Right, March 12th... That will be the day.
Contra: Operation Galuga
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xxx1993
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Is the demo only on Steam and Switch? What about PS4 or PS5?
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
It's available on the Playstation Store as well.
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Just trying out the PS5 demo, feels instantly better than Switch. A lot more responsive. Try the Switch version for a giggle, though.
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xxx1993
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Weird, I looked for it, but I couldn't find it anywhere... I'll try again.
EDIT: Found it. I’ll try it later.
EDIT: Found it. I’ll try it later.
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Oh yeah, that's MUCH better on PC. Runs very solid.
Still ugly though.
Still ugly though.
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xxx1993
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Just tried the demo. Pretty fun! I look forward to this game now. Especially considering the game is now officially a reboot of the series. The game is set in "26XX" as opposed to "2633". Plus the meteor shower that struck Galuga is said to take place 6 months before the events of the game as opposed to two years earlier.
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
I don't care much for story in Contra but I appreciate the bit of world building with Galuga being an actually inhabited place by natives who see what happens and join the fight.
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xxx1993
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
The reason why I wanted this game to be a reboot of the franchise is because I didn't like how the lore was screwed up in Shattered Soldier. I mean, Red Falcon being revealed to be guardians of a stolen artifact? Lance going rogue and Bill becoming a wrongly convicted war criminal?
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ExitPlanetDust
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Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
The PS4 version also appears to run at 30fps and has heavy input delay, even when navigating menus.
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To Far Away Times
- Posts: 1696
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Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Demo is pretty solid, they sold me on the game.
Graphics are ass and there was one spot where you can clip through a wall but ultimately the gamplay is there.
The first stage is a bit uninspired, basically combining the first and third stage ideas from Contra NES. That wouldn't be too big of an issue, except there are already multiple modern-ish Contra games that have intentional callbacks to that first stage. It starts to get a bit trite seeing that fucking jungle stage with the bridges and wall boss yet again.
Don't think this has a chance to surpass the really great ones like Shattered Soldier or NES Contra since it lacks ambition and originality, but the foundation is solid and the boss fight was a lot of fun. A huge step up from WayForward's Contra 4.
Oh and I probably wouldn't have included a double jump and an air dash. You get a bit too much mobility. I would gladly trade both for Shattered Soldier's buttery smooth L2/R2 lockshot aiming controls.
Graphics are ass and there was one spot where you can clip through a wall but ultimately the gamplay is there.
The first stage is a bit uninspired, basically combining the first and third stage ideas from Contra NES. That wouldn't be too big of an issue, except there are already multiple modern-ish Contra games that have intentional callbacks to that first stage. It starts to get a bit trite seeing that fucking jungle stage with the bridges and wall boss yet again.
Don't think this has a chance to surpass the really great ones like Shattered Soldier or NES Contra since it lacks ambition and originality, but the foundation is solid and the boss fight was a lot of fun. A huge step up from WayForward's Contra 4.
Oh and I probably wouldn't have included a double jump and an air dash. You get a bit too much mobility. I would gladly trade both for Shattered Soldier's buttery smooth L2/R2 lockshot aiming controls.
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Played the demo first on Switch, and holy crap people aren't kidding. If it's not completely unplayable, it is at very least absolutely unenjoyable. Huge gaps of frames will be randomly skipped whenever, not even causing slowdown, but just straight up teleporting you forward in a jump or whatever, and the input lag makes playing the game feel like fighting your way through a thick layer of sticky mud every time you want to do anything. Even considering releasing this version of the game should be criminal!
And looking like it does, it has absolutely no business playing like this - the Switch isn't as powerful as its contemporary consoles, but it sure as hell isn't this weak either. This isn't just Unity Engine bad or Switch bad, this is just "developer shouldn't be allowed to program anything" bad.
Anyway I played it on PS5 as well, and it actually runs alright here. The game still doesn't feel completely smooth, but I think that's just how it's designed, and the icky mobile/plastic look of the graphics makes any sort of movement on the screen feel really uncomfortable, which also has the side effect of often making it really hard to focus on the action and what you need to be dodging.
That aside, the game actually feels... surprisingly good. Really fun, even. The stage design and enemy placement is done with the kind of care that you want from a run'n'gun platformer, and it's definitely a massive step up from Spidersaurs, while still also feeling like something else than Contra 4 entirely. In fact, this game really doesn't feel like a WayForward game in quite a few ways. It's good at things they usually aren't, but it's also really bad at the things they usually excel at (graphics, design and "game feel").
Normal mode feels decently challenging - you can steamroll through most of the stage, while the bosses are surprising difficulty spikes. But this is Stage 1, so I think it's allowed to not be too spicy, Contra 1's stage 1 isn't exactly tough either. The stage covers both the Jungle and Waterfall stages from the NES version of Contra 1 specifically. Not that it replicates any specific level design from those stages, but it does recreate a lot of the broader strokes, along with some conventions from later Contra games as well. The classic wall boss ("upgraded" as expected) serves as a miniboss between the two sections, but feels like a stage boss.
There's a bunch of modifiers you can enable to make the game easier, with each character offering a unique perk as well as a bunch of shared ones - you can only enable two of these at a time, so it's definitely expected that most players do it, but the cursor also defaults to "no perks" - I don't know if selecting that is rewarded, but each perk seems to exist to nullify specific intentional design elements, so opting out definitely feels more pure, and I haven't even tried any of them. The game also allows you to switch between having a 3-hit health bar or having 1HKOs, basically the difference between Japanese or western Hard Corps.
1HKO of course also feels more "pure", but I think you'd need to play the full game to say which feels like the better balance, ultimately it's just an option that lets you die 3 times as frequently.
The game flies in weapon drops a lot more frequently than classic Contra games, but I don't really mind it as much - dying and being stuck with a peashooter for the next two stages in classic Contra never really felt great, even though it made staying alive all the more rewarding. What's more annoying is that every time you pick up something new, the old item flies out and sticks around on the ground. This is extremely annoying in boss fights, where it can force you to change weapons against your will, and the only way to get rid of it is using the "weapon crash" feature which requires charging a button, or by avoiding it like an obstacle for quite a long time.
I was a little worried about the addition of both a double jump and air dash, since the risk involved with dedicating to a jump (always in a fixed height) is a pretty central mechanic in Contra, but ultimately it feels pretty good. I almost never used the dash, honestly because I forgot it existed, but it's probably pretty useful, even if the game doesn't feel like it needs it. The stage boss definitely wants you to use it.
Fortunately it has no invincibility frames (unless you use Bill's perk which adds that), which means the game also isn't designed around dashing through otherwise undodgeable attacks. Good!
Finally, I think Hard Mode feels really good and well designed! It's definitely sufficiently challenging, with tons of stuff going on at all times, and you're rarely able to just stick around and take things out one at a time, due to the frequency of turrets, and grenade lobbers which will aim at where you're standing. If the difficulty keeps increasing from the first stage in this mode as well, I feel confident saying that the game will be quite difficult, at least in 1HKO mode with no perks!
I'm honestly a little hyped for the game now. Too bad about the graphics, really. The music is also completely forgettable - Jake Kaufman must have been on vacation.
And looking like it does, it has absolutely no business playing like this - the Switch isn't as powerful as its contemporary consoles, but it sure as hell isn't this weak either. This isn't just Unity Engine bad or Switch bad, this is just "developer shouldn't be allowed to program anything" bad.
Anyway I played it on PS5 as well, and it actually runs alright here. The game still doesn't feel completely smooth, but I think that's just how it's designed, and the icky mobile/plastic look of the graphics makes any sort of movement on the screen feel really uncomfortable, which also has the side effect of often making it really hard to focus on the action and what you need to be dodging.
That aside, the game actually feels... surprisingly good. Really fun, even. The stage design and enemy placement is done with the kind of care that you want from a run'n'gun platformer, and it's definitely a massive step up from Spidersaurs, while still also feeling like something else than Contra 4 entirely. In fact, this game really doesn't feel like a WayForward game in quite a few ways. It's good at things they usually aren't, but it's also really bad at the things they usually excel at (graphics, design and "game feel").
Normal mode feels decently challenging - you can steamroll through most of the stage, while the bosses are surprising difficulty spikes. But this is Stage 1, so I think it's allowed to not be too spicy, Contra 1's stage 1 isn't exactly tough either. The stage covers both the Jungle and Waterfall stages from the NES version of Contra 1 specifically. Not that it replicates any specific level design from those stages, but it does recreate a lot of the broader strokes, along with some conventions from later Contra games as well. The classic wall boss ("upgraded" as expected) serves as a miniboss between the two sections, but feels like a stage boss.
There's a bunch of modifiers you can enable to make the game easier, with each character offering a unique perk as well as a bunch of shared ones - you can only enable two of these at a time, so it's definitely expected that most players do it, but the cursor also defaults to "no perks" - I don't know if selecting that is rewarded, but each perk seems to exist to nullify specific intentional design elements, so opting out definitely feels more pure, and I haven't even tried any of them. The game also allows you to switch between having a 3-hit health bar or having 1HKOs, basically the difference between Japanese or western Hard Corps.
1HKO of course also feels more "pure", but I think you'd need to play the full game to say which feels like the better balance, ultimately it's just an option that lets you die 3 times as frequently.
The game flies in weapon drops a lot more frequently than classic Contra games, but I don't really mind it as much - dying and being stuck with a peashooter for the next two stages in classic Contra never really felt great, even though it made staying alive all the more rewarding. What's more annoying is that every time you pick up something new, the old item flies out and sticks around on the ground. This is extremely annoying in boss fights, where it can force you to change weapons against your will, and the only way to get rid of it is using the "weapon crash" feature which requires charging a button, or by avoiding it like an obstacle for quite a long time.
I was a little worried about the addition of both a double jump and air dash, since the risk involved with dedicating to a jump (always in a fixed height) is a pretty central mechanic in Contra, but ultimately it feels pretty good. I almost never used the dash, honestly because I forgot it existed, but it's probably pretty useful, even if the game doesn't feel like it needs it. The stage boss definitely wants you to use it.
Fortunately it has no invincibility frames (unless you use Bill's perk which adds that), which means the game also isn't designed around dashing through otherwise undodgeable attacks. Good!
Finally, I think Hard Mode feels really good and well designed! It's definitely sufficiently challenging, with tons of stuff going on at all times, and you're rarely able to just stick around and take things out one at a time, due to the frequency of turrets, and grenade lobbers which will aim at where you're standing. If the difficulty keeps increasing from the first stage in this mode as well, I feel confident saying that the game will be quite difficult, at least in 1HKO mode with no perks!
I'm honestly a little hyped for the game now. Too bad about the graphics, really. The music is also completely forgettable - Jake Kaufman must have been on vacation.
I think you probably need to replay Contra 4
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Yeah, I'm greatly encouraged and relieved. Spidersaurs was hovering over this release like a spectre of torment, but thankfully it feels great to play. No tanky zako bullshit. The option (default, in my mind) to play with 1-hit kills and without character perks is welcome.
Presentation, visually and aurally, is clearly the weak point, but it may have it's fans. I'll be able to live with it. Compare it to something like Hardcorps' opening stage though, which tears your arsehole wide open and jams a thumping fist of techno up there, and it feels like a real miss-step and tonal departure from the visceral thrill of Contra heyday.
Presentation, visually and aurally, is clearly the weak point, but it may have it's fans. I'll be able to live with it. Compare it to something like Hardcorps' opening stage though, which tears your arsehole wide open and jams a thumping fist of techno up there, and it feels like a real miss-step and tonal departure from the visceral thrill of Contra heyday.
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AGermanArtist
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Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
To care about the story in a Contra game is to miss the point of a Contra game. It's like giving a fuck about the story in a STG. A point proven by Shattered Soldier's complete disregard for it. Lance and Bill could be painters and decorators charged with rescuing a packet of biscuits for all I care. I just want to kill a lot of things, stylishly with tight, snappy controls.
I put 2 hrs into the demo last night and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Visually, I've accepted that a new Contra is not going to be an art-style I'm going to be 100% happy with. The arcade games have always been my point of reference for the Contra series, not the console games and this looks like a continuation of the visual style we've seen previously in M2's Rebirth effort on Wii. My only real issue is with the audio and the game's soundtrack. The music sounds limp, lacking the throbbing punchiness of the arcade games, and the guns/explosions lack any sort of oomph. Minor criticisms aside, this certainly plays like Contra's 'greatest hits'.
It's to Contra as Ghosts n'Goblins Resurrection is to Ghosts n'Goblins. 8/10 based on the demo. Will pick up in a sale.
I put 2 hrs into the demo last night and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Visually, I've accepted that a new Contra is not going to be an art-style I'm going to be 100% happy with. The arcade games have always been my point of reference for the Contra series, not the console games and this looks like a continuation of the visual style we've seen previously in M2's Rebirth effort on Wii. My only real issue is with the audio and the game's soundtrack. The music sounds limp, lacking the throbbing punchiness of the arcade games, and the guns/explosions lack any sort of oomph. Minor criticisms aside, this certainly plays like Contra's 'greatest hits'.
It's to Contra as Ghosts n'Goblins Resurrection is to Ghosts n'Goblins. 8/10 based on the demo. Will pick up in a sale.
Last edited by AGermanArtist on Thu Feb 22, 2024 11:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
It's confusing, because for as lackluster as they tend to be, at least WayForward's game almost always look and sound great, the exact points where this game just fails terribly.
Contra Rebirth's visual style was a bumpy effort for sure, but at least it had a specific look with a lot of personality. This game just looks bland and ugly. The only asset that wasn't completely off-putting to me was the alien boss at the end.
Really??AGermanArtist wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2024 10:24 am this looks like a continuation of the visual style we've seen previously in M2's Rebirth effort on Wii
Contra Rebirth's visual style was a bumpy effort for sure, but at least it had a specific look with a lot of personality. This game just looks bland and ugly. The only asset that wasn't completely off-putting to me was the alien boss at the end.
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AGermanArtist
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Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
It's closer to Rebirth than arcade Super Contra. Which is what I'd prefer. Bland and ugly is a bit of a stretch.
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Side talk about Spidersaurs : I saw some of you tried the game. I understand this is not a very good game as we way expect, but would it fit to an 8 years old in his dinosaurs' period ?
Bravo jolie Ln, tu as trouvé : l'armée de l'air c'est là où on peut te tenir par la main.
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copy-paster
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Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Is it just me or there is a glitch on the waterfall section where the ground collision sometimes doesn't work? it happens sometimes after I jump from one and another then I just fell down from it. Really annoying though I hope this gets fixed in the final version.
Overall I think the game's solid enough. No mid checkpoints is insane given the stage is like 10 minutes long (even Nakazato Contras have them) and the base peashooter is weak as fuck but atleast the game really wants you to nomiss as long as possible. Not sure if the boss is beatable without using the dash since I'm not fan of them, if it doesn't then I'd just use Bill with iframe dash instead, but is it works the same as Hard Corps slide/Cuphead invicible dash?
Story mode reminds me of Raiden V moment where a lot of chatters going on during intense action.
I've only played on Arcade/Hard yet, will go for 1-Hit mode once I memo'd all the enemy placement/boss attacks. The grenade guys are the most versatile zako in this and you really want to kill them as soon as possible.
Overall I think the game's solid enough. No mid checkpoints is insane given the stage is like 10 minutes long (even Nakazato Contras have them) and the base peashooter is weak as fuck but atleast the game really wants you to nomiss as long as possible. Not sure if the boss is beatable without using the dash since I'm not fan of them, if it doesn't then I'd just use Bill with iframe dash instead, but is it works the same as Hard Corps slide/Cuphead invicible dash?
Story mode reminds me of Raiden V moment where a lot of chatters going on during intense action.
I've only played on Arcade/Hard yet, will go for 1-Hit mode once I memo'd all the enemy placement/boss attacks. The grenade guys are the most versatile zako in this and you really want to kill them as soon as possible.
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xxx1993
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
I'm also not a fan of Shattered Soldier and Neo's Hit Rate system. Yeah, I do want to shoot and blow things up, but to do it just to get the true ending?
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeLPAyDOTAU
Recorded a clear of Hard mode with 1-hit kills and no perks (of course). Had a single death on the end boss, and I'm not sure how fair it is, given the claw that was obscuring the projectiles. But it can be a lot more unfair than that, some combinations of attacks leave you with absolutely no wiggle room, especially the fireball that lingers on the ground. If you destroy both hands, it'll go nuts with that leaving you with nowhere to move, so I think it's possibly best to not kill them at all? I ended up making a strategy out of destroying one of them though.
This isn't there on hard mode which is kinda stupid. In general, I really hope the full game gets some sort of practice mode. The bosses especially could use this, instead of having to play 5-10 minutes for one chance at practicing the stage boss.
Recorded a clear of Hard mode with 1-hit kills and no perks (of course). Had a single death on the end boss, and I'm not sure how fair it is, given the claw that was obscuring the projectiles. But it can be a lot more unfair than that, some combinations of attacks leave you with absolutely no wiggle room, especially the fireball that lingers on the ground. If you destroy both hands, it'll go nuts with that leaving you with nowhere to move, so I think it's possibly best to not kill them at all? I ended up making a strategy out of destroying one of them though.
If you play on normal mode, there's a checkpoint after the wall boss.copy-paster wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2024 3:04 pm Overall I think the game's solid enough. No mid checkpoints is insane given the stage is like 10 minutes long (even Nakazato Contras have them)
This isn't there on hard mode which is kinda stupid. In general, I really hope the full game gets some sort of practice mode. The bosses especially could use this, instead of having to play 5-10 minutes for one chance at practicing the stage boss.
No, you do it to get S ranking. What does it take to make you stop caring so much about the excuse plots these games always have?
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Demo was ok. Didn't care for the art style or music. If the devs are going with this 3d style then the player and enemies first off need a shadow applied. Weapon sound FX volume was also too low. I didn't like the choice of player health bar vs 1 hit kills. Difficulty should be locked in to 1 hit w/devs removing any and all limpdick casual gamer accessibility options. I'm sure I'll still purchase on Steam at release but if it doesn't fulfill my run n' gun needs I'll easily get a refund. I'm probably just cranky but NES, SNES, and Genesis Contra releases are sacred to me and I don't like them being defecated on.
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xxx1993
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Because I don't want a game that requires me to do perfect. Come on, it's not fun at all. I don't need this whole "get gud or don't bother" in any of my games.
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ExitPlanetDust
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Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
I had a 15 min break earlier to step away and play the demo again. The double jump and dash are pretty broken in the horizontal section of the stage. After a little practice I was able to stay in the air (and off the screen) for large chunks of the area, showering enemies with spread shot and homing missiles. The wall is trivialized by the the double jump and homing shot. This is on Hard set to 1-hit deaths. I’m sure this won’t be possible in later levels which have already been shown to include ceilings and other height hazards. I watched an interview with the director and it remember him mentioning some characters that will not have a double jump, so hopefully precision platforming will be there for those of us who are looking for a more authentic Contra experience in that regard.
Overall I’m really enjoying the demo. The aesthetic is initially off putting, but there are some neat details when you get up close. I think enemy bullets could still be a bit more distinguishable.
I’m still working on a no death clear with Bill. It’s going to take some work. That boss is just… fuck those arms. Lol
Overall I’m really enjoying the demo. The aesthetic is initially off putting, but there are some neat details when you get up close. I think enemy bullets could still be a bit more distinguishable.
I’m still working on a no death clear with Bill. It’s going to take some work. That boss is just… fuck those arms. Lol
Last edited by ExitPlanetDust on Thu Feb 22, 2024 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
How did you trivialize the wall with double jumping? Personally, I just used the flamethrower to trivialize it. Allowing it to live long enough for grenade throwers on both sides to regenerate makes it hell a lot tougher.
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ExitPlanetDust
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Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
I held down the fire button, tapping jump, double jumping when I saw a bullet headed my way. Then I turned around and did it again.
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Have you gotten any use out of the analog controls? I was hoping for a "left dpad move, right stick aim" control option. I recall Gunlord supporting that, plus having "shoot" on a shoulder button, so it was convenient to flip back and forth between free aiming and twin stick at any time.Sumez wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2024 8:09 pm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeLPAyDOTAU
Recorded a clear of Hard mode with 1-hit kills and no perks (of course). Had a single death on the end boss, and I'm not sure how fair it is, given the claw that was obscuring the projectiles. But it can be a lot more unfair than that, some combinations of attacks leave you with absolutely no wiggle room, especially the fireball that lingers on the ground. If you destroy both hands, it'll go nuts with that leaving you with nowhere to move, so I think it's possibly best to not kill them at all? I ended up making a strategy out of destroying one of them though.
Anybody who thought jumping sucked in the Switch demo should try crouching with the analog stick. Between the travel time and the lag, it takes roughly a year to get down on the ground.
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xxx1993
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
So what happens after you clear the demo? I got a message saying I unlocked something when I start the main game, but I don't know what it is. Can you get more of it the more you beat it? Or is it only a one time thing?
Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
Glad to hear all the feedback. Will probably pick it up on the higher end platforms when it comes out.
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ExitPlanetDust
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Re: Contra: Operation Galuga
I managed a single death clear (Bill, arcade, hard, no perks, 1-hit deaths) in my best run tonight. The best tactic I could work out with the boss is…
Spoiler
…go in with at least a full powered Crusher and take out one of the arms before the boss can do the double tentacle strike. Then dodge the other one and the tail while using the black holes from the Crusher to absorb all the garbage the boss throws at you while dealing damage.
https://youtu.be/VQ9BqghWJiQ
https://youtu.be/VQ9BqghWJiQ