Review: Contra: Operation Galuga Is a Welcome Blast from the Past

Contra: Operation Galuga is the primary pure, 2D Contra recreation in a very long time. After the extensively panned Contra: Rogue Corps in 2019, Konami appears to have realized a real retro revival is what the sequence wants.

It’s off to a great begin instantly with its developer. WayForward not solely has a pedigree for retro styled video games, it additionally has expertise with the sequence because of Contra 4. Contra: Operation Galuga additionally intentionally returns to the franchise’s roots, because it’s a reimagining of the unique Contra.

That mentioned, this isn’t a remake. Whereas the premise is successfully the identical because the 1987 authentic, it takes concepts from the remainder of the sequence and tosses all of it right into a blender to make a wholly new expertise. As an example, a number of ranges function the Jet Bike from Contra III and Lucia from Contra: Shattered Soldier is a playable character unlocked later within the recreation. They even included Probotector within the Arcade Mode as a nod for us Europeans, which is sweet.

The story of Contra: Operation Galuga is an easy one. Two operatives from the Contra unit, Invoice Rizer and Lance Bean, have been despatched to the island of Galuga to take down the Pink Falcon terrorist group. As well as, scientists found that the island is exhibiting anomalous gravity readings, and they’re involved the terrorists might have entry to a lethal weapon.

A stunning quantity of labor went into the story, together with totally voiced cutscenes. It’s not notably deep, in fact, but it surely’s unashamedly gung-ho in the way in which a Contra story ought to be. The tone is ready early on, when Invoice and Lance soar out of a helicopter whereas grunting “hell yeah brother” at one another. I really feel that they might have leaned tougher into the goofy 80s extra somewhat extra, in the way in which Doom did in 2016, however that is adequate.

After all, nobody’s coming to Contra for its story. We’re right here for large weapons and waves of enemies to kill them with. That is the place Contra: Operation Galuga has lots to stay as much as. On one hand, it must be devoted to the unique video games, permitting veteran gamers to hop in and get precisely what they need. Nonetheless, with the large time hole for the reason that final “true” Contra recreation, it must make concessions to a contemporary viewers to usher in new gamers.

Fortunately, WayForward managed to get the steadiness proper. That is pure Contra gameplay. You’ve gotten a gun that fires a stream of bullets throughout the display screen, enemies rush at you from all instructions and powerups drop from pods that float throughout the display screen. It’s a difficult and infrequently maddening time, as the sport more and more throws extra lethal projectiles at you. It’s precisely what you’d need from the sequence, presenting loads of problem whereas nonetheless being enjoyable sufficient to come back again and take a look at once more once you inevitably get killed by a stray grenade.

What Operation Galuga provides to it is a bunch of contemporary high quality of life changes. There are issue choices firstly of the sport, which largely cut back the depth of enemy encounters. The sport options checkpoints and saves progress throughout a playthrough, so that you don’t must restart from the start on a Sport Over just like the NES authentic. There’s additionally a perk store that permits you to purchase upgrades with in-game credit, akin to further well being or the power to retain particular weapons on demise. Nonetheless, these upgrades are utilized firstly of a degree and there are solely two slots accessible, so it’s inconceivable to fully break the sport with every part on without delay.

These are all nice additions that don’t dilute the essence of Contra whereas additionally making the expertise a lot much less irritating. Plus, in case you’re a purist, Arcade Mode strips all of it out for anybody who desires that problem. It’s a great compromise.

The gameplay is stable all through Contra: Operation Galuga. It’s extremely satisfying to hurry via a degree, taking out unhealthy guys en masse. It’s much more satisfying to choose up powerups, with the unfold and homing missiles including a lot screen-clearing energy to your arsenal you’re unlikely to need to use anything. Choosing up a second powerup of the identical form will even improve that weapon, permitting a bigger unfold, quicker homing missiles, lasers that bounce throughout enemies and wider flamethrower arcs, to call just some. What’s extra, you’ll be able to have two of those weapons geared up at any time, permitting for some strategic use.

There’s additionally the overload function, the place particular weapons could be sacrificed for a particular capability. Laser weapons gives you further velocity, machine weapons will present a protect and homing missiles could be changed into drones. Most of those talents are helpful however sadly don’t final lengthy sufficient to be really important.

Nonetheless, there are some gameplay points that come up because of the visible type. Whereas the characters and places usually look advantageous, there are some issues with the sport’s basic visible language. In just a few ranges, the builders had been eager to experiment with the two.5D facet by that includes parts on totally different planes to the characters. The issue is, on a number of events this was much less of a cool element and extra an obstruction. As an example, the boss struggle on the finish of the Village degree includes a tentacle that strikes alongside the entrance of the display screen. Because the struggle will get extra hectic, this tentacle is a critical hindrance, typically masking up a great chunk of what you’re making an attempt to keep away from.

This wasn’t the one time both. One other degree options projectiles that emerge from each the foreground and background, including pointless visible noise to a display screen already stuffed with bullets. One other degree options crystals that block the display screen, so you must squint on the reflections to determine the place you’re going. This typically led to me falling into pits that grew to become invisible because of the warping of the glass. These parts at all times brought on frustration, getting in the way in which of what was in any other case a superbly truthful problem.

Contra: Operation Galuga is a stable retro revival. It’s received satisfying gunplay, a great steadiness of old fashioned mechanics with fashionable tweaks and provides a great problem. Followers of the sequence may have a blast, even when its visuals generally get in the way in which.

Contra: Operation Galuga is out now for the Nintendo Change, PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One and Xbox Sequence X/S.