The NES era some of the most iconic game franchises known to modern audiences. Super Mario World, Street Fighter 2, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Kart, and many others were all released onto the NES system that has to this day become legends in the gaming industry. One of those games was a part of the Contra series. Contra is a side-scrolling 2D arcade shooter that allows the player and a friend to take control of two special Commandos Bill Rizer and Lance Bean who are sent on missions to fight against whatever threat puts the world in jeopardy. Now the series is back in Contra: Operation Galuga developed by WayForward and published by Konami. Is it fun? Is it bad? We are about to redeploy and find out together.
Compared to the others, one thing that stands out with this Contra game is that it features a story mode. The story of Contra: Operation Galuga is that a mysterious Meteor shower occurs at the Galuga Archipelago off the coast of New Zealand and a few months later a terrorist group identified as the Red Falcons invades the area which has now been emanating unusual gravity waves. The Earth Federation dispatched the GX Army but has lost contact with them. Fearing the worst the federation has now dispatched Bill and Lance to investigate the island to stop the terrorists and figure out the source of the waves that have turned the peaceful island into a deadly war zone.
There are three playable game modes: Story mode, Arcade mode, and Challenge mode. Story mode has eight stages and can be played with up to two players while Arcade mode can be played with up to four.
The gameplay for Contra: Operation Galuga is essentially a reimagining of the original 2-D Run and Gun arcade game but with new bosses, stages, weapons, and gameplay mechanics. Weapons from the classic games make a return like the Spread Gun, Laser, Flamethrower, and Homing Gun only this time they have a stackable upgraded version that can increase the damage of each weapon. There is also a new overload system that when charged up by holding the L1 and R1 buttons can unleash powerful attacks and unique abilities that can help out in battle. Players have the option from the start of the story and arcade mode to utilize a health bar which allows them to receive up to 3 or 4 points of damage from enemies before receiving a game over. The difficulty can also be tweaked at the start with different options to accommodate different players’ preferred skills for a different variety of experiences. Players can also utilize a jump and dash ability to avoid enemy fire as well as an extra traversal ability that can be utilized in the game. For example, Bill has an extra jump while Lance has an extra dash. It is also important to note that this game also features 3 unlockable characters that can be unlocked as players progress through the story mode each has distinct abilities: Ariana who utilizes a slide ability, Lucia who utilizes a grapple ability, and Stanley Ironside who has a hover ability. After completing stages the player will unlock currency that can be used to buy upgrades for extra health, weapon upgrades, extra invulnerability time after losing a life, upgraded traversal abilities, and many others.
The graphics of Operation Galuga have also received a more sleek design than the original with the arcade style embracing a more modern styled design while also maintaining its original bright and flashy colors. Every set piece stands out with these updated graphical aesthetics from the vast green jungle to the military teched-out laboratory.
However, while the gameplay is simple and the graphics are well-designed that doesn’t stop the game from dragging at times. Usually, when it comes to games like this I can have a lot of fun, but one thing I struggled with this game is that at times there was just too much going on-screen even at its lowest difficulty the game doesn’t give players a lot of time to breath or even get used to the controls before being pelted by wave after wave of enemies and other distractions. Even with a newly added story mode the game just wasn’t my cup of tea which is a shame because this franchise has had its ups and downs in the past so to see this franchise not be able to bring itself back into the limelight maybe that’s a clear sign of a much-needed change. Then again some people prefer classics to remain the way they are, but sadly that works better for others and not Contra.
Overall Score: 6 out of 10
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5