Author Topic: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth  (Read 3222 times)

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Offline Yoshidious

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IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« on: May 26, 2009, 05:41:57 PM »
Hold onto your missiles—Contra's back and it's crazier than ever!
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=18542

 With the release of Contra ReBirth for Japan's Wii Shop Channel, the legendary action franchise became the second (after Gradius) in what looks sure to be an ongoing series of WiiWare revivals for classic Konami properties. Downloadable retro titles may be nothing new, but unlike the multitude of titles on Virtual Console, or even the meticulously 8-bit-like Mega Man 9, Contra ReBirth feels distinctly like a new $10 game rather than an old $50 one. My playtime with it so far has shown this approach to be welcome in some respects, and less so in others.    


Contra ReBirth adapts the series to the WiiWare format primarily by stripping it down to a pure run-and-gun foundation, and making no attempt to stretch out the experience. Ever since the franchise began in the arcade, Contra's side-scrolling action has typically been punctuated by 3D or overhead stages to change-up the gameplay and extend the running time (the Genesis title, Contra: Hard Corps, being one exception). ReBirth dispenses with such stages, instead providing five tightly-paced levels that continue to up the ante right up to the final boss. Moreover, by providing relatively frequent checkpoints and unlimited continues, Contra ReBirth demonstrates that it isn't afraid of players seeing much of what it has to offer in a fairly short period of time—distinctly unlike many games of its kind from years past that were burdened with high price tags.    


(Note: the Super Famicom version of Contra III featured unlimited continues where its Super NES counterpart did not, so this aspect could be subject to change when Contra ReBirth is released outside of Japan)          


This approach ensures a less frustrating experience than previous Contras and combined with ReBirth's generally brisk pacing, makes repeated play (there is still no save, nor a VC-like suspend feature) through the levels more palatable for today's gamers. However, the downside is that ReBirth ends up feeling less epic than its predecessors, and to some may well seem somewhat insubstantial, even for the 1000 Nintendo Point price tag.    


Leaving the continue system aside, Contra's trademark high difficulty has been left mostly intact, so ReBirth will still challenge players despite demanding less of their time. The difficulty can also be customised, both in terms of the number of lives available and the challenge level (Easy, Normal or Hard), with the higher settings offering different attack patterns for bosses in addition to adding more enemies and bullets.      


In gameplay terms, Contra ReBirth is much closer to Contra III: The Alien Wars than the recent DS title, Contra 4. For instance, the more complex elements of WayForward's portable edition of the franchise, such as weapon-stacking and the grappling hook, have been omitted. ReBirth even leaves a few things out from Contra III, such as the screen-destroying bomb, plus the Flamethrower and Charge weapons, but it otherwise plays near-identically. Most noticeably, the controls leave the fire rate of all the weapons automatic, so no hammering of the fire button is ever required. The net result is a relatively straightforward and accessible Contra, but this is not without its problems (the Spread weapon is back to its highly overpowered best here) and some fans may miss the greater intricacy of previous titles.          


At first glance, Contra ReBirth looks like an unremarkable 16-bit title, running in 4:3 and exhibiting less focus on graphical detail than even 1992's Contra III. However, in motion the visuals begin to charm and impress thanks to a bold comic-book art style, fluid animation, special effects that make bullets and lasers incandescent, and more sprite scaling and rotation than all those early Super NES games that made "Mode 7" famous put together. Later on in the game, the sheer volume of sprites being pushed around at high speed truly distinguishes Contra ReBirth as something that wouldn't have been manageable for the 16-bit platforms. Taken together, these enhancements are significant yet subtle enough to keep Contra ReBirth in line with fans' memories of the 16-bit era while thankfully taking things up a notch and omitting the stilted animation and slowdown from those days that have become so much more noticeable in the years hence.    


Crucially, developers M2 (of VC emulation fame, appropriately enough) have delivered in the areas where any Contra game absolutely must: imaginative bosses and outrageous set pieces. The spoiler-sensitive among you out there may wish to skip past the next few lines, but for those curious about what ReBirth has in store, expect such craziness as: a battle with a colossal caterpillar while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, a high speed chase involving purple robotic llamas, a full-on stampede through an alien hive, and—of course—giant missile grabbing. As appropriately absurd as these scenarios sound, they are equally well designed and fun to play, though not quite on the same level as Contra III's finest moments.    


The settings for the stages are rather familiar, the second level is a ruined city much like the opening stage in Contra III, for instance, and a number of ideas from previous games are reprised, but there's enough new and surprising things going on to make the levels seem sufficiently fresh. Conversely, the soundtrack goes all out for nostalgia, especially for Sega fans given the distinctly Genesis-like instrumentation employed, with an assortment of classic melodies that will have Contra veterans humming along.    


Another essential part of the Contra experience for many fans is two player co-op, and this is included in ReBirth. It still requires the presence of a friend in the same room in lieu of online functionality though. In fact, Contra ReBirth lacks even the online high score rankings of its Gradius counterpart on WiiWare, thus its replay value is limited to playing through the game a few times to unlock trivially different extra characters and a super-hard difficulty setting.    


To sum up, Contra ReBirth is a highly concentrated experience. It isn't going to last for very long, neither is it an especially ambitious or creative endeavour, but I've had a blast playing it from start to finish—and a few times over again. Konami has taken the opportunity offered by WiiWare to go back to the basics with Contra's gameplay, providing intense, no-nonsense fun that's a great fit for the platform. Hopefully it won't be long before other regions get their chance to "lock and load!"

Greg Leahy
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Offline NovaQ

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2009, 08:46:02 PM »
Sounds good. I can't say I mind a more concentrated Contra experience with how busy I've been lately. And come on, NoA (Konami?), give us a release date!
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Offline GoldenPhoenix

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2009, 08:52:26 PM »
Sounds good. I can't say I mind a more concentrated Contra experience with how busy I've been lately. And come on, NoA (Konami?), give us a release date!

Hoping for a solid release date on Wiiware will only lead to disappointment (unless you are Square).
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Offline Rize

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2009, 09:41:31 PM »
Is the music any good?

The continue system makes me think of the continue system in punch out Wii.  It really takes the teeth out of the game to be able to play the same boxer indefinitely (and don't even get me started on the practice mode).  I think it's a very bad thing.  Super Punch Out!! remains the best game in the franchise for me.

Offline Jonnyboy117

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2009, 11:02:09 PM »
Should have slapped a number on this and called it a review. Very thorough work, as usual, Greg!
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Offline Yoshidious

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2009, 02:44:42 PM »
The music is nice insofar as it uses some catchy tunes from older games, but it's nowhere near as interesting as Contra 4 or as epic as Contra III. Also the twangy Genesis-style instrumentation may not be to everyone's taste.

There are two main reasons why I didn't feel comfortable going with a full review based on my playtime (I've played through the game on Normal a few times) beyond the language barrier, which is (at least seemingly) quite trivial in this case. Firstly, from what I've played of the Hard mode there are some significant differences on higher difficulties, but I'm not going to have the time to finish it any time in the near future (yes, it's tough, and yes Punch-Out!! has taken over my console gaming time as well). Contra has something of a tradition of being substantively different on higher settings--Contra 4 has more levels on Normal than on Easy, and I think there was an extra form for the final boss in Contra III when played on a particular setting--so I would want to see everything to give it the full review treatment.

Secondly, I was able to test the multiplayer before writing these impressions, but I'm not going to be able to get any signficant time in with co-op anytime soon. With the customisable difficulty, unlimited continues and brisk pacing, I would have thought Contra ReBirth would be perfect to play with a friend even if they don't have experience with the series, but having not put that to the test that's another important aspect I haven't been able to fully assess at this time.
« Last Edit: May 27, 2009, 03:49:56 PM by Yoshidious »
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Offline NWR_Neal

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2009, 03:45:33 PM »
Yea, I'm completely sold on this game.

Although it'd be totally rad if they brought back the turtle boss from Contra III. I always enjoyed that.
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Offline NovaQ

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2009, 11:10:43 PM »
Yea, I'm completely sold on this game.

Although it'd be totally rad if they brought back the turtle boss from Contra III. I always enjoyed that.

I'm not sure if that boss will be back, as he/it already made an appearance in PS2's Shattered Soldier.
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Offline NWR_Neal

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #8 on: May 28, 2009, 02:44:07 AM »
Yea, I'm completely sold on this game.

Although it'd be totally rad if they brought back the turtle boss from Contra III. I always enjoyed that.

I'm not sure if that boss will be back, as he/it already made an appearance in PS2's Shattered Soldier.

I said it more as a joke, but Shattered Soldier is one of the few Contra games I haven't played. I've heard good things. How does it compare to III and 4?
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Offline NovaQ

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #9 on: May 28, 2009, 07:40:43 AM »
Yea, I'm completely sold on this game.

Although it'd be totally rad if they brought back the turtle boss from Contra III. I always enjoyed that.

I'm not sure if that boss will be back, as he/it already made an appearance in PS2's Shattered Soldier.

I said it more as a joke, but Shattered Soldier is one of the few Contra games I haven't played. I've heard good things. How does it compare to III and 4?

Other than Shattered Soldier, most of my Contra experience is in 3 and Hard Corps for Genesis. That said, SS is the one I played and enjoyed the most. It's still tough, but I don't think it throws as many enemies or projectiles your way as other series entries. You always have access to the three weapon types (no spread or homing, I'm afraid), but each one has a unique charged attack. Your overall success rate (and whether or not you get to play all of the levels) depends upon you destroying every part of every non-regenerating enemy in a level and making it through without dying. So, there's still plenty of memorization, careful shooting, and dodging (cursing, too), just with a slightly different twist. The bosses are generally more elaborate than in other Contras, too.
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Offline NWR_Neal

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #10 on: May 28, 2009, 02:16:19 PM »
I'll put it on my list of "PS2 games I missed and should pick up if I ever see them cheap."
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Offline Peachylala

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #11 on: May 28, 2009, 02:45:17 PM »
In terms of Genesis music, Konami made some awesome soundtracks. Castlevania: Bloodlines and Rocket Knight Adventures instantly come to mind.
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Offline KDR_11k

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Rebirth
« Reply #12 on: May 29, 2009, 10:13:54 AM »
So, where's Ian now that coop is confirmed to be good?