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Reviews Don't mess with success, August 7, 2008 Rating: 10.0/10 By cward20 from Austin, TX Let me start off by saying that this game is really Contra III: The Alien Wars but the second and fifth levels have been substituted with new levels. Also, they have made it a lot harder, as you can only hold one weapon at a time and there are no smart bombs to clear all the enemies on the screen, as well as small aesthetic changes. Fortunately, even with all these changes the game play was left intact. Any gaming veteran (such as myself) will tell you that gameplay is the heart and soul of the Contra series. While we are on the subject of gameplay let’s talk more in depth about it.
Gameplay: 7/10
Anyone who has played so called “run and gun” games such as the Metal Slug series, will have no trouble picking this game up, even with its daunting difficulty. This is because like in the original Contra III the controls are fluid: not too tight or too loose. Also, you still have the same five weapons from the original game: the spread shot, the laser, homing missiles, the flame, and machine gun/pea shooter you begin with. Where the game loses points is its lack of smart bombs and the inability to carry two weapons at once, which were new additions to the series back in the day that made this game stand out from the first two. Also, I may be too nostalgic but I miss the cheesy “3D” top-down view of Contra III ‘s levels two and five. I think this game would have been a lot better if they had left in those “3D” levels and added their new ones after the original cheesy levels respectively, thus giving the game more nostalgic appeal.
To be fair, the changes are not all bad though, it was cool too see the Giant Cyclops robot from the Genesis game Contra: Hard Corps as the boss of the second level. On that note let’s look at something else positive about the game, the story line.
Story-10/10
The story is short, succinct, and hack-meat; perfect for a game like this. The story goes as follows: it is the year 2636, once again aliens have taken over the world, and once again only Bill Rizer and Lance Bean (Mad Dog and Scorpion) can stop them. There is no need for a detailed story line like the one they wrote for Contra 4, in a game like this the story should be nothing more than an excuse to go out and kill everything in sight.
Graphics-6/10
Why such a low score? Because Konami did below-average job of porting the graphics to the GBA. On first glance they look the same, but when compared to the graphics on the SNES, the SNES version looks much brighter and less pixilated. I even tried the game on my DS, since it has more colors and often makes GBA games look a lot brighter and crisper, but it didn’t help much.
Audio-6/10
Much like the graphics something is lost in translation here too, as the music barely sounds like stereo quality and the songs for each level are not as easily recognizable as they should be. Also, for as bad as the music sounds they actually improved the quality of the sound effects, which begs the question: if they could improve the sound effects then why couldn’t they at least make the music on par with the SNES version? I am almost tempted to give the audio a “5/10” grade (failing) because of that.
Challenge-9/10
This is the game’s strongest point, simply put: it’s tough as nails. There are times where you have to fire non-stop because the enemies are on you “Like a buzzard on a gut-wagon,” to use a Southern United States colloquialism. The only problem with the difficulty is it can be too unforgiving at times, especially since once you die you lose your weapon and there are no smart bombs, often you run out of continues and are forced to use a password and replay through the whole level again. This game is definitely harder than the original, but it is nothing unbeatable, and is not quite as challenging as Contra 4.
Replay Value-3/10
This is easily the game’s weakest aspect, as once you’ve beaten it there is really no point in going through it again, and the ending barely makes it worthwhile. Like all Contra games I’ve played the ending is pretty weak, while not a terrible ending they could have upgraded it from the SNES version. It may not be terrible but it’s sub-par enough to make you say something along the lines of: “I wasted all weekend for this!?” Also it would have been nice if they had at least added a hard mode, or some unlockables. The only thing that may make you want to replay it is the 99-extra-lives codes, but even then it seems unlikely.
Overall Conclusion-7/10
While some remakes of games may cause you to feel a vigorous swell of nostalgia and good memories (i.e. Mario 64 DS), this game brings back memories of bad remakes such as Super Mario Brothers Deluxe and Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, that almost seem to take away more than they add to the original games. Contra: The Alien Wars EX is not a bad game per se, but instead a bad remake of a good game with “additions” that hurt the game more than they help it. I can only recommend buying this game if you don’t own a Super Nintendo, and have no plans of getting one. The only advantage this game has over the original is its price, you can find it much cheaper than Contra III, due to the fact that Contra III is a classic and this game more or less came and went. With that said go buy the original, it may cost a little more but it’s worth it.
Charley Ward
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