Outside of a few lackluster minibosses Konami have truly outdone themselves in this regard.Īt level’s end your hit percentage will influence your grade. These fights go through multiple phases and often take close to ten minutes to complete. Each boss features various mechanics and goes through multiple phases.

The majority of time is spent facing the various bosses and Shattered Soldier does not disappoint. When the camera does shift it is often for spectacle, creating many memorable action set pieces. Not only does it evoke the look and feel of classic Contra it keeps gameplay tight. The game wisely sticks to a 2d side scrolling view the majority of the time. But as soon as you think the fight is over it turns around to reveal the real boss. Area 1 is a long homage to the best moments from Contra III, down to its end level boss, Slave Beast Taka. The game leans heavily on nostalgia while also putting a twist on familiar scenarios. Some will appreciate that change while others will miss the faster action pace of the older titles. This is a slower, more methodical action game and not the Contra of the past. Every so often there are short vehicular segments but otherwise the focus is squarely on its bosses. Each level is mostly consists of long boss battles with short bouts of fodder enemies in between. It is up to your discretion when to use each one.ĭespite bearing the Contra name Shattered Soldier has the pacing and style of a Treasure game. The game takes into account that you have all three weapons at all times. Your options are the machine gun, flamethrower and grenade launcher, each with a cool secondary charge mechanic.

Rather than collecting weapons from item blimps you start with all three. Mechanically Shattered Soldier is a mix of the old and new. The Triumvirate, the Earth’s ruling body, offers to commute his sentence if he cooperates. His imprisonment ends five years later when a terrorist organization named Blood Falcon attacks the world. After the Alien Wars Bill Rizer is jailed for crimes against humanity and the murder of his partner Lance. Unlike its predecessors Shattered Soldier is a little more story heavy. Still this is a worthwhile endeavor but beware. Were it not for its insane difficulty Contra Shattered Soldier would be one of the best games in the series. For its PlayStation 2 debut Konami made a title worthy of the name, full of the nail biting action the series was known for with great presentation to boot. What once stood for some of the most bad ass action games on the planet had been reduced to a joke after two disastrous 3d games. Developer: KCET Publisher: Konami Released: OctoGenre: ActionĪt the end of the PlayStation era Contra as a series was in danger of fading away.

Contra shattered soldier rom