Contra: Hard Corps
Sega Genesis
If you’re a loyal reader of this blog you’ll know I’ve been working my way through the Contra Anniversary Collection and reviewing each game in the series. I’ve now played and reviewed every game on this collection, with the exception of Contra: Hard Corps for the Sega Genesis. Well, that changes today. It’s been an epic collection of games so far and I am so glad I’ve gotten the chance to play all the titles in the series I missed as a kid. Where would Hard Corps stack up against the rest? Turns out I saved one of the best for last! Read on for my full review.
Story:
This game takes place after Contra III: The Alien Wars. It revolves around an evil supervillain who has broken into a top secret research base in an attempt to steal a powerful alien cell that is a remnant from the Alien Wars. It’s up to you to put an end to the shenanigans.
I’m not going to pretend that this game’s story is important, but I do like that they did something different with this game. Every couple of levels you are given a choice as to how you would like to proceed. The choices you make affect how the game plays out, and the end result is a whopping FIVE different endings that you can unlock. This adds an unbelievable amount of replay value to an already fun game.
Gameplay:
It’s fast paced, there’s bullets and enemies coming at you constantly, and you’re going to find yourself dying quite often. Ah, must be a Contra game. If you played Alien Wars you should have a basic idea of what to expect here. Hard Corps does several things quite differently, however, and that’s what I will highlight in this review. I already mentioned the branching paths and the five different endings, but in addition to this you have a selection of four different characters to pick from.
As you play, you gather four different types of weapons that you can toggle between at any time as you play. Some examples include the spread gun, a homing attack, and a powerful shrapnel attack. Each of the four different characters have four different weapons, so in all there are 16 different weapon power-ups in this game. If you get hit and die with one of these upgrades selected, you lose it. So you have to be really careful as you play. If you can see that you’re going to get killed, switch to a weapon you barely use so that when you die you lose that instead of something more powerful. Your fifth weapon slot is allotted for bombs that you can collect. One of these destroys everything on the screen or does heavy damage to the boss characters. I suggest saving them for the bosses.
Gone are the gimmicky overhead or behind-the-back stages from Contras past. The closest this game comes to one of these stages is a Mode 7-esque stage where your character is running towards the screen and the boss character is chasing him in the background. This is a pretty easy stage though, probably one of the easiest in the game.
Before we go any further I am going to admit something to you: I didn’t like this game at first. The first time I played through this I thought it was a cheap, frustrating game that was vastly inferior to the Super Nintendo’s Alien Wars. I thought it was way too hard as well. My first playthrough of this game came using save states, and I remember that even with these save states I still found the game to be incredibly difficult to the point where I didn’t derive any entertainment from it.
In order to get 100% of the Contra Collection’s PSN trophies, I had to play through this game five different times and unlock all of the endings. Despite not really liking the game, I plugged away at unlocking these trophies, and as I slowly worked through this game one time after another, after another – something happened. I started to like this game. And I mean, REALLY like this game. Each playthrough I found myself getting better and better at the game. I started to master it in a way that I originally didn’t think would ever be possible. I still used save states, but I didn’t find things nearly as difficult as I did before. I unlocked all five endings and earned 100% of the game’s trophies. That’s usually when I stop playing. But I didn’t stop here. I kept going, and going, and going. I was bound and determined to beat this game without using save states.
To this day, I still haven’t been able to do this. Yeah, I know I know. Get good. But every time I play, I learn a little bit more and every time I play I get a little bit farther. One of these days I know I can do it. And to me that says a lot about this game because with other similarly difficult games in the past (like Super Empire Strikes Back, which I just reviewed) I only beat them once with save states and then never came back. There’s just something different, something magnetic about this game that keeps me coming back again and again.
Graphics:
Maybe this game doesn’t look quite as good as Alien Wars but it still looks really good. At first I thought it looked kind of plain and generic but the more I played and the deeper I got into the game, the more it began to impress me. This game just has so much personality that oozes through in its visuals. I love the over the top nature of the game’s action too with all the nonstop explosions and fast moving enemies. The game just does not let up. There’s some cool atmospheric effects to be found here too, most notably in the virtual zone and in the laboratory. The bosses are giant and brought to life wonderfully as well. I’m a fan.
Sound:
This game sounds amazing too. Maybe the game’s musical score isn’t as iconic as, say, the original Contra, but it is still pretty darn good. It is everything you’d ever want in a Sega Genesis Contra game. My favorite track in this game has to be the boss theme. As far as sound effects go, the sound of gunfire, explosions, and all the things happening on the screen match up with the graphics perfectly. No complaints from me.
Overall:
I never would have thought this when I first started playing the game, but this may be my favorite Contra title. Seriously. I don’t know if anything can top the original NES game for me, but Hard Corps comes the closest by far. This is a very challenging game, and it does take a lot of patience to play. So I can see how it might not be for everyone. But if you sit down and really give this game a chance you are going to find that it is a very rewarding experience. Any fans of the series who haven’t played this title need to get on it ASAP.
I have been saying this in a lot of my review lately, but I can't wait until my son is old enough to start gaming. Me and him are going to play the co-op mode in this game someday and we're going to beat it without save states. Just watch. I'm updating this blog when it happens. Don't think I won't.
Final Score:
A
If you liked this review please check out some of my other game reviews:
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