Contra: Operation Galuga Review (Switch)

It’s been a very long time since we’ve had a decent Contra game on any system. Contra 4 on the DS was ok but had its issues and before that you are looking at Contra: Shattered Soldier on the PS2 which was solid enough. However, because of the awesome Konami Contra collection already available on multiple formats any new game in the series really has its work cut out. Operation Galuga at least gives it an honourable try.

It’s important to note we are reviewing Contra after it has received a few key updates. We’ve noted reviews saying the framerate is choppy and highlighting a number of other performance issues. In our experience these seem to have been ironed out. Even playing in handheld mode we didn’t notice any juddering, slowdown or framerate drops. Everything in terms of performance now seems to be absolutely fine.

The game follows the standard Contra template of side scrolling blaster action. Most of the levels see you starting at the left of the level and charging through, continually blasting everything in your path. You’ll ascend and descend as well and occasionally ride bikes or other vehicles but basically you run, blast, and jump and try not to die.

There are a few difficult settings to help with staying alive with players able to turn the series trademark one hit kill system into a more forgiving life bar. Even with players able to take more than one hit the game is crushingly difficult. Further help can be gained by using credits gathered in game to add extra lives and abilities but expect death to be a common occurrence. Just make sure to keep an eye out of weapon pick ups along the way as your standard blaster is basically useless. 

The biggest problem with any Contra game outside of the 16-bit eras has been the level design and it’s fair to say that Operation Galuga starts slowly. Indeed, we were a bit bored over the first few levels but then things really begin to kick in. An excellent level set on a moving train, followed by a level where the player is under constant harassment while trying to hang from platforms, begins to conjure memories of the glory days of Super Contra and Hard Cops, in moments at least.

The game has various modes of play with a story mode backed up by an arcade and a challenge mode. The story is pretty much nonsense and the plot made little impact on us but it acts a fun way to unlock new characters which can then be used in the other modes. Each of the characters also have a special move such as a dash or grappling hook, as well as using weapons in slightly different ways so there is a point to playing through and unlocking things as it's far more than just a change in character skin.

While Contra: Operation Galuga, is certainly the best Contra game since the classic period it still can’t really hold a candle either the Super Nintendo or Mega Drive versions of game. That of course would be fine, except that both of those games are available on the Switch in the Konami collection. There’s also Blazing Chrome to consider which plays off the nostalgic elements of the series almost perfectly, and arguably better than this.

If you’ve played and blasted through the collection, then this certainly warms up into a decent blaster of a game. It’s great fun in parts and some of the levels are really well designed, it's just not a classic. Fans shouldn’t be disappointed though once they get through the early stages.

Overall 8/10

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron Review (Switch)

 Written by Thomas G.J Sharpe

Wise-crackin’ angels vaguely playing out a mangle of lesser-known Judeo-Christian texts? Sursum corda! You got it! And somehow, wherever I looked for information on El Shaddai, it was sprinkled in the risky words “cult classic”. Sadly, I simply do not see it.

This is pitched as a third-person action game (feat. Mild platforming) with some other bold claims than it’s cultish-classicism; “deeply artistic”, “outstanding aesthetics” and “exceptional setting”. Shaddai is proud of its design, and in a way, it probably still stands out after 10 years. It is “unique”, but I find it hard to apply “artistic” in the way I feel that the marketing wants me to feel about it. Stylistic might be better; it is an interesting blend of crisp, heavenly brightness with piercing colours that provide a jarring, otherworldliness, or even between-worldliness to it. In this way, Shaddai puts a lot of burden on the visual adornments to hook us in.

But it falls apart as soon as you squint past the divine rendering and play the game after a run of bargain-basement story-telling cinematics (these pop up constantly throughout the game, never once being interesting, tense, moving, funny or any such thing). You play as Enoch (quick search… ancestor of Noah… wrote a bunch of guff about demons and monsters to make ancient people (and the modern day credulous) terrified of everything) who is writing a bunch of stuff out in a bunch of books and is led by Lucifer (who has a cell-phone which he uses to smart-talk Yahweh on) to defeat seven fallen angels who have confused reality on Earth. Or something.

And I mean, or something. Because, despite the interest I personally have in the development of superstitious cults, like Christianity, this is not a compelling interpretation. Primarily, as the player never once cares about the fate of Enoch himself. He is devoid of sympathy and interest, there is no character arc to speak of. His struggles against amusingly designed enemies and bosses with his divine weapon-stick (looks like that awful company Tesla designed a Bat’Leth) are without risk. Not just in a narrative, conceptual sense either. The combat is, at best, functional. There is little to no development beyond a couple of mild combos. If you consider that Bayonetta was released two years prior to this, it really shows its weaknesses.

On the more positive side, yes, this is an interestingly designed game, and the mixture of 2D platforming into the 3^rd person action is a nice idea. It never quite translates, however, going no deeper than mild changes of perspective and settings, thinking aesthetic abstraction is enough to win the day. It simply is not enough for me. For a game to not excite me that has as it’s primary game loop as hack-n-slash action, is shocking. Again, I just do not see the appeal. Neither fantastic enough, thrilling enough to inspire anything in me more than a resounding, Godly, meh.

Overall 6/10