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SkyKing's Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES)
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| [March 6, 2008 02:01:21 AM]
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Gameplay2:
After another hour of Contra III: The Alien Wars, I realized something very peculiar; This game is very much like a space-shooter. The player implements quick thinking, fast reflexes, and pattern memorization to be successful. Also present is the infinite ammo, special items, bombs, and one-hit deaths. Contra is a walking shmup... a washmup.
Also after and hour, Contra 3 is still amazingly hard. The third level returned us to the side-scrolling but heavily focused on hanging and climbing. While moving on a pole or a wall, a character cannot shoot thus emphasizing the importance of distance and timing. Jumping to grab another pole was also a challenge for the floor was absent. Being not as experienced with platforming, my teammate once again resorted to stealing my lives.
The next level introduced yet another new style, shooting from the back of a motorcycle. We drove and shot at enemies at the same time. I wonder why we have weapons that can destroy these aliens in one hit but still don't have flying vehicles. Even future governments put too much funding into battle. These motorcycle levels are faster paced but focus more on dodging than shooting. The players must dodge incoming ground and aerial attacks from all sides.
We got stuck on this level for this game is amazingly hard. We are considering lowering the difficulty but that feels like lowering our standards.
Design:
As I mentioned earlier, this game is very much like a space shooter. The character must dodge, shoot, and react in a similar speed and different types of enemies continually attack. One button is mapped to jumping, one to shooting, one to changing gun type, and one to bombs. I pretty much held the fire button down unless I was climbing, which requires two hands. These guys have insane arm strength by the way.
The game itself slows down when too many bullets are on the screen at once, which can happen due to the spread shot gun. While some may argue that this destroys the pace, I say it adds to the suspense, when it is not too often that is. The game looks nice but enemies can get a little repetitive.
I didn't really notice the soundtrack because I was so into the gameplay but that is probably best for this type of game. Something too abrasive would distract the players from the action, which demands high concentration.
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| [March 6, 2008 01:30:59 AM]
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Contra III: The Alien Wars
Summary: For my this final gamelog assignment, I decided to play Konami's Contra III: The Alien Wars. This side-scrolling shooter pits the protagonists, Jimbo and Sully, against a full out alien invasion. The characters have and infinite supply of ammo but die upon being hit.
Gameplay 1: As my friend and I turned on the game, we decided that in order to beat the game in as little time as possible, we should use the famous Konami code. So we grabbed our controllers, typed in the code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, START), and ... nothing happened. We tried again to find that once again the code had not worked. Konami decided to make gamers prove their worth by forcing them to prove themselves in a codeless game of Contra. So my friend and I took a deep breath and plunged into battle.
One cutscene describes the whole story, Aliens are killing humans so kill them first, and then the play begins. Both characters start out with automatic guns so the players can just hold down the fire button instead of rapidly tapping. The game is very intense and frantic as bullets are flying in every direction and one hit means certain death. While it is fun to yell at the TV when both players die, a teammate will be more of a deadwieght if skills are not up to par. There is no friendly fire but the other player can nudge the screen in a certain direction, thus trapping on dooming his teammate.
After beating the first level, the game spun into a totally different style of play. Jimbo and Sully are controlled in an over-head view and there is no longer a linear path to follow. Players instead choose a start point and search-and-destroy some specific targets. The shoulder buttons now control turning and the characters can no longer jump. I don't know why perspective of an outside element would change the skills of characters but all for the fun of the game, right? Sadly, these over-head parts are not too fun. While the side-scrolling levels have a distinct rhythm and flow to them, these levels just leave the player running in circles, literally.
We are still trying to workout a plan of attack for this first over-head level and a way to keep my partner from stealing my lives. I thought staying alive would be a good plan but from the way he is playing, he doesn't seem to agree.
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SkyKing's Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Thursday 6 March, 2008
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