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ToyMachine228 · Jun 25, 2004

I just played Contra: Shattered Soldier today for the first time...Have always wanted to play it since it was released. Loved the originals, and still do to this day...And then I play this...It's entertaining, but WTF? I can get past pretty much everything by running with the "flame whip" held down...But I'm sort of having fun in co-op...Then we get to the first boss...And it's a helicopter...Then it's a mech...Then some fatass turkey drops down on it...And then I blow it's head off...And then it turns around and turns into a frat boy with bad breath. Man WTF is up with this game?

Socreges · Jun 25, 2004

SS did not gel with me at all. It wasn't too fun. I'm hoping and thinking Neo Contra will fair better, though.

dark10x · Jun 25, 2004

How many stages did you finish? You can't just "fire whip" your way through the entire game...especially when trying for all S ranks (which I haven't actually done).

Ranger X · Jun 25, 2004

Really liked this game. The ugly face gave me a laugh. But it was cool, it looked gross.

BenT · Jun 25, 2004

What Socreges said. It's no Contra III, or even Hard Corps.

ArcadeStickMonk · Jun 25, 2004

It's hard until you learn the patterns, then it's just hard to recreate them all perfectly in one run.

I wish there had been better endings for non S-Ranks though; it kinda craps on your hard work unless flawless.

Also, the control scheme doesn't work well with arcade sticks: me unhappy

disabledHeliocentric · Jun 25, 2004

It felt like a bunch of unconnected stages slapped together. No sense of progress, really, and what happened to powerups and platforms?

Bog · Jun 25, 2004

Did you really call that a turkey?

Hellraizah · Jun 25, 2004

Contra : Shattered Soldier kicked all kind of asses. One of the finest on PS2.

disabledHeliocentric · Jun 25, 2004

Hellraizah said:
Contra : Shattered Soldier kicked all kind of asses. One of the finest on PS2.

It is a fine game. But have you played the contras from nes,genesis, snes days?

SolidSnakex · Jun 25, 2004

Heliocentric said:
It felt like a bunch of unconnected stages slapped together. No sense of progress, really, and what happened to powerups and platforms?

They dropped the powerups in favor of strategy by giving you a few basic weapons that you can switch to on a fly. It allows you to make stategies to get to get 100% on each level.

Hellraizah · Jun 25, 2004

Heliocentric said:
It is a fine game. But have you played the contras from nes,genesis, snes days?

Yes, and some of them are better than Shattered Soldier, however, they are not on PS2.

DjangoReinhardt · Jun 25, 2004

It's good game in and of itself, but no big deal for the series or genre. My biggest complaint is that the changes to the game's mechanics are not for the better. It's also way too easy for a "Contra" game.

drohne · Jun 25, 2004

it's the best in the series - harder, more intricate, and more technical than its snes and genesis predecessors. snes sentimentalists are virtually always wrong.

Socreges · Jun 25, 2004

drohne, I think you're becoming way too quick to attribute difference in opinion to sentiment. Although I agree that SS is, in fact, a better game than its predecessors.

mjq jazz bar · Jun 25, 2004

LOL CONTRA FORCE.

Anyway, Hard Corps was always way better than its SNES prequel. I don't understand why anyone would disagree with that.

BenT · Jun 25, 2004

Some (ie, me) prefer the more traditionally paced, platforming-centric nature of III as compared to the nearly non-stop boss parade that is Hard Corps.

They're very different games.

Pachinko · Jun 25, 2004

I feel the first 3 stages of contra 3 are the best designed levels in shooter history. Nothing I have played since tops them. shattered soldier felt a bit broken, not arcady enough.

drohne · Jun 25, 2004

contra III was really already a boss gauntlet with nominal run and gun sections...hard corps and shattered soldier just refine that formula. contra III was an amazing game at the time, and unquestionably the big step forward for the series, but i don't think it compares well to subsequent contra games. not least because it only has 4 side-scrolling levels.

sarusama · Jun 25, 2004

I've only really played Contra, Super C (NES) and Contra III (SNES), but from what I can tell, these games are completely different from the successors. Just looking at the designs (the graphic style) it's not the same.

I seriously find the screenshot posted to be repelling. Also I find the character to look all wrong (when compared to the NES and SNES and even the Geni games). It seems since the PSOne games they changed the style to gross, disturbing and repelling. I don't really know how to put it, the NES SNES Contras were just more "normal", not like playing some gore fest.

BTW was Apaloosa behind SS? If not Konami did a great job ob copying their look&feel!

The Main Event · Jun 25, 2004

The last generation of Contra has been more about frantic shooting and having mid-boss every 5 seconds with a hardcore techno-rock soundtrack comparing to the cinematic and suspense feel of Contra III and his predecessors. I'm not telling that's wrong, but it would be great if it would return to its root at least one more time this generation or maybe the next.

I liked SS, but it's hardly the best in the series.

ToyMachine228 · Jun 25, 2004

I'm on the 5th level now...Is that the final level? I'm fighting Lance...The game is more enjoyable as you get the hang of it, but in my opinion earlier Contra games were definitely better. Some of the bosses in Shattered Soldier are just wacked.

DjangoReinhardt · Jun 25, 2004

ToyMachine228 said:
I'm on the 5th level now...Is that the final level? I'm fighting Lance...The game is more enjoyable as you get the hang of it, but in my opinion earlier Contra games were definitely better. Some of the bosses in Shattered Soldier are just wacked.

The bonus stages are definitely worth reaching.

Bluemercury · Jun 25, 2004

ITs well below the snes/genesis ones....

Ramirez · Jun 26, 2004

I liked the game,but really really really sucked at it...I think the farthest I got was where your sking down the mountain or whatever with the snake jumping out of the ground.I think I beat that,then I'd always die on the next stage with the hornets or whatever

Baron Aloha · Jun 26, 2004

Contra III is still the best one. I bought SS and beat it the first time I played it. I didn't think it was nearly as challenging as people made it out to be. I stuck with the flame thrower throughout much of the game as well. In the end, I thought it was a game that looked like Contra, sounded like Contra, and played like Contra but it didn't really FEEL like Contra (if that makes any sense). On paper it has everything to be a really good game in the series but in the end I just felt like something was missing.

pops619 · Jun 26, 2004

Shattered Soldier is awesome. I guess I'm another of the few that considers it to be the best in the series. It has so many good boss battles. Beating it felt very rewarding, as this is easily the hardest game in the series. Getting all the endings in Hard Corps was a challenge, but just completing Shattered Soldier once took even more effort. It's games like this that keep me into gaming.

Fularu · Jun 26, 2004

Hard corps still is the best contra game ever... It takes Contra III and refines it to the perfection.

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