Contra is one of the most loved gaming series created, and Contra 4 continues the saga of the ultimate side
scrolling, left-to-right, shoot’em up action game. You’ll always be holding the trigger button down as you
spew bullets and testosterone in your onslaught against anything that moves, and there’ll be a few moments
of cursing as you fight through the moments of ball breaking frustration that eat up all your continues.
The game offers three levels of difficulty: easy, normal, and hard. These affect not only the number of lives and
continues you receive, but also the firing pattern of weapons, and some of the challenges in each level. For instance,
on easy the spread shot has a wider spread. And on easy there are no falling boulders in Stage 2′s vertical waterfall
section.
If the difficulty of the game had ramped up as the levels progressed, the game might feel more consistent. Instead
the levels, mini-bosses, and bosses tend to vary from almost jokingly easy to insanely frustrating. Nothing is
ever of medium difficulty it seemed. Then again, frustration and death are hallmark features of each Contra game,
and no one picks up a Contra game expecting to beat it on the first try, which brings us to game length. I think it is
perfect, but every other reviewer has already bitched about it being too short. On the other hand, if this game had been
3 levels longer, they’d all complain about being bored the last few levels.
There is a decent pace to the game and you’ve always got something to shoot, but I’d have liked a little more intensity
to the action. For example, in Contra III: Alien Wars, even the transitions between the levels are seamless and packed
with action. Whereas in Contra 4 the screen goes black and you are magically transported to the next stage, which
detracts from the pace of the game.
Boss fights in the game are solid and usually involve several phases of action. As usual, the fights revolve around
the “Owned or Screwed” scenario where you can easily beat the bosses in under 15 seconds with the correct weapons,
but you’ll be fighting forever if you’re stuck with the standard rifle. Unlockable bonus bosses would have helped.
One of the best additions to the game is the challenge stages. These are quick action levels that you try to beat
by various means such as not firing your weapon, obtaining 100% weapon accuracy, taking out a certain number of foes,
etc… And as you progress through the challenge stages you can unlock the original Contra and Super Contra. I was pumped
about unlocking the levels, but in actuality they’re not overly entertaining or worthwhile as they have terrible
graphics, which I’d hoped had been revamped a bit. Aside from that, I feel they missed out and should have included
Alien Wars as an unlockable.
Overall, the game is solid and I enjoyed it. But unless you’re a fan of the Contra series already, it probably won’t
appeal to you after you’ve played through it once or twice.
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