Neo Contra

[Will]

I liked HC and this one looks good.

However, Robot chick >>>> Pantsless samurai w/one eye.

After seeing some vids of the Samurai guy, I think he can hang with good old Bill and the crew.

[WarpZone]

I don't think it was so much that the memorization was SS's failing, but that it was shallow memorization.

I can understand that they want at least a couple Contras to be more methodical and less reflex-oriented. But there is so little depth, so little layering, to so many of the situations. The whole idea of the hit-rate almost felt untapped other than for a few bosses. So many of the strategies were so easy to figure out, and then there was never any reason to improve.

Ultimately, I do think SS was a pretty solid action game, and a worthy installment in the series. It's just that once you finish it, you're pretty much finished with it.

Neo Contra's top down view seems like it would be less natural for SS's type of play, and better just for more reflex-based run 'n gunning, where you get to shoot more 'turkeys'. But based on some of the impressions I've read, it seemed too easy (and easier than SS sounds hard to believe, once you memorize SS). I hope it won't just be an SS repeat from a top-down view, when they could do something really different.

And I wouldn't worry much about it being 3D this time. I don't think you can even jump. Essentially, it probably mirrors the top-down sections of Super C more!

[Chojin]

Neo Contra's top down view seems like it would be less natural for SS's type of play, and better just for more reflex-based run 'n gunning, where you get to shoot more 'turkeys'. But based on some of the impressions I've read, it seemed too easy (and easier than SS sounds hard to believe, once you memorize SS). I hope it won't just be an SS repeat from a top-down view, when they could do something really different.

It's almost complete run and gun based on the first two levels. It's not really like SS in any way outside of visuals and a couple throwbacks to levels from SS(The intro to lvl 2 in SS for instance). The only memoirization is the standard boss patterns but no more than your average action game.

The reason Neo Contra is called easy is because, it was. Once you've played a level once you already knew pretty much every pitfall and miniboss trick. The enemies don't put up that much of a challenge either. They have plenty of time to tweak the difficulty, assuming setting the game to hard doesn't fix most of that.

[Frogacuda]

I seriously don't see how hard it is to design more levels in these type of games. Something like 12 should be the minimum, and that's if they're large, long levels.

Because playing arcade styled games for 2 hours straight is tedius and annoying, and since they're difficult to complete as-is and almost wholly based on replay, completely unneccessary.

No game like this should be more than an hour long.

[Destro777]

hmmm that trailer won me over. That upside down boss part looked cool. I'll buy this.

[WarpZone]

No game like this should be more than an hour long.

Yes...in that sense, Contra SS's length I think was just about perfect (timed it, and it came to almost exactly one hour, counting cut-scenes and ending). And generally it seems ~ half hour is better for some of the more intense, condensed shooters.

I think I had read in any interview that Neo Contra was supposed to be longer. I have a hard time imagining how that would work unless they just meant counting cut-scenes, though.

[Johnny Undaunted]

There's a demo of the game in the latest issue of OPM. So far, it's essentially an overhead version of Shattered Soldier, which is either, a good thing or a bad thing. The level featured in the demo was one in which the player rides some dinosaur-like creatures over a highway in an auto-scrolling stage. The stage seems seems to be as pattern-oriented as Shattered Soldier, which worries me abit (I heard the more conventional stages don't have this problem). I managed to get an S-rank with 98% (I only lost one life).

It takes quite awhile to get used to the controls, especially the lock-on weapons and evade/roll button, but otherwise it plays exactly like Shattered Soldier. There are three configurations for the player to choose from. One of them (Type C) contains the Spread Shot (which has been watered down since it's absence in Shattered, you caon fire one shot at a time) and the "Classic Fire Ball" from the original Contra (which has improved tremendously in contrast to the Spread Shot, it has a bigger fireshot).

Neo Contra feels like it was meant to be the missing half of Shattered Soldier so far and the demo left a lot to be desired. I'm hoping the finished game will have the classing run 'n gun style of the original games, which was sorely lacking in the demo.

BTW, Konami of America has just opened their official Neo Contra flash site. So far, it's just a translated version of the Japanese site with a few additional contents. But it's so accurately translated to the point of using the original Japanese titles and systems for the games (which I found to be hilarious). Anyway, check out the "diary" section for some insights about the development of the earlier games.
http://www.konami.com/neocontra/offi...ash/index.html

[Glass Joe]

Well, this is sad news if it's like SS. SS robed Contra of all the twitch gaming that made this franchise legendary. I bought the new isue of OPM just for this and MGS3, but the damn disk doesn't work. Looks like that might be for the better. Damn, I was really hoping for a return to form.

[Frogacuda]

I seriously don't see how hard it is to design more levels in these type of games. Something like 12 should be the minimum, and that's if they're large, long levels.

There's an opinion among many (myself included) that these games shouldn't be too long to play in a comfortable sitting. Draggy shooters and run and guns get on my nerves after a while.

I think breaking the game into "episodes" might be a good way to extend value and play time without making the game drag. I'd like to see that tried some time.

EDIT: Lol, I already replied to this exact quote, didn't I

[gameoverDude]

I seriously don't see how hard it is to design more levels in these type of games. Something like 12 should be the minimum, and that's if they're large, long levels.

If the 12 levels are alternate paths through the game (as in Hard Corps) so you don't have to play them all in one sitting, it'd be fine. Otherwise, no.