The opening cinematic sets the stage for an anime-style approach to the game’s design, but it’s difficult to fully appreciate how well that it’s realized until you see the game in motion. What strikes the player first about Hard Corps: Uprising is the art style.
Hard Corps: Uprising, a prequel to the well regarded 1994 Contra: Hard Corps for the Sega Genesis, brings the Contra formula to the PSN and XBLA, and it’s largely a successful effort, though some of its quirks do take some getting used to. Contra ReBirth for the Wii, the series’ first downloadable installment, continued this trend. Coming at a time when nostalgia for the relentlessly difficult platform and action games of earlier console generations was rising, Contra 4 successfully renewed excitement about the property among fans. While the series’s glory days were undoubtedly on the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis, it was revitalized by Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS. Contra didn’t originate the run-and-gun or bullet hell subgenres, but it certainly was influential entry to both. Of course, the Konami code, which was actually introduced in Gradius, was arguably made iconic in gaming history via Contra, a game nearly impossible to defeat without the 30 lives that it granted. The cooperative 2-player wherein it was possible to dip into your partners pool of lives to resurrect yourself from the dead was a fun gameplay mechanic. The bizarre amalgam of Vietnam-era commando imagery melded with an alien invasion was certainly memorable. And having both for a better price tag doesn't help either.The first Contra game is fondly remembered for many reasons. The way it is Gradius ReBirth can't even stand toe-to-toe with the original NES Gradius available at the Virtual Console service or the SNES installment, Gradius III all the same. (Take a look at a cutscene screenshot if you don't believe me.) Of course, the score attack mode with its online leaderboards and an unlockable hard mode can add some value for more passionate players, but it's still a too-shallow revolution to care for. The retro presentation could have been a great feature in itself if the result wasn't just plain ugly. Bosses are too easy, pre-bosses sections are too annoying and the game as a whole is too short. Most levels are recycled from MSX previous entries and in fact they were even dumbed down with artificial, cheap difficulty. On the other hand the design is too lazy to deliver it to a desirable hardcore audience.
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The gameplay structure–even if it's a good one for sure, a classic side-scrolling shooter plus the customizable power-up tree that made the series remarkable–remains unchanged even in the slightest which means you'll need to beat it in one seat for a lack of restore points/save states/whatever, for instance–simply unacceptable for a 20XX release. In one hand that modernization never quite happens.
Unfortunately it ultimately fails in both fronts.
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The Good: Online leaderbords The Bad: Expensive lazy Released as part of a Konami rehash series developed exclusively for the WiiWare service, Gradius ReBirth–as the title states–intends to update the franchise for modern gamers while keeping its oldschool, hardcore appeal. Released as part of a Konami rehash series "ReBirth" is an overstatement.