XBOX 360 MOST WANTED GAMES

Hard Corps: Uprising. Review

In this new run-and-gun shooter Contra game the plot unfolds around an oppressive government that has seized control and keeps the land in terror, and only to two daring warriors – a girl, Kristal and a bullyboy Bahamut – dare to contradict and challenge the evil dictator. (Bahamut is a character from Contra Hard Corps where he was a bad guy, but in this sequel he underwent a change of character.)

This through and through Contra game has a new animation style provided by the developers of such stylish fighters as BlazBlue and Guilty Gear, the ARC System Works. The resulting Contra’s cartoon version is simply great, where the hand-drawn animations bring characters to life quite smoothly with a lot of ongoing background fun "fuss". Thus, still in the first level and long before actually coming across with the beast, the player can catch glimpses of the giant robot sandworm lurking in the background.
The one and only inconvenience with the game is that between-levels loading time is pretty long.

The actual Uprising consists of two modes: Rising and Arcade. The latter mode can appeal to very limited number of players as it provides limited lives and continues, with the mistakes driving the game to its end very quickly or sending the player back to midway through the level.
Rising Mode is easier and more enjoyable to play as the gameplay here is made more accessible. All through the playing in this mode the hero earns points that later can then be spent on upgrading this character in all the different aspects: weapons, health bar, amount of continues.

This mode allows replaying any already beaten level in order to earn more points. Thus, if player has problems in level 5, he/she can go back to level 1 and replay it as many times as needed to get enough points for their character’s upgrading. Though there are several unforgiving checkpoints and cheap deaths in Rising Mode as well, they are easier to deal with due to the points, gathered through attempts that can be later spent on upgrades.

One of the key attraction points of Contra being that of playing with a friend, Hard Corps provides this feature as well – both in online and offline modes.
With the game constantly unwinding and offering new stuff it, nevertheless, undergoes no noticeable slowdown.
Overall, this definitely classic Contra, and its Rising Mode in particular, gives new sensations and is quite addictive.