Contra: The Alien Wars

"Brilliant!"

"Brilliant!"
Wow. Just...wow! Factor 5, you did a pretty good job. And that's not to say that this isn't a bad port. It does have its small bit of problems.

Story: 10/10
Unlike that stupid Gameboy Advance version of Contra 3, this title kept the intro sequence as well as give a proper ending to the game. Despite having a varying wording in the text and not exactly the same end situation, the idea is still kept. Interestingly in Europe, this is called Probotector 2 and is the "sequel" to Probotector, which is Operation C.

Graphics: 10/10
At first glance, people will say that this looks worse, even more so than its predecessor, Operation C. Maybe they're right. But just think of how much effort was put in by then-poorly known German company, Factor 5, to make it look and feel like Contra 3. When it comes to translating a 16-bit, colorful game into a monochrome, 8-bit puny hand-held, well done. Now, if you want some prettier graphics, try playing it through the Super Gameboy in which you'll love it even more, I know I did.

Sound: 9/10
Pretty good sound implementation. Although the bullet sounds may be thin, soft and plain for an action-packed game, they sound great, especially explosions. The only problem is that every gun sounds so similar.

Music: 10/10
A good portion of the music tracks are there and were a great result from translation, although you may find them to get rather repetitive. That doesn't matter, us Contra fans usually keep our mind on making sure those Aliens don't get us out of our skin. There is even a new track not heard before; it replaces the boss battle theme. Sounds nice and fits the mood of the situation.

Gameplay: 9/10
Here is where things may turn down some fans, but not all. First of all, enemies tend to get harder patterns and it seems harder to move around in such a small screen. Long-time players can notice the much-stronger enemies in here compared to their counterpart in the SNES version: You can find turrets, grenadiers and fire "meat" balls taking a while to down. Some enemies require new strategies to overcome, but this just adds to the challenge. The Jet Bike stage is not in. The overhead levels do not support Mode 7, and the controls are modified vastly, giving you a new move: strafing. It still gets the job done as it works wonders on the newly designed enemies and new strategies required, though mastering will take a bit of time. The homing gun may disappoint some people with its weak firepower, merely being a homing pea shooter. Some bosses are missing and replaced by tough obstacles. It may also be unfair that you can't hold 2 weapons now, but at least you have an extra-ordinarily powerful Smart bomb, which you get one after each death. None of this, though should affect how the game plays since, if you get better at it, dying is almost rare. For those of you who just can't get 5 levels right down tough as nails, they got you a password system to master each level as you go along. Of course, me, I don't need it!

Re-playability: 10/10
The game features new things to try, as well as difficulties up to Maniac skill, each with their own adjustments and challenge. But for an experience and challenge like none other on a fat, monochrome-screen system, play the maniac difficulty.

Overall: 10/10
Yeah, we pretty much know what's up with this one. A great, almost fresh, new feel for the hardcore gamers and a cake not to miss.

Rent or Buy?
Buy. Who rents gameboy mono games, these days, anyway?

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/26/07, Updated 12/21/07

Game Release: Contra: The Alien Wars (US, October 1994)