It's a mere month from today that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots sees its international release. As an exclusive to the least-popular next-gen game console, MGS4 will have a far more limited audience than its more recent predecessors. So to tide over those of us who will be going without, a trip down memory lane seems an appropriate alternative.

Gametrailers.com is currently producing an exhaustive reflection on the history of the venerable Metal Gear series, dating back to its solidless origins. Presented in multiple installments, the first episode is a hardy 20 minutes long and covers only the first two games for both the MSX and NES:

When my brother and I got our NES as a joint birthday gift 21 years ago this month, one of his first additions to our nascent library was Metal Gear. Though not as focused on espionage as its descendants, this progenitor offered challenging gameplay and an intricate world and storyline to decipher and. When Metal Gear Solid came out, the highest praise I was surprised to give was that it often made me feel like I was playing the NES original.

I never cottoned to the NES sequel — the side-scrolling action sequences gummed up the flow for me — but I always knew series mastermind Hideo Kojima considered it mostly apocryphal. The above retrospective reminded me that there was a truer sequel for the MSX that was republished for the PS2 as part of Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence — a more accessible (and legal) alternative to MSX emulation. I passed on Subsistence two years ago, but now a bout of nostalgia prompted me to look for it.

I first looked in Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection, released two months ago for the PS2. This pack compiles all three Metal Gear Solid games into a single $30 package. I checked IGN.com's review to see if the MSX titles were in there … but they are not. Only the core game of Subsistence, which was originally packaged with a second disc of bonus content, is present in The Essential Collection. Consider further that The Essential Collection's version of Metal Gear Solid is the PSOne original, not the superior and remastered GameCube edition The Twin Snakes, and that it does not include the separate disc of VR missions, and there's little reason for a veteran of the series to re-invest in this archive.

Until I'm successful buying Subsistence on eBay, thus granting me a 25-year-old computer game to play in lieu of a new PS3 title, Gametrailers.com offers plenty more reminders of other games I've missed. Part two (of three?) of their Metal Gear retrospective is is predicted to be released this Thursday, with plenty of other histories already available, including for franchises Final Fantasy, Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda.

I love the Silent Hill series. Something about how it takes the familiar and makes it perverse is fascinating. I've long believed that video games are a more effective medium than movies in which to portray horror, due to their interactivity: you're not just a passively witness to a murder but an active participant in your own fate.

I still like horror movies but found The Mist a superior adaptation to Silent Hill. So when I found out my friend Lisa was participating in a live action version of the game Silent Hill 2, I was eager to see a more successful translation of the game to film.

The final product proved to be a short film reenacting a particular sequence near the game's end — in particular, one of my favorite scenes:

In just ten minutes, the movie captures many of the elements of the game: the darkness, the despair, the creepy motions of the undead. Even the map that James consults looks authentic, though I'm not sure if it was intended as a parody of the game mechanic. Though the lighting (or lack thereof) is also true to the source material, it's often too dark for us viewers to see anything. And we need to see as much as we can: since the scene is set in the middle of the game, those not familiar with the storyline may be at a loss to understand the film's plot. There are also some jarring transitions (both aurally and visually), which I suppose is inevitable when working within such a tight time constraint. Nonetheless, this is likely the best Silent Hill fanfilm I've ever seen and is certainly more ambitious and coherent than this group's last outing.

For comparison's sake, two of the original CGI scenes upon which the above short is based are after the jump:
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Title	:	Karaoke Revolution
Platforms	:	Sony PlayStation 2
Publisher	:	Konami
ESRB Rating	:	Everyone
Game Rating	:	8.5
Review by	:	Ken Gagne

While games like Bust a Groove and Parappa the Rapper were significant, it was Konami's Bemani series of games that defined the rhythm genre — possibly the most recent, original video game genre to be founded. Dance Dance Revolution has spawned many incarnations, but all have exchanged the traditional hand-eye coordination for eye-foot. They are still video games in the traditional sense, and have been no Bemani games which required any modicum of authentic musical talent. 

Finally, the company that has left dancing gamers gasping for breath is finding a way to put those diaphragms to better use with the PlayStation 2 game, Karaoke Revolution. 

As the title suggests, a voice input device is necessary for players to sing along with their favorite tunes as they become virtual stars. Karaoke Revolution comes with a Logitech headset; the game will not be available alone until January. 

Several avatars, each with assorted wardrobes, are available to represent gamers in arcade mode, which features progressively more difficult songs, and career mode, in which they advance from singing at a late-night party to public performances at the subway, the county fair, and the big stage. The avatars automatically perform for the crowd as the words to the song scroll across the bottom of the screen, accompanied by the corresponding pitches. 

It's the hands-free responsibility of budding musicians to match those pitches. Wanna-be singers need not know how to read music, as the game employs note tubes, indicating how long to hold each note. An arrow represents the pitch the player is currently singing — a visual representation of how sharp or flat they are. The game automatically detects differences in octaves, allowing performance of the many high-pitched songs in a more reasonable range, without the need for invasive surgery. 

The game includes nearly three dozen songs, encompassing a variety of modern and classic tunes, from Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" to "Wind Beneath My Wings", "When a Man Loves a Woman", and "Billie Jean". Despite the variety of songs, a game of such broad interest will perforce omit many genres and artists. The inbuilt capacity for expansion discs could repair this installment's notable omission of Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Buffett, Elvis Presley and the Beatles, Kenny Rogers and Garth Brooks, and Gloria Gaynor and the Village People. 

The game rates players based on pitch and timing, but not lyrics. Singing the wrong words or sounds, or singing during rests, incurs no penalty — a handy technique for singers interested in mastering the technique, if not the spirit, of the game. The better a gamer performs, the more consecutive combos, and the easier the difficulty setting, the more points he earns and the more enthusiastically the virtual crowd responds. 

The music, of course, is only as good as the singer, and it can be humbling to determine that it's the pitch, and not the game's pitch detection, which is off. A vocal track (not the original artist, but a suitable substitute) can be enabled for people who need a hand, or who match pitch better aurally than visually. 

Each song, stage, and singer has its own performance style, with appropriate lip-syncing and flashing lights in time with the music. But the choreography of the performers is lackluster, even during the instrumental solos. The crowd's reactions are even less imaginative, with identical clothing and movement from a sufficient majority to suggest a "1984" setting. 

With no one to mock you, root you on, or cheer for you, Karaoke Revolution does not sustain interest in the solo gamer. Introduce it at a party, though, and the fun factor increases significantly as three to eight players take turns in three to five rounds of singing. Judging can be automated, like in the one-player mode, or by one's peer contestants. Either way, the presence of a live audience makes it more obvious that this isn't just a video game: it's karaoke! The originality of this title finally gives gamers something to sing about.

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This article is copyright (c) 2003, 2007 by Ken Gagne. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed without permission.

Original publication: Tech News, 09-Dec-03

Title	:	Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
Platforms	:	Sony PlayStation 2
Publisher	:	Konami
ESRB Rating	:	Mature
Game Rating	:	8.6
Review by	:	Ken Gagne

Every story has a beginning. Until now, the origin of evil has remained shrouded. The veils of time are parted, and Castlevania is revealed, in Lament of Innocence. 

Lament is the latest in a storied line of vampire-hunting games from publisher Konami. This entry is the first for the PlayStation 2, and intends to successfully transition the series to 3D, ignoring the failed Nintendo 64 attempts. This precursor to the Castlevania legacy details the first conflict between the Belmont clan and a vampire when a local lord captures Sir Leon Belmont's betrothed. Without the Church granting him leave to abandon the Crusades, Leon must forsake his mantle and sortie to the forbidden forest wherein lies his love. 

Lament's PSOne predecessor, Symphony of the Night, took Castlevania in a more adventuresome direction, prompting searching and the collection of items required to enable greater access to Dracula's domain. The need for exploration is less in Lament, since it varies from that 2D formula. Unique keys collected in one stage can be used in another, inviting revisiting of cleared stages, and levels have optional branches that can be unearthed and probed to discover enhancements for Leon, but these accouterments are often unnecessary to fulfill his quest. 

Instead, the 3D arena focuses on Leon's combative abilities. The Belmonts' trademark whip can be wielded in a number of devastating combinations. Secondary weapons — the traditional axe, holy water, cross, and the like — can be modified using orbs collected from each stage, creating 25 unique combinations. The variety of enemies is plentiful, such that the frantic search for the nearest save point is not just an exercise in button-mashing, but truly inspires distress in gamers wishing to capture their progress. 

Contributing to this fervor is the gameplay's inbuilt lack of respite. Equipment can be changed and items consumed only through a real-time window, navigated with the right analog stick, relieving the player of the opportunity to breathe while casually scrolling through menus, as most games allow. This simple technique, though potentially frustrating, is innovative, realistic, and maintains the pace of conflict while increasing the player's agitation. 

Players not only fight the hordes of undead, but also block and dodge their attacks — tactics which fill Leon's magic meter, allowing him to use a handful of rare relics that give him short-lived advantages in battle. Armor and other accessories can be purchased outside the castle walls. Within the walls, the citadel is divided into five areas which can be explored in any order prior to tackling the vampire lord. Due to this lack of linearity, the difficulty level remains rather constant until the last level, despite Leon's progressive growth in repertoire and strength. Some end-level bosses can be defeated on the first or second try, while others are more fiendish in nature. 

Castlevania itself is a finely articulated palace, detailing a castle with such awkward names as the Anti-Soul Mysteries Lab and the Pagoda of the Misty Moon. Though there is not much of the environment with which to interact, the trappings of a mansion are plainly visible. It's a combination of Castlevania action in a Resident Evil setting, though the lighting is not as accurate as that latter series. The camera is automatic, similar to Devil May Cry, so that for any given position Leon can take, the camera will often give the same perspective. This cinematic method works well except for depicting the environs fully; hidden areas can be easily missed if the player isn't jumping randomly, causing the camera to reveal an area's higher altitudes. 

Four recent Castlevania games have had aural themes to their subtitles. Lament of Innocence renounces that tradition, and provides a soundtrack which is anachronistic for its setting, and falls short of its ancestors' excellence. The dialogue, though not authentic for the 11th century, is admirable, and the sound effects abound; the size and nature of several enemies can be determined without visual confirmation simply by listening carefully. 

Surprisingly, Lament's storyline is one of its strong points. Though Belmont heroism and vampire malevolence are timeless quantities, their interaction in this Castlevania has layers that players won't expect; watching it play out becomes an incentive to finish each stage. Completing the entire story will take an experienced gamer only five hours — six if they if they want to find every hidden item. 

Lament of Innocence is not the groundbreaking trendsetter that Symphony of the Night was, but it does successfully move Castlevania into 3D without blemish. There is little to lament in this guilty pleasure.

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This article is copyright (c) 2003, 2007 by Ken Gagne. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed without permission.

Original publication: Tech News, 11-Nov-03

Title	:	Silent Hill 3
Platforms	:	Sony PlayStation 2, Windows
Publisher	:	Konami
ESRB Rating	:	Mature
Game Rating	:	9.3
Review by	:	Ken Gagne

Flesh. Blood. Tears. Screams. Darkness. Horror. Pain. Death. 

Just another day in Silent Hill 3, Konami's third visit to the resort town in this latest PlayStation 2 game. 

As a survival horror series, Silent Hill had no trouble breaking the mold cast by the genre's progenitor, Resident Evil, by offering a pervasive atmosphere of perversity over cheap thrills. Though Silent Hill 3 makes no innovative breaks from its own formulaic gameplay, intriguing stories and horrifying presentation invigorate this biennial entry. 

The series has thus far explored two different forms of insanity: external (environmental) and internal (psychological). Now it considers the historical, with a protagonist who is not all she appears, nor what she thinks herself to be. Heather, our disheveled, teenage heroine, is not Konami's attempt to inject some sex appeal into the series, but is a developed character with a constitution that responds to the madness of Silent Hill uniquely from her predecessors as her reality is invaded by a world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life. 

Silent Hill 2  had only tangential connections to its predecessor. Silent Hill 3 begins similarly, with a tour of random locales, but halfway through, coalesces into a story-driven game with direct ties to the series' origin. 

There are both action and puzzle elements in Silent Hill 3, each with adjustable difficulty settings. On the medium setting, there are so many monsters and so few bullets that cowardice is the better part of valor. Once a puzzle's parts are collected, it's fairly easy to see how they fit together; it's assembling the parts that's difficult. With a dynamic and automated camera, the game occasionally leaves players to wander until they see a door or item they hadn't previously, thus completing their inventory. 

The controller supports both digital and analog, in 2D and 3D formats. The digital is less dodgy, and the 3D scheme better accomodates camera angles that can dramatically shift at a moment's notice; that, and controlling from Heather's perspective gives one a better sense of being in the game. She can use her weapon to assume a defensive stance, while the results of failing to do so will cause the rumble feature to effectively pulse with her tiring heart, reminding players when it is about to expire. 

Both the aural and graphical components are integral to Silent Hill's atmosphere. The graphics have an inherent graininess that contributes to the unclean world in which Heather finds herself. The fog and darkness, once technological limitations, continue to obscure her vision, combining with fantastic lighting effects to make the unknown all the more omnipresent and frightening. Her nightmare includes harrowing sites — one such that, when I realized what it was and the possibilities it had in a survival-horror game, I felt a genuine sense of trepidation without anything having happened yet. Another's decor was so unsettling that I hoped it did not encompass the entire building; sadly, it was without relief. 

The soundtrack is replete with sound effects, keeping players on their toes for unseen threats or unbalancing them with groans, shuffles, and sobs. The voice acting is good; though the delivery may be stilted, the quality is there, though occasionally histrionic. 

A bonus soundtrack CD is included with the package, though its usefulness is dubious. This isn't Dance Dance Revolution, and I can't imagine most of the tunes being appropriate outside a Halloween party. 

Barring moments of frenetic combat, Silent Hill 3 is not a fast game — both in gameplay and during noticeable loading times, made more evident by patterns of writhing flesh and blood that animate the screen. On the normal difficulty setting, it will take average gamers under six hours to solve the puzzles, defeat the bosses, and clear the game. But the experiences they will have had on that journey will have made a worthwhile investment of your time and sanity.

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This article is copyright (c) 2003, 2007 by Ken Gagne. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed without permission.

Original publication: Gamebits, 02-Sep-03

Title	:	Silent Hill 3
Platforms	:	Sony PlayStation 2, Windows
Publisher	:	Konami
ESRB Rating	:	Mature
Game Rating	:	9.3
Review by	:	Ken Gagne

Flesh. Blood. Tears. Screams. Darkness. Horror. Pain. Death. 

Just another day in Silent Hill 3, Konami's third visit to the resort town in this latest PlayStation 2 game. 

As a survival horror series, Silent Hill had no trouble breaking the mold cast by the genre's progenitor, Resident Evil, by offering a pervasive atmosphere of perversity over cheap thrills. Though Silent Hill 3 makes no innovative breaks from its own formulaic gameplay, intriguing stories and horrifying presentation invigorate this biennial entry. 

The series has thus far explored two different forms of insanity: external (environmental) and internal (psychological). Now it considers the historical, with a protagonist who is not all she appears, nor what she thinks herself to be. Heather, our disheveled, teenage heroine, is not Konami's attempt to inject some sex appeal into the series, but is a developed character with a constitution that responds to the madness of Silent Hill uniquely from her predecessors as her reality is invaded by a world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life. 

Silent Hill 2  had only tangential connections to its predecessor. Silent Hill 3 begins similarly, with a tour of random locales, but halfway through, coalesces into a story-driven game with direct ties to the series' origin. 

There are both action and puzzle elements in Silent Hill 3, each with adjustable difficulty settings. On the medium setting, there are so many monsters and so few bullets that cowardice is the better part of valor. Once a puzzle's parts are collected, it's fairly easy to see how they fit together; it's assembling the parts that's difficult. With a dynamic and automated camera, the game occasionally leaves players to wander until they see a door or item they hadn't previously, thus completing their inventory. 

The controller supports both digital and analog, in 2D and 3D formats. The digital is less dodgy, and the 3D scheme better accomodates camera angles that can dramatically shift at a moment's notice; that, and controlling from Heather's perspective gives one a better sense of being in the game. She can use her weapon to assume a defensive stance, while the results of failing to do so will cause the rumble feature to effectively pulse with her tiring heart, reminding players when it is about to expire. 

Both the aural and graphical components are integral to Silent Hill's atmosphere. The graphics have an inherent graininess that contributes to the unclean world in which Heather finds herself. The fog and darkness, once technological limitations, continue to obscure her vision, combining with fantastic lighting effects to make the unknown all the more omnipresent and frightening. Her nightmare includes harrowing sites — one such that, when I realized what it was and the possibilities it had in a survival-horror game, I felt a genuine sense of trepidation without anything having happened yet. Another's decor was so unsettling that I hoped it did not encompass the entire building; sadly, it was without relief. 

The soundtrack is replete with sound effects, keeping players on their toes for unseen threats or unbalancing them with groans, shuffles, and sobs. The voice acting is good; though the delivery may be stilted, the quality is there, though occasionally histrionic. 

A bonus soundtrack CD is included with the package, though its usefulness is dubious. This isn't Dance Dance Revolution, and I can't imagine most of the tunes being appropriate outside a Halloween party. 

Barring moments of frenetic combat, Silent Hill 3 is not a fast game — both in gameplay and during noticeable loading times, made more evident by patterns of writhing flesh and blood that animate the screen. On the normal difficulty setting, it will take average gamers under six hours to solve the puzzles, defeat the bosses, and clear the game. But the experiences they will have had on that journey will have made a worthwhile investment of your time and sanity.

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This article is copyright (c) 2003, 2007 by Ken Gagne. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed without permission.

Original publication: Gamebits, 02-Sep-03

by Ken Gagne

Though it is often first parties such as Nintendo and Sony who host press conferences, when you're a powerhouse like Konami, sometimes your lineup necessitates your own event. Such was the case with Konami's conference at the Los Angeles Public Library in downtown L.A. this afternoon. The amount of food was inversely proportionate to the length of the conference, which went into detail on many games, with three in particular.

First up was Botkai: The Sun is In Your Hands, a Game Boy Advance game and the first game to be sunlight-sensitive. A sensor in the cartridge makes the game aware of the amount of light in which it is being played, so whether you are indoors or outdoors, in a shadow or the open, facing east or west will affect the game, in which you play a vampire hunter. Django, the hero, uses a solar-powered gun which needs constant recharging to face the undead hordes that are weak against both this weapon and natural light. When playing in the dark, vampires are unlikely to be caught asleep in their coffins, and windows will shed no light by which Django may recharge his weapon, though "sun banks" can store energy for nighttime play (or, if you live in Sweden, for those six months of dreary weather). Some trappings of Metal Gear made their way into Botkai, allowing Django to sneak along walls and tap them to draw undead lords from their prescribed patrols. This demonstration was a bit excessive, featuring not only a trailer but also a play-through of the entire first level. I'm unsure if this game's exclusive feature will enhance its fun factor, or prompt gamers into getting a tan, but it is definitely unique.

The second game was Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, the GameCube remake of the original MGS. This update is a collaboration between Hideo Kojima and Silicon Knights, the development team behind Eternal Darkness. Konami's Twin Snakes trailer was the same as the one shown at Nintendo's conference, only with better contrast. Little to no gameplay was shown, only cinematic sequences. The story will remain largely untouched, suggesting only the graphics and some gameplay elements will be updated to the MGS2 engine.

Of course, the third and final game for which we'd all waited outshone Twin Snakes by far. A 12-minute trailer of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater showed us a good deal of gameplay, and very little story. Since Kojima is a master of crafting twisting tales, it is unlikely more will be revealed regarding the plot or its connection with other Metal Gears, prior to the game's 2004 release. This installment returns Snake to the jungle, a setting he's not experienced since the original 8-bit Metal Gear. Though he will occasionally enter buildings, Snake's primary setting is organic, where he can climb trees, swing from branches, hide in and behind logs, and snipe soldiers. A new game engine is being developed to adapt to this new setting — an engine which will be shared by a possible, separate Metal Gear Online game. (online elements in MGS3 as as of yet undetermined) This time around, Snake must hunt and eat to survive, developing tastes for certain beasts the more he eats them — including kinds of fish and, yes, snakes. Harry Gregson-Williams, composer of the soundtrack for the movie "The Rock", returns to provide music for this title.

After a brief intermission, the conference continued with more titles. A stream of brief videos showcased Yu-Gi-Oh; Silent Hill 3; MacFarlane's Evil Prophecy (PS2) which pits players against classic monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein's monster; Cy Girls, based on the action figures; Firefighter F.D. 18 (PS2); Bloody Roar Extreme (Xbox) and Bloody Roar 4 (PS2); Air Force Delta Strike (PS2); K-1 World Grand Prix; Silent Scope Complete (Xbox), a light gun-compatible bundle of the entire trilogy; Gradius V (PS2), which boasts 3D graphics, 2D gameplay, and a new control scheme; and Dance Dance Revolution Ultra Mix (Xbox), which will be Live-compatible, and DDR Max 2 (PS2), which has songs' accompanying music videos.

A deeper examination of the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game was then unveiled. This 3D brawler will be released for all systems in Fall 2003 with one- and two-player modes, both cooperative and versus. It closely resembles the arcade games of yesteryear in which players can choose to be Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, or Raphael, each with unique strengths and abilities.  The voice actors from the new cartoon will be present in the game's cast, while the art style of the cartoon will be preserved and accentuated with Batman-style visual sound effects ("Bam! Pow!"). The control scheme will consist simply of small and large attack and jump buttons, but will allow the turtles to damage enemies with 20- and 30-hit combos. I love the license, but 3D games are all starting to look alike. Will Konami use more than the license to distinguish this title from other beat-em-ups?

Koji Igarashi, producer of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, then presented us with footage of the PlayStation 2's first entry in Konami's classic series.  This 3D title is set in the 11th century, in the time of the Crusades, and stars Baron Leon Belmont, a knight of the church and the first to take up arms against the dread Count Dracula. This game appears to be story-driven but with much freedom for exploration. Leon will have sub-weapons which can be powered up in a manner similar to Harmony of Dissonance, but will not gain experience points as in Symphony of the Night. When I asked Igarashi-san what will distinguish Lament from Castlevania 64, he gave the right answer: "Everything."

A celebrity guest was then introduced to unveil a surprise title from Konami.  Jennifer Love Hewitt took the stage to sing along with Karaoke Revolution, a PS2 game being released in November. Using the SOCOM headset, Karaoke Revolution detects a player's pitch and timing to give scores, and offers a four-player alternating mode for sing-offs. Thirty-five licensed songs from top artists are included, though hard drive support may make available more.  Several of my compatriots could not imagine why anyone would want to play this game, which surprised me; I have a singing background and imagine this title will be a hit among many of my friends. Time will tell. Jennifer then went on to perform singles from her latest album, "Bare Naked". (Does this mean I can tell her, "I know what you did last E3"?)

An impressive lineup, to be sure, but how did Konami close without a thorough dissection of Silent Hill 3? This unnatural series is extremely good at what it does, and of all the titles Konami has at this year's show, will be coming out sooner than most others, which makes me more eager for it than some far-off 2004 game.

Konami's portfolio this year speaks well of innovation. Castlevania 3D, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Karaoke Revolution will all be trying new formats for established franchises. These experiments will soon bear fruit which I predict will be a bumper crop.

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This article is copyright (c) 2003, 2007 by Ken Gagne. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed without permission.

Original publication: Gamebits, 13-May-03

Title	:	Contra: Shattered Soldier
Platforms	:	Sony PlayStation 2
Publisher	:	Konami
ESRB Rating	:	Teen
Game Rating	:	7.9
Review by	:	Ken Gagne

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. 

Even if you can't appreciate the significance of that legendary button sequence, you can still get in on the action with Contra: Shattered Soldier, a PlayStation 2 game from Konami. 

The Contra series has ridden a roller coaster of success, beginning with the 1987 arcade game and then enjoying several popular incarnations on various Nintendo systems. The transition to the Sony PlayStation was less efficacious, as the developer that Konami hired to manage the two PlayStation games updated them to 3D, destroying every fun aspect of Contra. 

Shattered Soldier is what Contra always should have been: a blending of modern technology with classic gameplay. The 2D action, two-player mode, and huge bosses are all back where they belong. 

Players troop from the left side of the stage to the right, through cities, jungles, and oceans, shooting anything and everything that moves. But unlike past Contras, there are no power-ups or additional weapons to acquire. Players begin with three weapons, which they can switch between at any time. The flamethrower and grenade launcher have such limited range, though, that shifting to them in the heat of battle is likely a fatal choice. The lack of acquirable weaponry removes a certain element of strategy and variability. The rest of the controls have remained mostly unchanged since Contra's Super Nintendo days. 

The controls are one of many factors to be mastered quickly in face of Contra's onslaught. It is virtually impossible to avoid any incoming attack without foreknowledge. The "Normal" difficulty setting grants a mere three lives and three continues with which to learn a stage. Even veteran gamers will do well to try the "Easy" setting, which changes these numbers to nine and 99. With that many opportunities, most gamers will learn the nuances of each stage, allowing their memorization, if not their skill, to guide them to and through each of the many bosses. 

The game often throws everything imaginable at the player, moving quickly from one abstract scenario to the next: waterskiing mechs, vomitive, baby-faced turtles, and an evil Seaman. All this and more pack the game's four main stages, which can be completed in any order. Ratings are earned based on performance levels, unlocking additional endings and a total of seven levels. Without this replay value, Contra can be played in its entirety in only an hour or two. 

Fortunately, those hours are spent in classic gameplay, as the 3D graphics integrate with the 2D gameplay for outstanding action. Every level is played from a side-scrolling perspective; absent are the overhead and over-the-shoulder stages that have marred recent attempts at Contra. The opening sequence suggests some excellent cinematics, but the movie sequences feature neither full-motion video nor digitized speech. Considering the brevity of game, the lack of showmanship in these rare moments is disappointing. Unlike most Contra games, this one purports to have a story line, but these weak moments do nothing to support this unnecessary accessory. 

The most frustrating aspect of Shattered Soldier is getting from Point A to Point B; so much rote is necessary that it sometimes feels more like Dragon's Lair. The lack of player initiative and the terse nature of this Contra keeps it from rating higher, but not from being the best Contra game in the last decade. Perhaps this series isn't so shattered after all.

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This article is copyright (c) 2002, 2007 by Ken Gagne. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed without permission.

Original publication: Sentinel & Enterprise, 04-Nov-02