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'Contra: Shattered Soldier' PS2, my Impression of an Almost Good Game

I just couldn't get behind this piece of crap!

By Rodney McGillPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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Exhibit A

I can remember the first time I ever played Contra: Shattered Soldier, I was completely underwhelmed. Anyone who’s ever played a Contra game knows the premise for one.

Second, are knowledgeable of the weapons within the game like the Spread Shot, Flamethrower, Laser even the Machine Gun, etc. You also know that they have to use said weapons to survive in the game.

Well, Contra: Shattered Soldier works a little differently than its predecessors; you’re given three general weapons to use in the game which consists of Flamethrower, Laser and the Machine Gun. The game was awesome in that you didn’t have to get your favorite guns all over again upon being revived from death.

Unfortunately, other guns that were in previous Contra games have been taken out which is one of the things that I grew to hate about the game. The Spread Shot could be useful in a lot of the levels where enemies are surrounding you like in the first level where you’re over the bottomless pit making your way to the boss and you’re harassed by the mosquito enemies or what looks like mosquitoes.

Another thing that threw me for a loop was the ranking system in the game, I feel this really did it in for me when it came to the game because since when did you need to get a 100 percent or near it in order to get access to later levels like level five onward.

You couldn’t save your progress in the game which was also another thing that killed it, but there’s a code that hints at extra lives that you can use to prolong your in-game agony if you were going to play the game all the way through.

There’s a lot of action in the game that would no doubt keep you amused but in this game, it was way too easy to die; I have to say that next to Contra III: Alien Wars, Contra: Shattered Soldier is the hardest Contra game to ever exist.

However, there is an advantage to playing the game. Along with the three guns that you infinitely have at your disposal, you’re given access to a Charge Shot ability which will allow you to charge and fire a more ‘upgraded’ and powerful shot that’ll put a hurting on your enemies.

I’ve tried all of the Charge Shots for the guns and they’re all powerful; you can own some serious baddies with the Charge Shot upgrades. However, if you’re going to play this game in its entirety then heed my following advice.

  1. Get ready to die a lot of times. Getting situated in the game is a bit of a challenge and if we’re being honest here, enemies always seem to attack you when you’re not ready.
  2. Keep your eyes peeled at all times and do not play this game if you’re dozing off; your rank and your hit rate will suffer.
  3. Mind your Flamethrower’s range when you’re using it, you don’t have to completely get up to your enemies for it to deal damage or significant.
  4. Experiment, experiment, experiment. Experiment with your guns and see which ones work on which boss or enemy; there is no one weapon that’s going to completely be your go-to on a specific stage, you’ll need all of your guns so consider yourself warned!
  5. Take your enemies apart piece by piece, I say this because your hit rate will take a beating if you manage to take out the boss by exploiting its general weakness.
  6. Finally, don’t rush! The game may not be as good as its predecessors but I believe that you can salvage it by not rushing thru it.

If you’re going to give the game a try, then by all means do, but you may find that your time would be better spent playing the others before it.

action adventure
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About the Creator

Rodney McGill

I've enjoyed writing as long as I could remember, I always loved putting my thoughts on paper. A love that I hoped one day would make me a paid writer not including someone with a lot of clientele. I figured my best shot is giving my all.

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