Contra is one of many defining shooters of our generation. Anyone who’s anyone’s played it, don’t you know? Whether or not you have, I’m going to spoil this review right now and COMMAND you to pick this title up. After many years of aging, it’s only become a fine, crisp, better than ever title. Ripe with energy and flavor, Alien Wars combines classic arcade Contra feel and blends the overhead/sidescrolling modes super well.
Contra III has a pretty generic “Uh oh, Aliens!” storyline that pans out over a whopping six, count ‘em SIX levels. The decent thing about the short length though, is Contra is tough. It’s always been a difficult game, and it just makes for the fun - even the loads of trial and error becomes a bit of fun, especially when you’re playing coop. I love switching up both of my weapons on the fly - it’s great for getting out of a lot of sticky situations, and it’s really handy to have that backup gun in a tight squeeze (ie: ANY BOSS FIGHT).
Weapon pickups galore, co-op kick ass explosiveness (which is EVERYWHERE and all the time), and cool visuals give the action packed classic a little flair (and looks even nicer in HD!). It’s a tad under 10 bucks, and is worth every penny - while it may not be the best entry in the series, it’s the best one you can pick up on Virtual Console right now, and it’s truly a great game, with “Classic” written all over it. Fans of old school Konami games will especially dig the title, even more so if they’ve never spent any time with it.
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