C: The Contra Adventure

"Fun to play, but, not exactly what you'd expect in a Contra game...."

Contra has many fans, and they have enjoyed the series for years now, playing such blockbuster titles as the original Contra and Super C for the NES, as well as Contra III: The Alien Wars for the Super NES. Then, in 1996, Contra: Legacy of War is released. It is despised by all, and ruins Contra's good name. The creators of the game, Appaloosa Interactive, are allowed another chance to redeem themselves and get the go-ahead from Konami (the distributors of the game, and the original creators of the Contra series) to make another sequel. It was released in the form of C: The Contra Adventure. Obviously, it didn't do too well. I first found out the game existed two whole years after it's release. After reading multiple reviews deeming the game as being trash (and one guy who said it wasn't too bad), I had to try it and see for myself...and once I couldn't find a place to rent it, I bought it, expecting the worst. What I got was...not what I expected.

The story is this. You are Ray Poward, a commando living in the 27th century, that formerly was the leader of a special combat team, code-named HARD CORPS. You have since retired after leading several successful campaigns, and are planning on just taking a long vacation. But, little do you know that trouble is brewing. A meteor with an alien life form inside crashed into Earth recently, and the alien being inside took shelter inside a Mayan temple. Not long after that, the creature created an army of hideous mutants, and sent them out to attack the nearby villages and cities. A cammando from the HARD CORPS was sent in to investigate, but, has since been heard from. It's up to Ray to get back into action, and destroy these creatures before they destroy the world!

Graphics- Not so great. When shrunken and viewed in the side-scrolling levels and the top-view levels (the few that are in the game), they aren't too bad. But, in the 3D levels (which make up most of the game), they aren't too fancy anymore. The textures used in the levels aren't very nice-looking, and look even worse close up. The enemies and characters don't look that great, either (with their textures often pixelating badly at close range, but, you shouldn't be that close to them anyway!). Well, at least everything looks pretty neat in the 2D levels! And, at least the camera usually isn't a problem (like how it can be in so many other 3D games)!

Sound- Better than the graphics, I can tell you. The music is a mixed bag. Some of it is pretty cool, while other tunes aren't as nice, and don't seem to fit the situation correctly. Still, the music isn't annoying or anything. The sound effects are good, though, with the cool rat-a-tat of your machinegun, to the loud explosions caused by grenades, mines, nuclear weapons, and so forth. Sometimes, though, the SFX play at inappropriate times. Many times I've heard the sound of a weapon reloading for absolutely no reason. Hmm. Oh, well. The comments made by your character crack me up, though. They're not necessarily funny, just stupid, and it makes me laugh.

Play Control- Quite good, I think. Every command is very responsive to your touch. The only problems you may have is controlling your character in levels with fixed camera angles. But, really, that's more of the camera's fault than the play control. Nice play control, indeed.

Challenge- It's a Contra game. The challenge factor is always high in Contra. This game is no different. There's plenty of nice annoying enemies to bother you and make your life miserable. Those, and the fact that you can't gain lives by earning points and you have less and less continues depending on what skill you play on can make things tough. But, this game really isn't too hard after you beat the first level (and get past all the enemies that kill you with one hit). Still, this is no cakewalk! Look out for grenades from above!

Replay Value- The different skill levels slightly change the game in terms of numbers of enemies and their strength, but, once you beat the game once (in Normal mode. You can't complete the game in Easy mode), there's no real reason to play again. There's no multiple endings or secrets (even though the game shows you secret codes at the end of the game, but, you can find those on this site without going through all the trouble!). You'd only play again just for the heck of it.

Overall- This game is far from perfect, and is certainly not what every Contra fan is dying to play, but, I've played much worse games. I wouldn't necessarily suggest this game to anyone, though. It definitely is not overly great. If it were released a few years ago, it might have had more respect and a bigger audience. Now, it just seems out-of-date and old. But, hey, if you want to run around, blow away everything in your path with a never-ending supply of cool weapons and ammunition, and not give a crap about the graphics in a game, why not give this game a shot?

Other Suggestions- If you enjoy C: The Contra Adventure, you might want to try Contra III: The Alien Wars for the Super Nintendo, or Duke Nukem: Zero Hour for the Nintendo 64.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/22/00, Updated 02/22/01