Patreon button  Steam curated reviews  Discord button  Facebook button  Twitter button 
3DS | PC | PS4 | PS5 | SWITCH | VITA | XB1 | XSX | All

Neo Contra (PlayStation 2) artwork

Neo Contra (PlayStation 2) review


"After the dreadful Appaloosa game that had the word Contra slapped on it (C: The Contra Adventure), Shattered Soldier was a welcomed return to the series' roots. Bill Rizer reappeared as the main character, who was accompanied this time by a female cyborg, and both were thrown into side-scrolling badassery, filled with weird creatures, aliens, and high-tech Weapons of Epic Destruction (WED). When a game plops you into crazy situations, like being chased down a snowy mountain by a huge worm, figh..."

After the dreadful Appaloosa game that had the word Contra slapped on it (C: The Contra Adventure), Shattered Soldier was a welcomed return to the series' roots. Bill Rizer reappeared as the main character, who was accompanied this time by a female cyborg, and both were thrown into side-scrolling badassery, filled with weird creatures, aliens, and high-tech Weapons of Epic Destruction (WED). When a game plops you into crazy situations, like being chased down a snowy mountain by a huge worm, fighting a giant robot that jogs after your train like it was nothing, crashing into a building with the missile you rode in on, and shooting at Seaman's evil, mutated brother, it's hard not to love it. Shattered Soldier was a game that wasn't afraid to be out there in terms of concepts and executions. It also wasn't a game that held back on being tough-as-nails; everybody who played through SS for the first time died more times than they would admit. It may just have been a run 'n gun title, but was a run 'n gun title that kicked your ass.

Shattered Soldier's successor, Neo Contra, however, doesn't have the same type of toughness. That's not to say it's a very easy game, but it just feels like the developers really went out of their way to tone down the difficulty in comparison to its predecessor. When you play through this title for the first time, the obviousness just hits you, one after another. Immediately after starting Neo Contra, you'll be presented with the opportunity to choose from a selection of weapon sets, with more that can be unlocked as you complete stages. This pretty much guarantees that you'll find a setup that best fits your comfort.

Once that's out of the way and you pick a mission, you'll notice the next, most biggest change: you're playing in an overhead perspective. True, past Contra titles incorporated this viewpoint during certain instances, but this is the game's only viewpoint while playing. Thankfully, Neo Contra's quality doesn't suffer because of this, but it does give Bill Rizer (or, if you so choose, the samurai, Jaguar) much more movement on the battlefield, unlike SS, where, in most cases, you could just move left and right. Throw in the ability to dash and temporarily have bullets pass through you at the press of a button, and you can understand why it's not as hard as the game it's following up on. Neo Contra even goes as far as taking pity on you when it comes to continuing; when you die during a boss fight in SS, the game kicks your butt back to the middle of the stage as punishment. This game, on the other hand, brings you back to the start of a boss fight.

Going into Neo Contra for the first time, knowing full well that this wasn't going to be as challenging as Shattered Soldier, I still ended up having doubts as to whether this was a good game minutes into the first mission. Fortunately, those doubts quickly went away when the game started to become a very... surreal experience. Except for the hilariously unnecessary, destructive entrance into the first stage, where your character arrives in a city by crashing into it with the missile he was inside of, the majority of the mission went along normally. Snipers, axe warriors, and shielded soldiers were hell bent on ending me, and mini-aircrafts usually appeared at opportune moments to fire bullets. But sanity's reign ended the moment I ran into the stage's first boss: a giant squid-like creature with a mutated baby's head chilling inside its mouth. Its attacks? Bees and vomit.

That's just only one of many absurd moments in Neo Contra, as you'll eventually find out when progressing through the game's many locations. Hell, one mission begins in a very goofy manner, allowing you to believe that your character appears to be running extremely fast on the ground. Then the camera pans out, and it's revealed that he's actually running on a helicopter's blades. While attacking insects. Next thing you know, you're on a flying aircraft carrier, taking out everything in sight, eventually making it to the other end, where you meet the captain... a talking dog. Another segment in the game will have you penetrate a base (after being shot out of a volcano, no less), and the type of defense you have to deal with involves human-sized RC cars, soldiers running on boulders, and a giant, walking vagina that spits purple acid.

Neo Contra dares to be stupid.

Thankfully, it's the type of stupid that's entertaining. So what if it doesn't come off as strict as Shattered Soldier? It's still a very fun experience. Shoot, if I was forced to choose between the two, I'd easily pick Neo Contra over its predecessor. Now don't get me wrong, SS is a good title, but sometimes, I just don't feel like going to battle with the game's "no mercy" attitude. Sometimes, all I want is a fun and stupid game to play, and Neo Contra fits that part quite well.



dementedhut's avatar
Community review by dementedhut (June 01, 2009)

I actually played Rad Mobile in a Japanese arcade as a kid, and the cabinet movement actually made the game more fun than it actually was. Hence, it feeling more like an "interactive" experience than a video game.

More Reviews by dementedhut [+]
Woody Pop (Game Gear) artwork
Woody Pop (Game Gear)

Reclaimed Wood
Gale Racer (Saturn) artwork
Gale Racer (Saturn)

Gull Racer
Time Soldiers (Sega Master System) artwork
Time Soldiers (Sega Master System)

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey

Feedback

If you enjoyed this Neo Contra review, you're encouraged to discuss it with the author and with other members of the site's community. If you don't already have an HonestGamers account, you can sign up for one in a snap. Thank you for reading!

board icon
randxian posted June 01, 2009:

but sometimes, I just don't feel like going to battle with the game's "no mercy" attitude. Sometimes, all I want is a fun and stupid game to play, and Neo Contra fits that part quite well.

I really like that line. I also prefer games that are fun and goofy as opposed to completley frustrating.

I enjoyed reading this review, but personally I think how the game plays could've been fleshed out a bit. Then again, knowing the NES Contras, it's probably a simple game and there isn't a whole lot more you could say about it.
board icon
dementedhut posted June 01, 2009:

Yeah, I took a chance by not mentioning many actual gameplay specifics, since this was the 10th game in the series. I pretty much put this blind trust in the readers, assuming that they already knew the basics of a Contra title.

Thanks for the comments, too.

You must be signed into an HonestGamers user account to leave feedback on this review.

User Help | Contact | Ethics | Sponsor Guide | Links

eXTReMe Tracker
© 1998 - 2024 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Neo Contra is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Neo Contra, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors. Staff and freelance reviews are typically written based on time spent with a retail review copy or review key for the game that is provided by its publisher.