Neo Contra – PS2 – Review

Konami was the developer
reaching into the vault, and what they received is a game that plays like
something from 1991, but looks like it came from 2000: Neo Contra.

Dubbed “The Ultimate Run
‘N’ Gun Shooter,” Neo Contra was born from the creators of Contra Shattered
Soldier.  The classic gameplay, simple controls and relentless enemies are
intact.  This time, however, the world is coated in brighter colors, improved
textures and more over-sized monsters than you can shake a loose eyeball at. 
Neo Contra may not be a survival/horror game, but it’s gruesome enough to
frighten the kids on Halloween. 

The gameplay brings to
mind visions of Contra’s past, as well as bits and pieces of One (an
underrated PSone shooter) and the Metal Slug series.  Gameplay is still
primarily stuck in the second dimension.  The perspective has been changed,
giving you multiple camera angles that try to emulate the 3D experience.  It’s
not all that effective since your level of control is still limited to a flat
playing field.  It was sort of like controlling a character that’s trapped
inside a box: he can go left, right, forward and backward, but he never feels
free.

The restrictive-ness
stays consistent through the end of the game.  Looking at Neo Contra as a
next-generation game, this is somewhat annoying.  But if you look at it as a
part of the Contra series, the controls seem much more appropriate.  A less
restrictive control scheme would have turned Contra into a third-person
shooter.  The game industry has enough of those.

I don’t remember what the
music of the previous Contra games was like, but I’m pretty certain Neo Contra
will leave a long-lasting impression.  Its soundtrack, while comprised of
techno-style music, is very entertaining.  The driving beats are enjoyable
without being repetitive.  They work well in conjunction with the sound
effects – a combination of gunfire, explosions, and dying enemies.

Neo Contra’s graphics
don’t deliver the same visual punch that other PS2 remakes have.  The particle
effects, enemy detail and frequent camera changes are all very noticeable.  No
one’s going to leave the game without at least understanding how much work
went into putting each piece together.  However, complexity doesn’t mean
beauty.  If it weren’t for the monsters, which are somewhat advanced, Neo
Contra wouldn’t look too far beyond the best-looking Dreamcast games.  That
would be great, except that we’re not in 1999 anymore, and this isn’t
Dreamcast the game was made for – it was developed for PlayStation 2.  Given
that it’s a Sony exclusive, the developers could have maximized the game’s
beauty by using the PS2’s greatest graphic tricks, many of which were
introduced in 2001. 

Makes me think of Star Wars.

Sure, the graphics get
the job done, but if that was all that mattered we wouldn’t need to upgrade or
PCs or buy new game consoles.  Beauty counts.  I really expected more from
this one.

In the end it’s the
gameplay that counts most.  The two-player mode is the best way to play Neo
Contra.  The enemies aren’t any less challenging, but games never seem as
difficult to beat when you have a friend to help blast the monsters. 

Like its predecessors,
Neo Contra is a game of getting to the finish line.  You’re always moving
forward, always determined to defeat the enemies that are in front of you. 
Progress cannot be made if your enemies are alive.  The path will continue
until they’ve been killed.  That’s how Contra has always been.

Consequently, it means
the Neo Contra experience is very short lived.  I haven’t played too many
run-‘n’-gun shooters that lasted more than a day.  (Metal Slug is the
exception.)  There aren’t too many ways to increase the length these kinds of
games.  Either increase their difficulty or slow down the action.  You could
always design more worlds, but then you run the risk of making the game
repetitive.  Shooters are repetitive by nature; adding to the repetition would
not be a smart move.

This leaves us with a
shooter that’s fun but very short.  The MSRP is $40, so it’s definitely not a
must-buy for everyone.  However, the target audience isn’t everyone, otherwise
it wouldn’t have gotten an "M" rating from the ESRB.  Anyone who’s old enough
to remember the original Contra is old enough to legally buy this game in all
50 states.  Chances are if you remember it the memories are good ones, giving
yourself a good excuse to check out Neo Contra as soon possible.

Gameplay: 7.5
Aim, shoot, and
run for your life!  Neo Contra is the game Contra fans have been waiting to
spend a day with.  I say a day because it’s so short.  The controls are
classic; your aim is based on the direction in which the analog stick is
pressed.  Pressing the analog stick moves your character in that direction,
creating a simultaneous aim-and-move control scheme.  Moderately challenging
and genuinely fun, Neo Contra is a great way to kill a boring weekday, or an
unusually long weekend.

Graphics: 7
Not the
beautiful-looking masterpiece it could have been.  Take one look at Konami’s
other next-gen offerings and you’ll know what I mean.

Sound: 8
A surprising mix
of great techno music and explosive sound effects.

Difficulty: Medium
No Contra fan has
gone through life without beating a Contra game.  Anyone who’s accomplished
that will surely be able to defeat Neo Contra.

Concept: 6
Same old Contra. 
No innovations, no groundbreaking changes – just new a graphics engine to take
you into the polygon dimension.  Actual 3D gameplay is not present in this
remake.

Multiplayer: 7.5
Call up a friend
or grab your neighbor, anyone will do.  Neo Contra is most entertaining when
you have a partner to help remove the creepy monsters from your dying world.

Overall: 7.2
Neo Contra’s
greatest fault is that it ends before its time.  Second, it’s a bit on the
easy side when compared to other run-‘n’-gun shooters.  The easy mode is
perhaps too easy.  You get 30 lives, and the enemies aren’t too difficult to
kill.  The normal mode, however, is a little too difficult at first, with more
challenging enemies and a limit of 5 lives.