A Contra-versial new direction for the series.
If you were just going off gameplay alone, you’d never know that Contra Rogue Corps is the latest entry in the storied Contra series. It’s a completely new direction for the classic 2D sidescrolling franchise that evolves it into an entirely 3D twin-stick shooter. Rogue Corps also adds elements of character progression in the form of being able to upgrade both your weapons, and the cybernetic parts of your body – another staple of today’s standards.
It’s such a dramatic change for the series that there was some strong initial whiplash. While I’m not totally sold that this is the path I want to see Contra pushed down, I at least saw a glimpse of a fun twin-stick shooter. That’s especially true if you’ve got a group of like-minded friends over for some local co-op play when Contra Rogue Corps is released on Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC (Steam) on September 26.
Introducing the Rogue Corps
If you’re following Contra lore, Rogue Corps takes place several years after the events of Contra 3: The Alien Wars in a location called The Damned City. It’s a place where people go mad by just being inside it. It’s a place where only the strong and/or the crazy survive – which is great because the four characters you play as fill the entire strong/crazy spectrum.
There’s Kaiser, a rebuilt cyborg who fought in the Alien Wars; Ms. Harakiri, an assassin with an alien fused to her stomach that she needs to constantly stab in order to prevent it from taking possession of her body; a posh alien bug simply named The Gentleman; and Hungry Beast, a cyborg Panda with the mind of a brilliant scientist that spends most of his time looking for snacks.
Those four descriptions should tell you all you need to know about the tone and sense of humor that Rogue Corps is looking to set.
Twin Stick Run and Gun
Contra Rogue Corps will ultimately live or die by how well its character progression will be able to keep the gameplay interesting over several hours, but from the 30 or so minutes I played, there’s a solid foundation to build off. Though each character starts with their own unique loadout, every character can equip a main and sub-weapon, and guns can be mixed and matched however you like at the Operation Room in between levels.
While there’s no ammo for any of the weapons, there is a heat meter that fills up whenever you fire. If you overheat your weapon, you’ll be completely unable to use it for a substantial amount of time. This encourages a smart and fun dynamic where you’ll need to juggle your main and sub-weapon regularly, allowing the action to stay simple, but also rewarding those who put in a little extra thought and care to how they’re blasting away the hordes of enemies. When things get too hectic, you can call upon your character’s unique special ability to turn the tide of a losing battle, or if you find one, you can use a bomb to completely clear the area around you – it’s still Contra, after all.
After every level, you’re able to head back to your base camp to upgrade or purchase weapons and augment your character, leading to a surprising sense of individuality for your own personal character.
Though it’s true Contra Rogue Corps doesn’t feel anything like the old-school Contra games we know and love, without that nostalgia-tinted context, it’s shaping up to be a respectable twin-stick shooter with good gunplay and the potential for a great time with four-player couch co-op. There’s also a player-versus-player multiplayer option for 1v1, 2v2, 4v4, and even 1v4, but more information on that is being kept for another time.
Mitchell Saltzman is Gameplay/Livestream Guy at IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
