Hard Corps: Uprising(successor to Contra HC)- XBLA

[TVG]

Actually, this has quite a number of "pure dodge" boss phases that cannot really be memorised in the strict sense. That's what I mean by "less static". Also the speed at which you go is very dependent on which weapon you managed to keep. With a powered up spread gun or laser, stage 2 is a breeze, etc.

Anyway I'll stop with the fanboyism now.

When you play long enough, the game gives you 573 continues. Yeah, 573 like the gradius high scores, etc (go-na-mi or whathever). The game is full of those, like stage 8 turret things that spit gradius ennemies at you or a very fucking obvious castlevania insert near the end.

[evil_ash_xero]

Just unlock "Speed King" to get the overall movement speed up a notch.

There really needs to be a Speed King 2.

Actually, the girl has a "Speed Queen" that you can unlock, that supposedly makes her go even faster than Speed King.

[GaijinPunch]

I've only been looking on the PSN store. Haha.
So it's XBLA only? Guess that explains a lot.

[Shelcoof]

I've only been looking on the PSN store. Haha.
So it's XBLA only? Guess that explains a lot.

Time exclusive I hear

[Kaiser]

I've only been looking on the PSN store. Haha.
So it's XBLA only? Guess that explains a lot.

Time exclusive I hear

Yeah one month. We're gonna wait till end of march to get it.

[GaijinPunch]

I have no wireless on my 360, and the router is across the room. Will probably just wait.

[Skykid]

Actually, this has quite a number of "pure dodge" boss phases that cannot really be memorised in the strict sense. That's what I mean by "less static". Also the speed at which you go is very dependent on which weapon you managed to keep. With a powered up spread gun or laser, stage 2 is a breeze, etc.

Anyway I'll stop with the fanboyism now.

When you play long enough, the game gives you 573 continues. Yeah, 573 like the gradius high scores, etc (go-na-mi or whathever). The game is full of those, like stage 8 turret things that spit gradius ennemies at you or a very fucking obvious castlevania insert near the end.

Stage 4 boss is from Ikaruga.

[JoshF]

Apparently Arcade mode hands out extra lives like Donkey Kong Country. WHY?

Join me in Left 4 Dead 2 revelry.

Single- or Multi-player?

[Rob]

Multi

Apparently Arcade mode hands out extra lives like Donkey Kong Country. WHY?

To make up for the times where it kills you and then immediately throws you into a pit.

[austere]

Apparently Arcade mode hands out extra lives like Donkey Kong Country.

[Skykid]

Multi

Apparently Arcade mode hands out extra lives like Donkey Kong Country. WHY?

To make up for the times where it kills you and then immediately throws you into a pit.

Ha ha, basically yeah.

[TVG]

Stage 4 boss is from Ikaruga.

It's like a mix between a gradius multicore thing and a treasure-ish rotating asshole.
Also, stage 8. After going trough what looks like a retelling of strider 3rd stage, I meet a fucking huge sphere. By that point I was expecting gravity to be desactivated and to start spinning around the sphere thing. The outcome is equally fun though, very cool boss.

[Zaarock]

Stage 4 boss is from Ikaruga.

It's like a mix between a gradius multicore thing and a treasure-ish rotating asshole.
Also, stage 8. After going trough what looks like a retelling of strider 3rd stage, I meet a fucking huge sphere. By that point I was expecting gravity to be desactivated and to start spinning around the sphere thing. The outcome is equally fun though, very cool boss.

You can reflect the blue bullets both of those bosses shoot btw. The sphere boss indeed seems to be broken for sayuri, but I saw someone trying to do it with prone attacks and sliding. Might just work if the hitbox is even a sphere.

[kemical]

this is a good game at heart, in my opinion.

It keeps me wanting to come back, I can't play it for too long though, but I definitely want to keep coming back. I found the controls a bit too complicated at first and had to remap a lot of stuff, thankfully they allow you that option.

I think I would have preferred if the developers had used the analog stick to its full potential though, I don't believe any harm would have been done by allowing full rotation for shooting.

[Milkgoat]

So, are there any aliens in this game? I've made it to the boss of stage 3 in arcade and seen nothing. I like the game regardless, but I'm just curious.

[Skykid]

So, are there any aliens in this game? I've made it to the boss of stage 3 in arcade and seen nothing. I like the game regardless, but I'm just curious.

Stage 5 boss is alien-ish.

[Klatrymadon]

I'm currently getting to stage 5 in arcade mode on a single credit (using Rising mode mainly to practice), and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. It's a fun, inventive game with a lot of beautifully designed sections (if not whole stages ). I agree with many of the criticisms that have been levelled at it in this thread, especially Skykid's, but I'm not finding any of them to be total killjoys. In fact, I think the thing that's most disappointing for me is the massive amount of attacks that originate off-screen, telegraphed by little exclamation marks rather than by anything the enemies are doing. In stage 4, this means a lot of helicopters swooping into your face out of nowhere and cars swinging around and crashing into each other in a way that's partially unreadable until you've been mowed down. It's not a dealbreaker, but it makes the game feel that much more capricious, and the memorisation that much more like work.

[chronicdog]

The game is amazing, Im loving it, but having a tough time getting past stage 4 in arcade mode. Im just going to grind it in Rising mode until I have all those damn cars and choppers down pat.

Anyway, no it doesnt look like Contra but i dont really care, the game looks amazing and plays so well when you finally get the hang of the controls, especially the 2 triggers and the action button.

What I did was move the action button to the Left Bumper so i could hit it without taking my thumb off the X/A area of the controller, now I can vault objects while shooting and running.

I have 16m in arcade mode with Bahamut but I think most of the real scoring runs will be done with Sayuri... she kills many of the bosses almost instantly.

[Skykid]

I'm currently getting to stage 5 in arcade mode on a single credit (using Rising mode mainly to practice), and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. It's a fun, inventive game with a lot of beautifully designed sections (if not whole stages ). I agree with many of the criticisms that have been levelled at it in this thread, especially Skykid's, but I'm not finding any of them to be total killjoys. In fact, I think the thing that's most disappointing for me is the massive amount of attacks that originate off-screen, telegraphed by little exclamation marks rather than by anything the enemies are doing. In stage 4, this means a lot of helicopters swooping into your face out of nowhere and cars swinging around and crashing into each other in a way that's partially unreadable until you've been mowed down. It's not a dealbreaker, but it makes the game feel that much more capricious, and the memorisation that much more like work.

That's a very good way of putting it and I agree - the memorisation is good and satisfying when you've got it under your belt, but it's particularly unfriendly having to learn it. I'm working through stage 6 now and, Jesus, it's a total mess the first time you get to it. I've never played an Rn'G where you get owned by every pitfall when you first reach a stage - it's quite unique in that sense. There's a lot of 'oops, didn't see that coming' moments.

I'm finding more use for bullet deflection although it's very risky in most places, and I only use action vaults cos they look snazzy and when there's nothing around for me to inadvertently crash into.

I went back to Arcade yesterday to see how far I could get. Bleh, Rising has ruined my patience in that mode entirely, but I got to the end of stage 3 on a credit.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Anyone figure out how to deal with Vitis Engine with Sayuri yet? Even with Automatic Fire, that stupid thing can still kill her.

Obviously don't have that on Arcade Mode, so when I credit fed through it, I tried timing my attacks and still got hit once. I still need to practice Stage 4 and maybe some of the later stages and bosses, but it would suck to get there on Arcade Mode without dying to just to die to this stupid thing.

[Zaarock]

I'm working through stage 6 now and, Jesus, it's a total mess the first time you get to it. I've never played an Rn'G where you get owned by every pitfall when you first reach a stage - it's quite unique in that sense. There's a lot of 'oops, didn't see that coming' moments.

Huh, I dont see how that level has especially many "pitfalls", especially compared to other games.. maybe the flamethrowers (not that obvious that you can hang on the carts) and realizing you'll die from one hit from the boss. Everything else has flashy warning signals etc. and its pretty obvious you'll die if you fall off.

@chaos phoenixma: well, you can kill it on rising mode using the faster charge shot. Maybe prone attacks work in arcade, but havent tried it yet.

[Skykid]

I'm working through stage 6 now and, Jesus, it's a total mess the first time you get to it. I've never played an Rn'G where you get owned by every pitfall when you first reach a stage - it's quite unique in that sense. There's a lot of 'oops, didn't see that coming' moments.

Huh, I dont see how that level has especially many "pitfalls", especially compared to other games.. maybe the flamethrowers (not that obvious that you can hang on the carts) and realizing you'll die from one hit from the boss. Everything else has flashy warning signals etc. and its pretty obvious you'll die if you fall off.

@chaos phoenixma: well, you can kill it on rising mode using the faster charge shot. Maybe prone attacks work in arcade, but havent tried it yet.

The operative part of the post being "the first time you get to it."
This game is peculiar in that the first time you hit a new stage you're guaranteed to get owned. It's unintuitive to the point where you can't really prepare for what's next. You just need to wade in, recognise all the quick changes you need to make, and try again. It's like a Run n' Gun version of Beatmania.

[Zaarock]

I was talking about it in that perspective, don't see how its any more unforgiving on the first try than other run and gun train/vehicle levels like that. They made the enemies spawn slowly and put warning signs for all the platforming bits, seems ok to me.

[DocHauser]

1UP gave this a C-

http://www.1up.com/reviews/hard-corps-uprising-review

"The only thing keeping Hard Corps: Uprising in the "C" range for this review is the fact that there is very likely a small segment of gamers who absolutely love to punish themselves with a ludicrously difficult game; I acknowledge that. If you're masochistic and don't mind awkwardly paced gameplay, you may actually enjoy Uprising. For everyone else, playing this game feels like paying someone $15 to punch you in the face over and over again."

[Skykid]

1UP gave this a C-

http://www.1up.com/reviews/hard-corps-uprising-review

"The only thing keeping Hard Corps: Uprising in the "C" range for this review is the fact that there is very likely a small segment of gamers who absolutely love to punish themselves with a ludicrously difficult game; I acknowledge that. If you're masochistic and don't mind awkwardly paced gameplay, you may actually enjoy Uprising. For everyone else, playing this game feels like paying someone $15 to punch you in the face over and over again."

Last line just makes him sound like a pussy. Unfortunately I can see where he's coming from and a lot of those points have validity IMO. I'm less surprised by the C- from mainstream press than I am the 8's that keep popping up.

1up is terrible though.

I was talking about it in that perspective, don't see how its any more unforgiving on the first try than other run and gun train/vehicle levels like that. They made the enemies spawn slowly and put warning signs for all the platforming bits, seems ok to me.

The cars are blowing up as you stand on them, flamethrowers are lining the extremities of the screen, enemies are idling on left and right and from above and you keep changing angles and levels all the time. You have to jump over the gaps between the three cars you're based on, but Bahamut's walking jump is unreliably short, so air dashing makes more sense, except that you're trying to contain and avoid all the incoming - it's pretty fraught I'd say. I've played train based stages in umpteen games that give you a little more easing in than this - but that could be said of all Uprising's stages.

[Klatrymadon]

We're always chiding each other for scoffing at mainstream reviews of the games we're protective of, but what strikes me more about this writing than any humourous point-missing is how fucking identical all the articles are. They're always trotting out the same lazy, perfunctory horseshit about teeth-gnashing difficulty and supposedly old-hat design, almost verbatim, across dozens of different websites, year in, year out. You'd think some of them would have noticed by now. And preferably stopped bothering...

(Of course, Uprising's been blessed with a number of very enthusiastic reviews as well, but they're pleasant blips rather than signs of better journalism to come.)

[PepsimanVsJoe]

You don't have to jump over the little gaps in-between the cars in stage 6.

The latter half of stage 8 still blows though. One time I managed to glitch it so that missiles stopped spawning, meaning I couldn't continue with the stage.
It didn't really come to mind that I didn't have to use a missile to progress but jumping from the wall to a low ceiling to another wall is a bit of a pain.
I'm also not a fan of perspective when it obscures vital details.

[evil_ash_xero]

I actually usually like 1UP. That's a shit review though.


I seriously think that Rising Mode fixes the "unfair" bits, at least to where it's manageable. I don't think these reviewers are putting that much time into this. And by that, I mean more than a couple of hours.

You'd have to wonder how a game like Gaiares would score nowadays.

I'm still shocked at how Demon's Souls had such great reviews. I thought the incredible difficulty would have pissed off the reviewers. Strange.

[chronicdog]

I don't think these reviewers are putting that much time into this. And by that, I mean more than a couple of hours.

Exactly. Thats guy from 1up probably played for like 5-6 hours and was like, "what, I cant win? THIS GAME IS STUPID"

They give these games to reviewers who dont even play shooting games...

Also, to they guy who changed his review score from an 8 to a 6.25, I mean what were you thinking? Sure its a stylistic leap from past Contra games, but the game is an instant classic in the run n gun genre. Is it perfect, no, but its a great game, an 7-8 at the very least, many many people on my friends list on the xbox have been playing this non stop since it came out.

Also, whats up with the scoring? Basically you can just grind enemies so the leaderboards are meaningless? I can do the first stage in under 6 mins in arcade mode with bahamut, but there are no time leaderboards?

[Skykid]

Also, whats up with the scoring? Basically you can just grind enemies so the leaderboards are meaningless? I can do the first stage in under 6 mins in arcade mode with bahamut, but there are no time leaderboards?

The scoring is established as broken.

Also, to they guy who changed his review score from an 8 to a 6.25, I mean what were you thinking?Also, to they guy who changed his review score from an 8 to a 6.25, I mean what were you thinking?

He was thinking it wasn't deserved of an 8.

but the game is an instant classic in the run n gun genre.

God, now I'm getting frustrated with you lot rather than the brainless reviewers.

It's not an instant classic. When I'm done with this game, I can't imagine ever being hugely compelled to go back to Uprising. I'm not put off by its difficulty, but by its unfathomable knack for being unintuitive. That said, with Rising Mode, I'd still give it a 7 overall - a good score - because there is an opportunity for headway there. However, the more I play Rising, the more I consider it a cop out. Buying a wealth of extra lives just encourages people to die their way through a stage and never get a feel for learning the game, which is a wasteful experience.
However, if arcade mode wasn't so daftly arranged, it would be a concession easily ignored.

Nothing wrong with tough games. Challenge is good. Frustration isn't particularly appealing though, and in the course of learning Uprising there's plenty of that.

So IMO it's not an instant classic at all, there are all manner of Run n' Guns more appealing to pick up and play than this. Sometimes I wonder if this forum isn't critical enough!