"This ain't your daddy's Contra"

Contra, the name should bring back memories of hours of excitement blowing up anything that moved next to a guy not wearing deodorant in a dirty Arcade. Or it should spark memories of long nights on your Nes playing alongside your brother, who might not have worn deodorant as well. So ignore any connotations of smell that Contra may bring, and just remember the pure gaming that is Contra. It single-handedly represents everything that is right about video games. It spurred a company called Konami into a household name. If you don't know what Contra is, you have no business gaming in the first place. Unfortunately for Konami now, the series has become more of a black sheep from their inability to recreate what once was. We all know the disaster that was Legacy of War and Contra Adventure, the trip into the 3rd dimension was about as pleasant as getting a vasectomy. That's what you get, I suppose, when you allow some no name company to undertake a flag ship production. It would appear that Konami learns from their mistakes though. For their latest installment, Shattered Soldier, Konami brought together the original team in an attempt to recapture that good ole Contra magic. But the question now is did they succeed?

The answer would be yes and no.

Yea I know that explains nothing. So here's the truth of the matter. Konami did a good job of wrapping Shattered Soldier in a casing that reads old-school Contra all over it. The throwback to side-scrolling gameplay almost guarantees success right? The keyword here is almost, the problem is once you open up the present and removing the glittering exterior, you realize the game just isn't what we have come to know as Contra. Yes, the relentless holding down the trigger button is here as well as the non-stop action. But where there was once levels with hordes of kamikaze enemies and bullets coming for days, has been replaced with levels consisting of just one boss fight after another. So instead of flying down the highway of steady mayhem leading into climax, it's just one speed bump on the road after another this time around. The first time you play through each level, you most likely won't even realize that you just beat the stage's boss until you see mission complete on the screen.

The thrill of blasting anything and everything in sight is what made Contra so adored by fans, but now that has been substituted out for: memorize the Boss' pattern, okay got it? Good, now onto the next one, rinse and repeat 4-5 times a level. Once you master the bosses, you master the game. However, the process grows wearisome after a few hours. But lucky for us, there is only five standard levels. Hey hold on, only five levels, that's not good? But wait there's more, half of levels consist of bosses and concepts from past Contra games. Stage 5, a remake of the first level of the original Contra is a nice nostalgia hit, but how many times do we have to ride on speeder bikes and hang on missiles Konami? Incorporating elements from the older games is always cool, but the gamer shouldn't be left feeling like the developer just got lazy or ran out of ideas at the same time.

During Konami's visit to past Contra games, they seemed to have forgotten a few key elements on the trip back. Most notably the Spread Gun, not that it's important, I mean it's only like taking out the Lazer weapon in Blazing Lazers. Also absent is the ability to pick up different weapons on the fly. In Shattered Solider the player is limited to just three weapons (machine gun, flamethrower, mine gun) that you begin the game with and finish the game with. Some other differences include an on-going story throughout the game. As you'd expect it's cheesy and doesn't enhance the game in anyway. They did try, at least I'd like to believe they did.

At this point you may be believing that Shattered Soldier is just a fragment of past Contras. Don't get me wrong, this isn't Legacy of War pt. 2. The mindless gameplay that made past Contra games so much fun is still here, however the game feels five years too late. So even though it's a solid action title for PS2, don't expect to be playing this game in ten years like original Contra games. Shattered Soldier could have been the landmark release that spurs more companies to return to 2D gameplay, however it just ends up being an appeasement to old-school Contra fans for past mistakes. If you're a Contra fan though, you would be a fool to not pick this game up, but for anyone else, even action buffs, you would be best off just driving this for a weekend.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/24/02, Updated 10/28/02