Review – Hard Corps: Uprising

Publisher: Konami
Developer: Arc System Works
Platform(s): Xbox Arcade, Playstation Network
Genre: Action, side scrolling shooter
Rating: T – Teen
ESRB Content Descriptors: NA
Players: Single, Two player co-op
Official site: http://www.konami.com/officialsites/hardcorpsuprising/

The Scoop:  “What is in a name?”  Shakespeare once asked.  Well, for one Shaky; recognition.  The buzz surrounding Hard Corps: Uprising is that it is a spiritual successor to the Contra series.  This is a misconception because it is a Contra game.  It even carries on the story of Bahamut who was a villain in the 1994 Sega Genesis game Contra: Hard Corps and has now defected to the good guys.

Ahh, Shaky is right.  What is in a name?  It doesn’t matter if the game has Contra in its title or not because it is badass.  It is by far the best side-scrolling shooter I have played in years.

The Setup: After my first hour with Hard Corps: Uprising, I was not a happy camper.  I was thoroughly convinced it wasn’t a game at all but a mind-twisting slug instead; one that could make me think I was playing a game while it quietly consumed my pain in order to survive.  Although the gameplay was fun, its difficulty was turning me off.

Then, I entered the Hard Corps “Store and Customization”.  I was playing Rising mode; which lets you convert your score into cash or “CP” points and use them to buy weapon and character upgrades.  It is a new concept for a Contra game and it is a very welcomed one.  In an RPG sort of way, you can level grind by playing the stages repeatedly and better your character.  So, even though I wasn’t getting anywhere yet, I knew eventually I would be able to throw back the bits of my backside this game kept handing to me.

The hardcore Contra purists need not fret if Rising mode seems too mainstream.  For those with masochistic tendencies there is Arcade mode, which is the same game but with no character upgrades.  The best way to go about playing Arcade mode is to keep an empty jar beside you.  You can then put a quarter in it every time every time the game kicks you in the nads.  In about an hour you will have a full jar that you can then throw out the window – just like a real arcade.

Hard Corps: Uprising overhauls the usual Contra presentation too.  Instead of the usual 80’s Arnie/Stallone jungle-action movie setting, the game has an anime style from the same era.  Scoff all you like; this is actually one of the games best features.  It detaches the Contra universe from realism to give it a cartoon vibe and the result is a much better fit.  The game’s opening sets the tone with a ton of anime action shots driven by a rockin’ metal guitar and I was suddenly having Thundercats, Transformers and G-Force flashbacks.  The characters are hand drawn, which look great in the 3D environments and the game doesn’t miss a frame even when it’s throwing a ton of stuff at you.

Still in the jungle, still playin' co-op, only looks a little different.

You have two characters to choose from, the before mentioned Bahamut, and a girl named Krystal.  Krystal’s eye-patch may give her the appearance of Old Snake and Zero Suit Samus’ love child, but gameplay-wise she is no different than Bahamut.  So, choose the character you like early because earned CP points are assigned to the one you are using.

Old Snake proves he is a true hero once again.

Contra games have always been known for being a great co-op experience and Hard Corps is no exception.  A friend can join you on the couch or over Xbox live and buy upgrades as well.

What’s Hot: The main thing that Hard Corps: Uprising does really well is what any downloadable title worth its own salt should: Be perfect for long and short stints.

Going back to the early stages with your souped up character to collect some CP points is a sublime way to kill a few minutes while waiting for your Xbox live party to fill up.  If you’re ready to have a few hours of alone time with your Hard Corps, you have plenty of solid gameplay to lose yourself in, thanks in large part to the level design.  The game rarely does anything twice in terms of boss battles or when mixing in elements from another genre.  The end result is a ton of replay value.  The space shooter hover board stage, or the Metal Gear-ish stealth stage are examples of ones you are going to want to play over again.  At times you’ll be riding through a level on a train then dodging traffic on a highway the next.  It even manages to pull off a very palatable escort mission.  All the while, you are gaining CP points and buying new weapon upgrades, which can change the way you play each stage.

Ever get the feeling you're on the wrong side of the tracks?

What’s Not: The load screens at the top of each stage are long.  You do not sit at them often but they are a drag when you do.

The placing of some checkpoints are unfair since this game likes to dish out the cheap deaths.  Most enemies you run into will knock off a bit of your health bar but falling into pits or sinking in sand can take an entire life away.  It can be frustrating at first but once you are properly ranked up your thumbs will give out long before you run out of lives.

Final Verdict: Hard Corps: Uprising successfully does what any good sequel should.  It reinstates the good qualities of the previous installments and adds new elements to enhance the experience.  Rising mode is the best addition I have seen to a side-scrolling shooter in a long time as it advances the genre from the arcade machine.  Instead of a game designed to eat your quarters every five minutes, it is one you can spend hours with collecting weapons and upgrades to eventually see all of the content.

I highly recommend this for any shooter/action game junkie, especially if you are looking for a solid co-op experience.  Here’s hoping for a follow up in this series with a few more playable characters and more options to customize them.  Title suggestion: Harder Corps: Uprising.  Throw in a John McClane cameo while you’re at it too.