At this point in 1992, the Contra franchise was killing it, not only having two successful titles for both arcades and the NES, as well as one moderately successful one for the Game Boy, but it also had a brand spanking new installment for the SNES that, needless to say, was praised for being the best game in the series up to that point, as well as possibly the best Contra game ever made. Meanwhile, elsewhere, Konami was developing a separate game for the NES in Japan known as Arc Hound. Not much was known about this title, but it was originally supposed to come out sometime before Contra III, and based on screenshots from magazines, you could tell that it was pretty much just another Contra game in all but name. However, somewhere along the way, the game was ultimately canceled in Japan, but would see the light of day exclusively in North America, where it would take on the Contra name, thus resulting in the third and final game in the Contra series for the NES, Contra Force.

Out of all the early Contra games, this is definitely the one that is the least talked about, as most people, even fans of Contra, probably don’t know it exists. I myself didn’t know about it until earlier this year when I saw an incomplete playthrough of it, and judging from what I saw, I was pretty unimpressed. It looked like every other Contra game, except somehow worse, and it definitely made me not wanna touch it any time in the near future. But hey, it has been almost a year since I initially saw that playthrough, so who knows, maybe my past judgment was a little harsh. After all, you don’t know how good a game is until you actually try it for yourself, right? So, I tried it and… yeah, it is very mediocre. It is not necessarily terrible by any means, and it does do some things differently from the other titles, but if you have already played either of the other NES Contra titles, then you have no reason to seek out this one.

The story is to take down an evil terrorist organization threatening the city of… Neocity, so hey, if you didn’t like killing aliens, but you LOVE killing terrorists, then this game is right up your alley, the graphics are pretty good, but then again, they look about as good as any other game on the NES at the time, and when compared to the previous two games for the system, it isn’t much of an upgrade, the music is also pretty good, being on the same level as the previous two games, but it is pretty standard stuff for the series, so no reason to go any further then this, the contra is about the same as every other Contra game on the system, but with some extra features that don’t really change things up too mechanically, so no need to worry, and the gameplay is pretty much what you would expect from Contra at this point, but with a few more bells and whistles added on to it.

The game is a run ‘n gun platformer, where you take control of either Burns, Irons, Smith, and… Beans (well, that’s the worst name for a military soldier I have ever heard), take on a set of five levels, ranging from the regular side-scrolling ones and the top-down ones seen in Super C and Operation C, and they are varied, but blend in enough with each other without much of a difference, take out many different soldiers that will try to take you down along the way, gather plenty of powerups to help you upgrade yourself and get an advantage on the enemies along the way, and take on several bosses that will test your skill in either standing completely still and shooting in one direction, or actually providing a challenge that will keep you on your toes. Yes, it is very standard stuff, especially for a Contra game, but there are some things that make this game stand out from the others, even if these elements aren’t too exciting.

As mentioned before, you do get powerups in this game, which, rather than upgrading you immediately, they instead work in a similar way to Gradius, where it highlights a bar at the bottom left that you can activate any time you want. To be honest, I prefer this style of upgrades much more than the typical style in Contra, as it allows you to choose the powerups you want rather than accidentally grabbing one you didn’t want. Unfortunately, the upgrades themselves are pretty lackluster, such as one that allows more bullets on screen, one that allows you to hold down the button for constant fire (which isn’t available right from the start, WHY), and one where you are invulnerable to damage when jumping. But, there is more firepower to be found with the other characters, who each have their own individual stats, and who you can swap with anytime, and take control of in the stages. Not only that, but you can also temporarily spawn a partner in with you to help you out during fights, which can be pretty handy in dire situations.

Now, all of that is fine and dandy, but is any of that enough to save this game? Honestly… not really. It is more or less just another Contra game, and while it is neat that we have all these neat new bells and whistles added on, it is all clearly just more of the same, and while that is usually not a bad thing, it doesn’t help that this game doesn’t feel that good to play. It feels very sluggish and clunky, almost like you are in complete control, but not really, and what doesn’t help it is the sheer amount of slowdown that is present here. You will rarely see instances where the game will function at a proper speed whenever action is taking place on screen, and you could argue “Oh, it’s an NES game, so slowdown is inevitable”, but this was made after two previous Contra games for the system, both of which had little slowdown compared to this, so there is no excuse for this. Aside from that though, it doesn’t have that many problems, so if you somehow played this as your first Contra, you’d probably love it, but for others, not so much.

Overall, despite a lot of neat little gameplay changes, as well as having the spirit and energy of Contra, this game really pales in comparison to the previous two NES titles, and simply just stands as being “ok” and nothing more. I would recommend it if you are a die-hard Contra fan, but for those who have already played plenty of Contra beforehand, or are unfamiliar with the series, then you’d best stick to the other games. We can leave all of those soldiers out to die in their battle, especially Beans. You know what you did, you son of a bitch.

Game #358