Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX

"A well made compilation of classic 16-bit Contra levels."

Back in the SNES and Genesis days, a Contra game was released for each. The SNES got Contra III: The Alien Wars, and the Genesis got Contra: Hard Corps. Each game featured different levels and were both good.

Contra Advance takes levels from both of those games and puts them into one portable game. Some functionality was lost, but all in all I think Contra Advance retained and executed the old levels well.

Graphics 9/10
The graphics are taken directly from the SNES and Genesis without a thing lost. I can't complain at all. In fact, some graphics were improved upon. Enemy bullets that were too small to be seen in the original games are now bigger and more visible. The screen orientation is wider too, another added plus.

Sound 9/10
Again, taken right from the original levels. The sound effects sound slightly different, but it still sounds right.

Gameplay 9/10
What I like about Contra Advance is that it only has the sidescrolling levels, not the overhead levels. Instead of overhead levels, Contra Advance interjects some of the best levels from Hard Corps. I didn't really like the overhead levels as much so I like that fact that they were taken out and replaced with sidescrolling levels. The game feels more consistent that way.

So it's the same sidescrolling running and gunning you would expect from Contra. There are a few limitations from the originals. For one, you can only carry one weapon at a time. Not that much of a problem for me. That didn't seem to deter the fun at all. Also, because of the layout of the buttons on the GBA, jumping and firing at the same time is not as easy, but the game is still fun and a decent challenge because of the limited lives.

Overall 9/0
A plain fun, pick-up-and-play portable game. I liked it. I think you'll like it too. I don't know why the other reviewers here didn't like it, they seem too harsh on the game for being slightly different from the originals. But hey, the original fun is intact, trust me. So I'm proud to give this game the highest score it has received here.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/31/07