Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX

"Contra III ver. 2.0"

Contra III is one of the most recognizable games released for the SNES, and now it gets a revival on Nintendo's little miracle-worker.

Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX is a remake of the original minus a few features such as Smart Bombs, the ability to have two weapons, and overhead stages. With what was taken out, Konami has tried to compensate by adding two stages that are being touted as ''All-new,'' but are just re-works of stages from Contra: Hard Corps.

Graphics: 7
Contra Advance doesn't really go out of its way to be better than its SNES counterpart, but it doesn't necessarily stumble either. The graphics boast more contrast and appear more ''painted'' than the originals, but everything from explosions, character sprites, and boss enemies have been represented to the fullest, though a bit more tiny and with a few less colors.

Audio: 5
The re-creation of the Contra III soundtrack is an atrocity. They would have been better off composing a new soundtrack or at least tried harder. All the original themes are represented here, they're just extremely tiny and at some points, just annoying. The sound effects ported over nicely, but they're still a bit on the boring side.

Story: 3
Aliens, guns, commandos, explosions. Need anything else?

Gameplay: 9
This is where almost every Contra games shines. You can't get much simpler than a run and shoot action game, and Contra has time and time again proven that they're the best at doing it. It all works the same as it has in the past, you get a Jump button and a Fire button and obviously you move your character around the screen with the digital pad. A subtle new feature was added, with the ability to run backwards while still firing ahead of you, but I didn't really find it useful except in maybe one part of the game. What may cause many to put this game down before the Alien Wars are won, is the unforgiving difficulty. This game will chew you up, spit you out, and do it all over again on the next continue forcing you to either give up, or just get good. I'm all for a good challenge, but sometimes Contra Advance just seems like it was made to be impossible. Surviving the final boss fight is almost a matter of luck rather than skill. The two difficulty levels provided do little more than just increase or decrease your lives and continues, and on Novice a player can only progress to the end of Stage Four.

Replay Value: 7
it depends on if the game hooks you or not. Some will be instantly hooked by the game's challenge and visuals and will do anything it takes to press on and others will just give up entirely. With this game you'll most likely pick it up, play it, and put it away for about a week or so and come back again.

Overall: 7
Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX isn't a game for everybody, but it's a great chance for anyone who missed Contra III the first time to get a dose of what good 2D gaming was all about. This one's definitely a keeper if you need a game to break the monotony of overly complicated games.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/02, Updated 11/07/02