I have, you will get a kick out of Contra. It is a wonderful title for the nostalgic gamer. It's bright, it's fast paced, it's a blast. Yeah it can be a little challenging, but not overpoweringly so. On the flip side, it is very short and does not offer much short-term replay value. I still find this game fun to come back to every couple years or so.
All in all, this is a classic NES game that to me is one of the defining titles of the console. Whether you grew up playing the game or are only checking it out now, there is no denying that the game is flat out fun.
Play it by yourself, play it with a friend. Cheat, don't cheat. It doesn't matter to me. But you need to play this game. If you haven't played Contra, you are missing out on a huge part of gaming history.
THE GRADE:
A
A complete index of all my game reviews can be found
>HERE<
No comments:
Post a Comment