Games

by **moonside** » 17 Dec 2007 21:19

http://www.konami-data.com/officialsites/contra4/

Thoughts?

by **icycalm** » 19 Dec 2007 05:25

Tim Rogers wrote:I thought it was a pretty bad game until I beat it, and then I realized it was alright. It's just really lifeless, bland, and fan-gamey. It feels at times like a horrible slight to Nobuya Nakazato, whose Neo Contra and Shin Contra were both amazing, and personable :(

http://www.insertcredit.com/forums/view ... 687#279687

And yours?

by **moonside** » 19 Dec 2007 16:10

Shane Bettenhausen wrote:Contra 4 looks, plays, and sounds exactly like some long-lost 16-bit sequel: Everything from its power-up arsenal to its towering alien bosses feels like a direct throwback to the oldies. [..] The introduction of a dual-screen mechanic definitely screws with the balance. As in Yoshi's Island DS, the gap between the two screens leads to plenty of needless deaths [..] While Contra 4 doesn't necessarily improve on the respected series template, it's unquestionably a return to form.

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3164407

Also, it's one of the very few DS games I've played that doesn't support single card multiplayer, which is disappointing.

Anyone else?

by **icycalm** » 19 Dec 2007 16:18

There's nobody else here dude -- all other accounts are also controlled by me. I simply use them to start conversations with myself, in order to make it seem as if the forum has actual traffic.

by **MAXCHAIN** » 21 Dec 2007 08:42

I disliked it a great deal. It really failed to capture the excellent pacing of the series up to that point. It also felt like enemies had too much health. Remember when a flood of enemies would come onscreen and you would mercilessly destroy them as if they were nothing? Now enemies seem to take ages to die while stages drag on. It doesn't help that the game feels extremely bland, most likely because every enemy and situation is ripped shamelessly from the original Contra.

I'd also like to add that an EGM reviewer (perhaps it was Shane?) mentioned that it was most similar to Contra III :lol: Has this guy been living under a rock?

by **CosMind** » 22 Dec 2007 04:18

Remember Contra III? Yeah, the game with incredible level design and pacing? Great balance, a fanstastic sound track? Visionary stage design and visuals? Thoughtful enemy rollout and endlessly diverse encounters and scenarios?

I was unfortunate enough to not have a single one of those questions answered in Contra 4.

But, to be fair, I did not play all the way through the game -- because of the aforementioned reason, of course. So, maybe I missed something. But, I'll be danged if I'm going to push through in an attempt to discover buried treasure.

by **Flying Omelette** » 30 Dec 2007 04:08

MAXCHAIN wrote:I'd also like to add that an EGM reviewer (perhaps it was Shane?) mentioned that it was most similar to Contra III :lol: Has this guy been living under a rock?

I see misguided quotes like that in reviews so often that it leads me to believe that many modern game journalists simply haven't played the classics in so long that they have forgotten what they were like and what makes them good. Therefore, anything that kind of, sort of, vaguely reminds them of an older game they'll say is "just like it".

by **icycalm** » 30 Dec 2007 08:43

Even worse, sometimes they'll say it's "even better".

by **Dale** » 30 Dec 2007 23:51

When The Red Star came out this happened. Mainstream reviewers hadn't seen a game like that in so long that they compared it to like 100 different games trying to figure out what it is.

by **Flying Omelette** » 31 Dec 2007 02:02

I've never even heard of The Red Star. I Googled it and one of the pages that comes up says it was canceled. Was it ever actually released? And how could it be published by Acclaim when I thought I heard they went out of business years ago? (Although I could swear I kept hearing Atari went out of business every other year for awhile.)

by **MAXCHAIN** » 31 Dec 2007 02:17

XS ended up publishing it (and fucking it a little in the process, of course.)

by **Dale** » 31 Dec 2007 03:24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LZ9KEIsUxM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi0HIVZhuf4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiP31UvMo0E

It's a PS2 game. It's like a cross between a manic shooter and a beat 'em up. I enjoy it a lot.

by **jiji** » 01 Jan 2008 07:59

MAXCHAIN wrote:XS ended up publishing it (and fucking it a little in the process, of course.)

Fucking it how? If you're referring to the missing FMVs, that's Acclaim's doing - by way of not paying the company that had been hired to do them, and intending to count the inevitable lawyer's fees as a business expense. That was the way Acclaim did business. XS did quite well with what they had to work with.

by **MAXCHAIN** » 01 Jan 2008 11:16

I meant the grey flashing/camera glitches towards the end of the game when things start to get intense. That blame may lie on acclaim's shoulders as well. Still, it would've been nice of them to fix it.

I actually didn't know about any missing cut-scenes!

by **Flying Omelette** » 01 Jan 2008 15:43

Well, I remember Dire 51 from The OPCFG complaining about how XS fucked up Gunbird when they released it as Mobile Light Force.

by **jiji** » 01 Jan 2008 17:01

MAXCHAIN wrote:I meant the grey flashing/camera glitches towards the end of the game when things start to get intense. That blame may lie on acclaim's shoulders as well. Still, it would've been nice of them to fix it.

Interesting. I don't remember seeing those. It's probably something that the developers didn't have time to iron out, kind of like the framerate issues here and there and the way the loading screen doesn't update at all during disc accesses.

by **MAXCHAIN** » 02 Jan 2008 11:34

jiji wrote:Interesting. I don't remember seeing those.

Hmm, do you live in europe, by any chance? Perhaps the releases were different? I know I've heard others mentioning the same problem.

It's probably something that the developers didn't have time to iron out, kind of like the framerate issues here and there and the way the loading screen doesn't update at all during disc accesses.

I always thought it was really funny how it shows a static image at the loading screen of a random %, only to return to zero anyway.

Flying Omelette wrote:Well, I remember Dire 51 from The OPCFG complaining about how XS fucked up Gunbird when they released it as Mobile Light Force.

I don't know about Gunbird, but the original Shiki (MLF2) had its issues.

Aside from all of that, though, the Red Star is alot of fun and deserves a chance, despite its few flaws.

by **Jedah** » 04 Jan 2008 15:21

My thoughts in a summary:

- Contra 4 is worse than the third one the SNES

- Contra 4 is too difficult for a game released in 2007

- The dual screen layout seems impressive but is not functional

- The DS buttons are not up to the task and exhaust the player

- Graphics are mediocre when compared to other 2D games like Castlevanias

- I'm still playing it because I'm a masochist :P

by **icycalm** » 04 Jan 2008 18:57

Jedah wrote:Contra 4 is too difficult for a game released in 2007

If it really is a difficult game, it would certainly be one thing it would have going for it.

by **Sheik_et_Chouette** » 04 Jan 2008 21:17

Jedah wrote:- Contra 4 is too difficult for a game released in 2007

Umm...

I'm totally mystified. Why exactly does 2007 have anything to do with it? What makes Contra 4's difficulty acceptable in 1997, but not 2007? Did the mass of gamers lose their spines in the last decade?

by **icycalm** » 04 Jan 2008 22:50

Yes, and, by the way, welcome to this forum.

by **Sheik_et_Chouette** » 04 Jan 2008 23:12

Thank you :)

by **CosMind** » 05 Jan 2008 05:03

Jedah wrote:- Contra 4 is too difficult for a game released in 2007

I disagree with this mostly because I don't view the game as being "difficult" so much as "unbalanced". Huge difference.

Contra III was quite challenging, but it was balanced. It was fair. It rewarded you for succeeding and improving.

This new Contra makes me feel relieved when I happen to survive the sometimes-illegible chaos that spews about (rather than excited that I overcome what appear at first to be insurmountable odds - completely under my own control, skill, and learning).

So, 2007 doesn't mark the apocalypse of player capabilities -- instead it marks the continuance of developer ineptitude...

;)

by **sarsamis** » 06 Jan 2008 20:29

I haven't beaten yet, but I agree with Tim so far. It gets better as you go on (with the exception of the third stage), but it still feels fan-made and is overly obsessed with being "classic" as opposed to just being good. And the ability to stack gun powerups to create over-powered weapons adds this Gradius effect to it that turns you from hero to zero when you die. I really hate having to say, "fuck, I lost my good gun!" :(

by **CosMind** » 12 Jan 2008 03:39

CosMind wrote:Contra III is quite challenging, but it is balanced. It is fair. It rewards for succeeding and improving.

Yeah, I know it's limp that I'm quoting myself. But, had to to make some edits to the tense. Dropped Contra III into ye old SNES again last evening. Damn, I love the game.

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