The overall objective is to thwart Blood Falcon and his minions as they attempt to exterminate from the face of the earth an already beleaguered human population.Ĭontra Shattered Soldier brings classic, fast-paced shooting action to the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. From time to time there are vehicles to ride, such as snowboards and missiles, but the action-heavy nature of the game remains intact. There are five basic missions to accomplish, such as stopping a hijacked military transport train loaded with weapons, but the decidedly linear gameplay basically consists of running, jumping, climbing (hand over hand), shooting, and shooting some more. Each weapon can be charged for greater effect by pressing and holding the circle button. Both characters are always equipped with three weapons that are selectable at any time: Heavy Machine Gun, Fire Whip, and Diver Mine. In this game players can select from Bill Rizer, a vicious criminal, and Lucia, a female cyborg. The game maintains its old-school, 2D platforming roots, but is enhanced with 3D polygonal models and unlockable endings and levels based on player performance (such as percentage of enemies killed).Īs with Contra, Contra III: The Alien Wars, Contra: Hard Corps, and various other titles in the series, two players can team up against the alien hordes and giant bosses. Making its debut in the arcades in 1987 and, more pervasively, on the NES in 1988, the long-running Contra series continues with Contra: Shattered Soldier for the PlayStation 2.

It only gets more fun the more you learn.Menus and gameplay are in Multi-3 (English, French & Spanish). I think if you have a PS2 and an awesome friend who's into hard games you owe yourself to pick up this game and have it kick your ass. The fun comes from organically discovering and figuring out the best strategies to each section, which weapon is best suited for the job and how to overall just take it slow during tense moments.ĭoes anyone else have fond memories of this game? Everything about it is so cool and on point, the bosses are super cool as well. It took us a couple days of on and off playing to really master the first two levels and even then we still get caught by a stray bullet or tricky setup. The best part of this game is playing with a close friend and really trying to master the levels. I love run 'n gun games and have always preferred the Metal Slug series over the Contra series because of the beautiful sprite work but this game just nails everything about what a run 'n gun game should be it's unparalleled gameplay. I never played it back in the PS2 era, only heard of it but I'm so glad I recently picked up a copy. It's become one of my favorite games recently. I wanted to give some love to this game because I think it's a game most people don't talk about these days.

Contra shattered soldier longplay