The Contra: Rogue Corps Demo Is Underwhelming
Expectations for Contra: Rogue Corps were rock bottom, to no surprise. Konami has successfully minimized their console gaming output after slowly working up to the retraction for around the last decade. The most noteworthy move involved undermining and pushing out Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions, who developed and produced their biggest games. Since Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain released just over four years ago, they’ve only released games made on small budgets, while most efforts have gone to the pachinko and mobile markets. Given their current approach to game development, it was hard to believe that a new Contra game would be any good.
I tried my best to remain positive about it after the E3 2019 reveal, despite the not-undeserved negativity it received from those who saw it. The game looked hideous from the previews, and its story didn’t have much to do with prior Contra games. It resembled a sequel to Neo Contra on PlayStation 2, a game that itself was divisive partly thanks to its focus on isometric 2D gameplay instead of the side-scrolling style Contra is known for. But there was still a chance for it to be good, especially with longtime Contra series producer Nobuya Nakazato on board — though the game was developed by Toylogic, since Konami handles very few core-aimed games internally these days. You’ll want to emphasize “chance” hard.
The main game will have four playable characters, but only the cigar-smoking muscular macho Kaiser is available for the demo. He runs through what’s essentially a tutorial level, where the first sections are obstacles to adjust to shooting, jumping, switching weapons, and other special attacks after the controls and functions are explained by an assistant over the communication channel. This is necessary, because Rogue Corps is a twin stick shooter instead of a mere third-person shooter, fully realizing the ostensible potential for Neo Contra. It’s also good to know because weapons can overheat here, and take several seconds to cool down. The demo level leaves players to their own literal devices after the quick initial sections where they have to fend off enemies as they approach from several directions.
To say Rogue Corps isn’t a looker would be a massive understatement. It’s an ugly-looking game, resembling a cheap early Xbox 360 title. I’m not just saying that to be mean; the visuals are impractically bad. The shoestring budget limits the color palette, which thus lowers the image quality, making it tough to see some enemies as they approach. It’s even worse when the camera pulls out to fit several miniature enemies within the screen, making it easy to take hits from enemies and enemy fire through no fault of your own. Despite its visuals being below par for a current-generation game, the performance also isn’t polished. It should look and run much better than it does given how immense and profitable of a company Konami is.
The visuals aren’t the only big problem: Rogue Corps has noticeable input delay. For twitch-based games like this, the time between button presses and on-screen actions should be as instantaneous as possible. Not so here, as there’s a critical gap in time between pressing the buttons for shooting, dodging, and jumping before they actually happen. The combination of these and the poor image quality makes this just as frustrating as it sounds.
Most of the issues here aren’t big problems in the demo, thanks to its ease and short length as an introductory stage. Anyone who’s played previous Contra games could finish this with their eyes closed, since attacks aren’t one-hit kills here and there’s plenty of health lying around. But the visual problems and input delay could be burdensome in later levels and for co-op play, where it will be even harder to see with bullets flying everywhere and enemies and objects exploding around them. Since this game is a mere eight days from release, the demo is likely representative of the final product.
It’s a shame about how this is turning out, because there’s potential for a worthwhile game here. It may not have been a good Contra game, but the twin-stick shooting, weapon switching, and dodging could have been fun with an improved presentation and tighter controls. I wouldn’t be surprised if this receives a post-release patch to address some issues, since they’ll be releasing enough DLC to justify a season pass.
Konami has a long history of giving games shoestring budgets, with the most notable examples being Koji “IGA” Igarashi’s last batch of Castlevania games before he left to produce Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. But low-budget games don’t have to be mediocre, especially when a good producer is at the helm within the actual developer. Unless this demo actually isn’t reflective of the final product (which would be bizarre), Rogue Corps will underwhelm. I’m surprised they bothered providing a demo for this at all; it’s the kind of game a publisher usually throws out on the market in the hopes that the remaining brand loyalists take the plunge regardless of how it reviews. Thank goodness there’s a much better Contra successor in Blazing Chrome.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
