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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Contra 4 DS Review (of the meta sort)

It's been ages since Contra 3 and more importantly aeons since a new properly 2D Contra side-scrolling shooter graced the gaming world, but apparently the wait is now over. Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS is here and ...err... here's its official site. Hurray! Heh.

Anyway, the game seems rather gorgeous in its pixel art way, fun, solid and tough enough to remind you of your Contra/Probotector youth and even features them previous classic Contra -yes, including Super Contra- games as unlockables, along with tons of well presented Contra info. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? Well, so seem to think the guys and gals over at Gametrailers. Watch their video review and keep in mind just how rare such retro friendly offerings are:

Not convinced yet? Looking for more reasons to follow your instincts and go rob an old lady of her Contra 4? Well, here are lots of reasons, as there is where the metacritic page of the game lies and it already has managed (the game, not page, that is) a rather impressive 84/100. As for the reviews themselves, well, here are some major ones:

Gamepro.com (90): After a decade-plus of 3D missteps, Konami finally delivers a Contra title worthy of succeeding the SNES classic, The Alien Wars. One part homage and one part evolution, Contra 4 is two screens of delicious torture.

1up.com (7.5): While Contra 4 doesn't necessarily improve on the respected series template, it's unquestionably a return to form, likely to sate rabid fans while simultaneously terrorizing unprepared newbies.

IGN (8.0): A cool historical throwback to the days of skill over style. Lots of fun extras including the first two NES games unlockable. [...] Absolutely, positively one of the hardest games you'll play on the DS...the difficulty curve starts at 10 and never dips.

Game Informer (9.25): The fact that this game is called Contra 4 accurately indicates WayForward’s intention to ignore every Contra title that’s come out since 1992 and focus solely on perfecting the NES and SNES era cocktail.

NintnendoWorldReport (9.0): Konami has decided to celebrate Contra's twentieth anniversary by making the best Contra yet.

Related posts: DSVision media player, the Moon Book project, Zelda Phantom Hourglass meta review, Metal Slug 7

6 comments:

  1. Definitely a must have for old-school gamers.

    I'm not a big fan of the series myself (I'm a Metal Slug fanboy instead), but after playing Contra Advance (a remake of the SNES one, I think) I actually started to like the series more.

    I still can't seem to enjoy the first one, but I would definitely like to play this.

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  2. Yes I'll sign up for a bit of that brand of action! Looks delicious! Nice use of video Gnome! Never played (or heard) of any of the games, but I like the look of that...

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  3. This looks really cool. I thoroughly enjoyed the first Probotector game on the SNES. Though the top down stages felt oddly out of place.

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  4. Ah, it's so refreshing hearing someone use the Probotector name dear J... :)

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  5. the game was ok the best one was the first one

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  6. And it has has happily been included in this version pilarVirus!

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