Vaarna_Aarne
Notorious Internet Vandal
So, the Codex often complains that games aren't hardcore anymore. Well, good to know that the latest Contra game is completely awesome, deliciously hard, has great 2.5D graphics (due to good quality 2D sprites) and music by Daisuke Ishiwatari. Like other recent Contra games, it wasn't developed by Konami themselves, but by Arc System Works (which means most of the Codex will probably run away now, since it's Weeaboo Codex stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Tt_LUK9NA)
It's also one of the few Contra games even non-1337 people can beat without having more rage than the Codex on a TES release date. Mind you, this is not because the difficulty had been toned down or the game dumbed down. No sir, neither of those have been touched. Instead, it's because the game comes with two modes, the old school Arcade Mode where you're expected to be an Olympic class gamer, and the Rising Mode where you get to improve your characters as you play further. This is actually a very elegant solution to people simply being unable to beat a Contra game, as the difficulty keeps scaling down to a level of your liking in Rising (you can also turn off whatever upgrades you've bought and reactivate them later).
There's also quite a bit of additions to the old school Contra gameplay, such as running, wall-running, climbing, air jumps, air dashes, hanging, special actions (the standard ones being Dodge, Vault, Ambush Shot, Super Tackle and Bullet Reflect), multiple characters (one of them completely different from the others, since she uses a sword instead of guns) and the ability to switch between two weapon slots. And in a shocking turn of events, the Spread gun is NOT god! As can be expected, it's a short game you can speed through in an hour if you've got god-like skills, but the replayability is great due to the focus on being a skill-game where you aim at just doing things better, and the short length with no bullshit just gameplay helps it greatly. As is tradition, there's also a co-op mode, which is a blast to play, being just as chaotic and more so as co-op Contra has been since NES. Also, there's a Gradius boss battle in the game, complete with half-screen filled with bullets.
I do recommend buying it and the three DLC characters for it (total price is ~18 euros), it's by far the best game up for download on its respective networks (disregarding some PSone classics like the Oddworld games). A week ago I would have told you Bionic Commando: ReArmed was the best Downloadable Game, but turns out it was not the case.
It's also one of the few Contra games even non-1337 people can beat without having more rage than the Codex on a TES release date. Mind you, this is not because the difficulty had been toned down or the game dumbed down. No sir, neither of those have been touched. Instead, it's because the game comes with two modes, the old school Arcade Mode where you're expected to be an Olympic class gamer, and the Rising Mode where you get to improve your characters as you play further. This is actually a very elegant solution to people simply being unable to beat a Contra game, as the difficulty keeps scaling down to a level of your liking in Rising (you can also turn off whatever upgrades you've bought and reactivate them later).
There's also quite a bit of additions to the old school Contra gameplay, such as running, wall-running, climbing, air jumps, air dashes, hanging, special actions (the standard ones being Dodge, Vault, Ambush Shot, Super Tackle and Bullet Reflect), multiple characters (one of them completely different from the others, since she uses a sword instead of guns) and the ability to switch between two weapon slots. And in a shocking turn of events, the Spread gun is NOT god! As can be expected, it's a short game you can speed through in an hour if you've got god-like skills, but the replayability is great due to the focus on being a skill-game where you aim at just doing things better, and the short length with no bullshit just gameplay helps it greatly. As is tradition, there's also a co-op mode, which is a blast to play, being just as chaotic and more so as co-op Contra has been since NES. Also, there's a Gradius boss battle in the game, complete with half-screen filled with bullets.
I do recommend buying it and the three DLC characters for it (total price is ~18 euros), it's by far the best game up for download on its respective networks (disregarding some PSone classics like the Oddworld games). A week ago I would have told you Bionic Commando: ReArmed was the best Downloadable Game, but turns out it was not the case.