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| Juke Joint Jezebel 1076th Post
 
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|  "Contra Shattered Soldier"
, posted Fri 8 Nov 22:29:
as i've mentioned on a couple of other threads, i bought this game T_T and at a deal too! i found it for $40 somewhere. everywhere else, it's been $50. anyways, since i'm here, at school, killing time, and watching the people hover over me, waiting for me to get off the computer, i've decided that i'll spend a few minutes to annoy those poor computer-needy students and write a crappy review for the game. nothing special. just my take on it. and i guess i'll add tips for those of you who might need help or are new to the game (yea, the game's pretty difficult, even on normal mode. but once you get the hang of the physics and the patterns of the enemies, it's a breeze!)
:: (Default) Controls ::
Directional Pad / Left Analog - move left and right, and aim
[] - fire your weapon. tap it twice to charge for the alternative charge attack
charging with this button can be useful when you've gotta switch from normal fire to charge frequently
X - jump
/\ - no function (and you can't set any buttons to it T_T)
O - charge your weapon
i think once your weapon is "charged up," it'll do maximum damage. so sitting there, charging your weapon all day probably won't make it do anything else. oh yea, when playing, try to get your timing down with the charge. you can blow up more guys and do more damage that way. but if you don't charge your gun all the way and you release to fire, a really crappy shot will come out. make it a habit not to do that. it wastes time and can get you killed in some situations  (i should know)
L1 - select previous weapon
here's a tip with the weapon selection (also works with R1): when charging your gun, you can select a different weapon and fire the second chosen weapon! very useful when you need to fire that second chosen weapon's charged shot NOW
L2 - keep aim. extremely useful. learn to utilize this function!
R1 - select next weapon
R2 - halt movement. also very useful. you can halt your movement so you can aim with the d-pad/analog and shoot properly without walking forward
:: Weapons ::
the good part is you start off with all the weapon you'll need! the bad part is you start off with all the weapons you'll need -_- as far as i've seen, these are all the guns you'll get in the game. but i shouldn't complain about not being able to get any more weapons. the six available is a nice selection, they all have infinite shots, and i've found myself having a use for them ALL. also, when you die, you don't lose your selected weapon ^_^
A - Primary Weapon
B - Charged Weapon
Weapon 1A - Basic
Damage: ok
not that bad. your basic infinite machine/chain/gauss gun (hell, i dunno what it is, hehe). even though it's basic, don't underestimate it. it is great in those intense situations where enemies are flying everywhere and you need to keep your distance
Weapon 1B - Spin Shooter
Damage: crappy
at first glance, i thought this was crap. it spits out a little sphere that spins and shoots for a bit. but i finally figured out its usefulness. when those crappy one-hit-kill dudes keep popping up, shoot a couple of these suckers out to clear the way. this, combined with its primary machine gun weap can clear a room full of goons in no time
Weapon 2A - Flamethrower
Damage: great
probably my most favorite set of weapons. i've found the flamethrower to do the most damage out of all the primary weapons. of course, you can only hit enemies that are near the flame [close to you] ... so that's what the charged shot's for!
Weapon 2B - Fire Blast
Damage: very good
charge that sucka! from my experience, the charged shot of this weapon does the most damage in the least amount of time compared to everything else. get the timing down and you can waste just about anything in no time! also, travels through walls :D
Weapon 3A - 'Nade Launcher
Damage: not bad
i don't use this weapon too often, unless i need a quick alternative while using the heat-seekers. the weapon certainly fires fast for a grenade launcher, but it makes up for that fast firing with its weak-for-an-explosive damage. it's more damaging than the basic chain gun, but less than the flamethrower. the same goes for the range. more than the flamethrower but less than the chain gun. upon firing, the grenades travel on the ground for a bit, then explode. the cool part is that it travels uphill too. i haven't tested it with walls yet
Weapon 3B - Heat-Seeking 'Splosives
Damage: pretty good
'nuff said. it finds its target for you. great for those stages/bosses where you have to continue firing at something, but have no time to stop and aim
:: Stages ::
mainly info on the bosses. this part is kinda lengthy so i only finished a portion of it
Stage 1 - Basic
the stage starts out in your everyday mountainous setting. there's crappy soldiers charging at you and stuff lying around for you to blow up. the first few seconds of gameplay really takes to back to the old Contras
First Miniboss: Robot Friend
this guy wasn't too much trouble. dodge its crap and shoot at it until it explodes. when it starts doin' its crazy missile thing, don't panic. if you don't have the timing down on it, just keep moving and try not to get hit. oh yea, when he starts walking towards you, you can duck and shoot at its belly
Second Miniboss: The Wacky Gadget
the second miniboss is some crazy torture machine contraption. to get past it easily, just shoot the hell out of the "batteries" (or crystals) in the center until it falls apart. but if you want a high hit ratio, take it apart piece by piece. first, choose one side. don't try to destroy the guns on both sides simultaneously unless you're extremely bored  trust me, uh ... ok, we won't talk about my experience
1 - the first gun watches your movement and fires a missile at you every so often. pretty simple to take out, especially since you can blow up the missiles by shooting at them
2 - the second gun is a spray gun. don't try to destroy it from under it. hide under the opposite side and shoot
3 - the third gun drips napalm (or something). when the fire comes at you, jump over it
4 - the fourth gun is a huge freakin' flame thrower. just stay away from the flame -_-
after all the guns are destroyed, the crystal(s) in the center will start going berserk and zapping the ground. apply the same tactics to the opposite side of guns and stay away from that crystal's laser thing. oh yea, the laser won't touch you if you're in the very corner of the screen. abuse that :D when both sides of the machine is destroyed, just smash whatever's left of the batteries and move on
Third Miniboss: Snow Worm
uh, not much to say about this guy. he has three modes of anger though
1 - jumps around. try to get his pattern down. in normal mode, he goes left, right, left, right, etc. shoot his tail when he's in this mode
2 - starts jumping around in a loop. aim for his bigass eye
3 - he starts dancing (?) hahaha. finish him off
Final Boss: Turtle Dude
yep! this guy brings back memories! here, he's probably the easiest boss
1 - in his first mode, he shoots flying bees/wasps out of the anus on his back (haha), little white (undestroyable) things out of his mouth, and maggots out of his "heart." the bees and maggots can be killed with only one shot, but run from the glowing white plasma. every so often, he'll stick his neck out. just be careful of that. unlike Contra 3, he DOES NOT spit out a huge laser!! this threw me off so much the first few times i fought him. oh yea, you can jump and fire 'nades at the hole on his back to destroy that. same goes with the maggot-spitting heart. unfortunately, the only weapon i've found that destroys the two are the grenade launcher (no heat-seekers here -_-). i think any weapon can be used to blow his head up
2 - i don't think anyone expected his ass to look like this. go right in front of his mouth (don't be shy. just don't go too close or the vomit might harm you) and fire whenever he opens it. every so often, stuff (larva, flies, BOOGERS!! oh yea, boogers are those white plasma things. can't be destroyed) falls out of his nose. do what you can to stay alive. to get rid of the larva that happened to fall on the ground, simply duck and fire
Stage 2 - Train
no info yet
Final Boss: Gundam X
Stage 3 - City
no info yet
Final Boss: Crazy Train
Stage 4 - Sea
no info yet
Final Boss: Overgrown Mutant Seaman
Stage 5 - Jungle
this is the battlefield for the final showdown that's unlocked after completing the other four stages. well, at least i think it's final. quite frankly, i didn't get very far -_- i wasted two lives on this crazy slug miniboss and was later sliced apart by an airplane propeller. tips on the miniboss? um, i kept shooting at it, hoping it'd die, hehe
Final Boss: ??? (Juan maybe?!)
:: Unlockables ::
so far, i've only unlocked a single extra life. i think it came after approximately 4 hours of playing. i haven't hit the 8 hour mark yet, nor have i beat the game, or any of the stages with an S grade T_T i'll add more stuff to this section as i unlock more
:: My Complaints ::
i only have two beefs with the game. the first being the text dialogue. it's very, uh, enthusiastic. wait, i mean monotonous @_@ but it's only a small part of the game. everything else definitely makes up for that. the second is the comic. sure, it has nothing to do with the actual game itself but ehhh, i didn't know where else to bitch about this. anyways, Rugal said he's getting one free with the game T_T i was never informed on such a deal! visiting both Konami of Japan and Konami of America's sites, i'm guessing that the comic only comes with the Japanese release .... or something .... i dunno -_-
:: Conclusion ::
JJJ's Rating: 9.7
don't ask me where i got that number from. in a nutshell, the game is indeed awesome. it begins with a beautiful opening cinematic that gets your adrenaline running and ends with .... well, i haven't beaten it yet ^-^ if you've played any of the old Contras, you get added fun, discovering familiar enemies and bosses of yore. the weapons, the bad guys, the training mode (!!!), just everything. it's beautiful. the 3D environment with the 2D gameplay is such a fking winning combination. and by the way, THE MUSIC IS FREAKIN' AWESOME! my god i gotta find the sound track or mp3s or something later. it's a pity you can't tone down the sound effects and turn up the music in the options menu >_< it only forces you to blast the volume and later get yelled at by parents/neighbors :D
EDIT:
i've decided not to go in-depth on all the stages. it'd just ruin the fun (also, writing guides, no matter how crappy, can be very time-consuming). there's a clip (57.79MB) of the first stage i described here. ugh, i still can't get 100% on this stage >_< always 97%. i gotta watch and rewatch that clip. i'm doing something wrong
oh, and i'm 13 minutes away from hitting the 8 hour mark! i'm too exhausted to play any more though (long rough embarrassing day. i swear, if i were Japanese i'd be a ripoff of Keitarou) but i'll fill you guys in if anything else unlocks
by the way, has anyone else played this game? how far did you get? what was your rank? so do you think it lives up to the Contra name? any replies don't have to be as lengthy as my post. two syllables will do. i just had two hours of boring library time to kill. and i once i start typing, whoooooooooshh!! like the wind!
EDIT:
CRAP i figured out what i was doing wrong on the first stage to get 97%. i edited it above. check the info on the boss
"This is my house. I have to defend it!" -- Macaulay Culkin
[this message was edited by Juke Joint Jezebel on Sat 9 Nov 22:41] |
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