CONTRA: ROGUE CORPS

Everyone else already talked about the bad PC port so let's make it short: This is pretty much a joke. They took contra and somehow tried to turn it into a loot shooter with way too complicated and cryptic stats, combined with grinding for better gear just after 30 minutes of playtime without any polish or care by the devs about the actual gameplay. And the gameplay is downright bad and boring. Just this would be bad enough to give this a pass. But the game has problems with resolutions higher than 1080p, is locked at 30fps and still has the same input lag of a quarter second(!) that plagued the console demo. It's almost like someone WANTED to sabotage this thing. Otherwise, I can't explain this mess

Biggest problems in this game are technical. 30 fps lock, graphics look like a mobile game, no Anti-Aliasing options etc. But the actual gameplay is actually pretty solid. Reminds me a lot of Super Smash TV and some other twin stick shooters. What I like the most is the ability to customize character and weapons. Also lots of people seem to complain about the overheat mechanic, I find it a nice addition to the game. With weapon upgrades you can make the weapon cool faster etc. There are LOTS of different weapons and body parts so you can customize your character. The level design is repetitive, but the levels are actually pretty well designed and it's somewhat fun trying to get better score or finish the level faster. Some levels are bit too long. Anyway, If you like twin stick shooters and can handle the 30 fps framerate and dated graphics, this game is actually quite fun, but not at full price. Too bad they didn't give this one a better polish. This game looks awfully dated. But I can still recommend this to fans of twin-stick shooters.

I tried to like it. I really did. I am a fan of the contra series and didn't want to believe the negative reviews. Now that I've tried it for myself I know it is just kind of boring and grindy. Not a terrible game, but very repetitive. Same enemies that are stronger because they are a different color, or harder because you have to fight two of the same boss now. The upgrade system is not explained so you have to figure it out on your own and comes of as overly complicated. Also there is no way to raise the fps past 30 or use controller prompts other than xbox even though the game was released on playstation as well. To change the settings at all you need to beat the tutorial mission in windowed mode which was frustrating. I see what they were trying to do here. Take the top down levels of contra 3 and re-imagine the game as a twin stick shooter. In theory it sounds cool, but it was not executed well this time. 3/10 - Do not buy at full price. If you really want to try the game for yourself wait for it to go on sale. I've seen it for as low as $4.

Don't. If you want a justification for that statement: this is such an inversion of everything you'd ever expect out of a Contra game. Weapons overheat, powerups are limited-time, you're grinding out new weapons from drops (so expect to rerun levels for Loot), you could tell me this game was some failed title that Konami was publishing and slapped the Contra license on last minute and I wouldn't hesitate to believe it. It's not even fun with friends. I tried.

Contra is all about holding down the trigger and dodging enemies and their bullet hell Contra Rogue Corps is all about feathering the trigger so it doesn't overheat and dodge INTO enemies to stun them and mobage style loot drop and mobage style upgrade and the grinding that comes along with it and tacky character and dialogues and camera angles that ♥♥♥♥♥ with you every now and then it feels like konami just rename some mobile game they made as contra and port it to pc then call it a day oh yeah despite being on PC the game does not support keyboard and mouse yeah you can't even get past the title screen if you don't have a controller can you believe this ♥♥♥♥?

Crashes after the title screen on Windows 7. Edit: So, I beat the main story on a friend's Switch (and later on replayed it on Windows 10), took me about 15-20 hours to see the ending. After reading interviews with Nobuya Nakazato, and as a big fan of the Contra series, I wanted to give this game a chance and see if it really was as bad as people talk about it. BETRAYAL! BE-TRAY-AL! Nakazato betrayed me! This game suuuuucks! As expected, I was disappointed. This game is the Battletoads 2020 of the Contra series. I considered numerous times dropping the game, but still decided to at least make it to the ending and see the staff roll. In short, this game tries to be Contra, Borderlands and Left 4 Dead at the same time, and fails miserably in every aspect. At first, it's not too bad, but the more it goes on, the more tedious and unfair if feels. The game encourages grinding for weapon and body upgrades, which artificially extends the play time, as the further you get, the more HP enemies will have (at times, the amounts of enemy health are ridiculous). And not only you need to have resources and money to upgrade your weapon's rank to deal more damage, you need to level up your weapon on the current rank to at least level 5 first. Your gun can also overheat, which slows things down even more. Why was this neccessary? Also, why there's no pause, even in single player mode? The gameplay gets old real fast, and boring level design and awful camera angles don't help (especially when some stages are being reused as new missions). The main boss battles are okay, though. Rogue Corps reminded me a lot of the awful Contra Legacy of War for PS1, but that game was an early 3D title which came out in 1996, and had impressive visual effects and animations for its time (also, it was created by European developers at a time when Europe only had "Probotector" and "Gryzor" instead of "Contra", so a lot can be forgiven in LoW's case). Neo Contra perfected the overhead angle run & gun formula of the series, and was one of the best games in the franchise - why couldn't they just stick to what worked, if they wanted to make a new game focused on overhead angle gameplay? Maybe Rogue Corps's roguelite elements are just not for me, as I prefer games which don't rely on upgrade systems and test your own abilities instead, and that's what the Contra series was all about - you got better each time by improving your own skills, not wasting time on grinding to get more DPS for your gun. The game has a decent multiplayer, BUT 1) Couch Coop only lets you play grinding exploration missions, so you can't play through the story or versus matches locally, 2) matchmaking is broken, so you have to use the Join Game option in your friend list, and 3) afaik, at some points during the story progress, you and your friends are forced to clear some of the missions solo before you can continue playing coop. The graphics look awful for 2019, and character/enemy/midboss designs look generic and not memorable (it also doesn't help that the midbosses are constantly recycled over, and over, and over again). Also, often the enemies are of the same color as the background, and while too much is happening on the screen, I lose my character in all this chaos and don't understand what hits me (red warning markers on red backgrounds are especially atrocious and feel so cheap). Hard Corps Uprising and Contra Shattered Soldier looked way better than this, and these masterpieces came out almost 10 and 20 years before Rogue Corps! The music also sucks - for the most part, it consists of unmemorable and generic ambient and orchestral tracks, with some rock tracks and orchestral arrangements of old Contra tracks playing occasionally (Jungle Battle and Maze Boss Battle from Contra, for the most part; there's also some Super Contra arrangements in the last Hardcore mission, but wasting 20 hours on grinding just to unlock it is definitely not worth it). There's no head-banging heavy metal and electronic music the series is known for, and there's no memorable and melodic tracks at all (even Contra Spirits soundtrack which had a Hollywood orchestra feel to it was much more melodic and memorable than what Rogue Corps has to offer, and that game was on 16-bit SNES). Also, one of the problems is that the game has dynamic music change whenever you make a 1000/2000/3000 combo, but it takes forever to get to hear some of the more rocking variations (especially when using weapons with low fire rate), so most of the time you're going to hear the most boring ambeint-sounding variations of exploration music. The story feels out of place in the Contra universe, and the dialogue often feels cringey, as if I'm watching a bad Netflix adaptation (as if Neflix's Castlevania wasn't terrible enough). Also, a panda with a minigun, really? Is this supposed to be a reference to the Super Contra meme "Nanda koko ha / Panda cocoa"? It looks so silly and ridiculous. And before you say, yes, there was Blood Fang from Contra Hard Corps, but he was believable - he could talk normally, his design was very cool and it didn't feel out of place. I remember how some people disliked Contra Force and Hard Corps Uprising for the visual design choices and lack of aliens, but these games played and felt like Contra, and were presented as a present day Contra (for 1992) and as a prequel to the main series, respectively (the aliens first appeared on Earth in 2631, and Uprising took place in 2613), so in that context, it worked perfectly. Contra ReBirth also felt like a parody of the series and was full of nonsense, but it was presented as such right off the bat, and it was fun. Rogue Corps, I just can't take seriously and accept it as a part of the main Contra series' story. It's a real shame that instead of Hard Corps Uprising 2 or a new proper Contra game in vein of Hard Corps or Shattered Soldier, we got this. To add more salt to the wound, this game was promoted by the man himself, Nobuya Nakazato, who was the main series' producer since Contra Spirits for SNES, and who made some of my favorite Contra games (and games in general). I can't help but feel this is not really the direction he wanted the series to go for, but still decided to work on a new title just for the passion for the series, and maybe for a possibility of new future titles, which might've took the old games' formula. If only Konami gave its developers the freedom they had back in the day... With all due respect to Nakazato-san, Rogue Corps is the worst game in the Contra series (not counting bad ports). Having played Rogue Corps and Legacy of War back to back, even Legacy of War was better than this (much shorter with more unique content and gameplay variety, can be beaten in 1-2 hours and had decent music). Even mobile Contra Returns or pachislot Contra 3D were better than this, and had aesthetics, story and music more in-tune with the series. I wish there will be new Contra games, but not of this type. Just stick to what worked, if it ain't broke don't fix it. For the time being, please port other games of the series for a new Contra Collection bundle, please (also, Hard Corps Uprising with a working online play would've been great!). Don't waste your money and just buy Contra Anniversary Collection or Blazing Chrome / Super Cyborg instead. PS: And please, do not buy Contra Operation Galuga! After playing that game, Rogue Corps now feels like a breath of fresh air and makes me feel embarassed for some things I've said above. At least Rogue Corps tried something new and failed, but OG is like a slap in the face as a remake of the first installment, if you know your Contra. Poor optimization and graphics, bugs, jerky controls, boring orchestral soundtrack, unbalanced difficulty and level design, nonsensical story with literal spirits and "Contra genes", out-of-place original characters and ugly character redesigns. Poor Blood Fang, look how they massacred my boy...

Heard bad reviews about this game but it was on sale so I thought I'd give it a go....the reviews were right, it's not a good Contra game(and I loved neo and shattered). Konami once again mistreated this beloved series. they ought to know this is for skill based gamers and there's absolutely NO NEED FOR RPG ELEMENTS IN CONTRA!!!!! too much thinking and doing CHORES! I DON'T WANT TO DO UPGRADES TO MY BRAIN I WANT TO RUN AND GUN WITH ZERO THOUGHT! IT'S WHAT CONTRA IS ABOUT! can't stress this enough, don't bother with this game. it has some moments but in general it's plain sinful towards contra lovers and run and gun gamers in general.

It's not as bad as some of the reviews say. The game is playable. With that said, it does not play like a Contra game. It feels like a phone port of twin stick shooter; complete with the loot/grind. The graphics also feel kind of drab, to where enemies can at times hard to see until they're firing at you. One of its biggest strengths is also its weakest, the camera. The camera is auto set, not letting you adjust it. It pans around depending on which room you're in. In some cases the effect is neat, but in most it is restrictive to where all of a sudden you have little to no visibility and enemies are hitting you from off the screen. In 2019 (the time of the game's release), this is unforgivable. With the weapons, it appears the only one you get is the 2 that come with the character you play, with temporary boost weapons. Again, does not feel like Contra in any way and instead like an phone style loot/grind style twin shooter game. The retail price of this game is insane and a pure waste of money; including a ridiculous season pass. If you can get this at a deep discount, then maybe it's worth it as there are worse games out there. But if you're expecting something that feels like Contra, avoid it at all costs.

another game that fails to transition from 2d to 3d. they made a crappy 3rd person shooter and just slapped the contra name on it. nothing feels or is related to the old games outside bleh, bleh, aliens. they added character upgrades and currencies so you spend days grinding it out as the game is not fun enough to keep you playing for that alone. other thing wrong with this game are: - no pause on missions (even in solo play and when doing finishers), - no lock on, - you can swap to any weapon before missions but you also level a weapon class so it's also discouraged, - bad camera angles, - time limits, - getting levels and cash is so sloooooooooooooooooooow really slow almost like it was made to sell lootboxes, - crafting is awful not only can you use the wrong part on weapons but adding organs to a character can have a chance to fail lowering or replacing some of the states (the alien has a 60%+ fail rate and is the most expensive. he is so not worth the rando state he may add that may also be useless because random), - character weapons skins do not change when giving them a new weapon (give the panda a laser and he will shoot it out of his Gatling gun), - you only have a rough idea what weapon you're crafting, - there is a pvp thing with credits but you'll never do any of it because pvp is dead. - lazy pc port, - and the gall to ask for $40 for this turd with a $10 "season pass" only adding some skins that should have been in game unlocks. is it fun? if they had handled the money and crafting better this could have almost been ok instead of trash (i'ed have rather it not had crafting at all. just give already built weapons with slots and parts for said slots). i got it for $4 without the outfits because they don't deserve more than that for this game and i don't really feel it was worth what i spent on it.

Co-op offline and online are for special missions and PVP only, not the main campaign. I'll keep it cos I got it at 90% off and it's an okayish twin-stick shooter, but those are pretty much the only reasons.