Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right ,Left Right, A,B, Start. Ah the classic code you entered at the title screen would give you 30 lives, when you played Contra on the NES. Sure after Contra was released on the arcades in 1987 the year after it made its way to the NES console in 1988 and it became a very successful game, and there have been many sequels but none of them have really captured the success the first game had 25 years ago.
After months of hearing that this classic updated game would be coming to mobile devices I couldn’t believe it. Because this is a game I’ve played and beaten more times than any other game that I have played. After weeks of being on the iOS, Contra Evolution finally comes to Android devices.Now for those who are not familiar with Contra, the story is about two soldiers named Bill “Mad Dog” Rizer and Lance “Scorpion” Bean. And there mission is simple; destroy the Alien Red Falcon and save the world. You will have to fight your way through 8 levels until there is only the Alien Red Falcon.
For those who have played this NES classic game you’ll notice that this game has gotten one heck of a nice upgrade, everything such as the graphics to the sound effect and music all got an upgrade. My jaw fell to the floor and stayed there I could not believe how beautiful this game looks. I am so glad that they really stuck to the original, the levels are just as identical as the original, the guns have cool looking animations and depending on what weapon you get you’ll see smoke and fire effects, and the backgrounds are just so rich in detail, you just can’t help but stare for a few minutes and really appreciate the game visuals. The game has really catchy music and you’ll be happy to know that it got revamped, stays true to the original ,just revamped.
Now you have different features in Contra: Evolution. You have your arcade mode which pretty much is your campaign, then you have mission mode play like your standard campaign but act more like a practise mode, it had 3 levels of difficulty; easy , normal, and hard. And you can choose between Bill, and Lance. There are also two unlockable female characters in the game. They do play slightly differently, and it is nice to finally have female characters in the game, but it just doesn’t really change anything in the game. It nice that they added a tutorial for those who are new, but I mean playing a run-and-gun game is pretty straight forward. And another nice feature the finally added is Homing Missiles yes that weapon is finally in the game.
And then you have 3 control modes to choose from you have the standard joystick, floating joystick, and you have you classic d-pad. There is also an option to switch on and off the “auto-fire”. I actually like having this feature on because my gun will just fire automatically. Which means you only have to worry about running and jumping. Now are the controls just as good or better than the NES version? I would love to say yes, but I would be lying to you, so unfortunately the answer is “No”. Now without this minor flaw, this game would have gotten a perfect 5 stars. I mean the game is still beatable, but this day and age and with the technology that we have today it would have been nice if the controls could have been better.
I loved playing the classic and I love play the updated version of this game. Its just to bad they could not make the controls any better. The graphics are rich and beautiful and well detailed, and the music is just as good as the original. Player new to the series may not care to appreciate the classic game. But players who have grown up playing this game, this is a must-have download to have on your Android device, should you get it the answer is; YES! This game is available for $1.09 at the Google play store. Happy Gaming Gamers!
