It's Castlevania LoS2 all over again, what a shame.
Contra 4 by Wayforward is one of the best in the series, taking it back to its run 'n gun roots from Contra and Super C, instead of the boss rush and setpiece style from Contra III onwards. Its only sin was the screen gap. Despite that, the grappling hook mechanic was fun and added something new to spice up the classic formula just a bit.
Playing it emulated on a vertically oriented monitor is the way to go, if only there was a hack to remove the screen gap...
The screen grap is exactly the biggest problem with Contra 4,
because part of the action happens off-screen. This is terrible in a game where you need to constantly avoid projectiles. But it's a Wayforward game so clever design isn't something to be expected.
Things can be done on purpose while still ending up as flaws and while you may think of it as evolving that doesn't excuse how far removed this is from all the other Contra games in existence. Nintendo could release Mario Kart 9 as a 3rd person shooter and call it evolving. I doubt fans of MK would be happy with that though
Not an argument. A game shouldn't be limited by an arbitrary "
this isn't how it's supposed to be" logic, this is a spit on the face of game design. Fans didn't like it? Whatever, the game still exists on its own plane. Also, your comparison with Mario Kart is a false equivalent because Rogue Corps is still a shooter. A more fair comparison would be with the new God of War, which still is a hack 'n slash despite being different from the previous games. And there are more extreme examples like Resident Evil 4 and Yakuza 7.
As for the input lag - go play it again, because it's definitely there
I did and there's zero input lag. Are you talking about not being able to do insta 180° turns?
If you enjoy this game, more power to you. I think it's nothing like a Contra game and if it's done by the same director as Contra 3 and HC i'd say he has lost touch with what made Contra great. It wouldn't be the first time someone is incapable of replicating previous great design
It also wouldn't be the first time a game is misjudged based on preconceptions and nostalgia.
What really irks me though is that i see 1 of 2 scenarios happening here
1. The game is a success which will lead to a sequel that's not Contra either or
2. The game flops and they will ignore Contra for years to come
Second scenario will happen and gamers will complain that Konami doesn't care about Contra anymore, just like it happened with Castlevania after the Lords of Shadow 2 flop (which of course was trashed for not being a "real Castlevania" despite being good). This is why we can't have nice things.
Well for starters the decision to map the right thumb stick to just aim and fire to a trigger. It's needlessly complicated when all other games of this type combine aim and fire into the right thumb stick.
Complicated? This is a basic control scheme in hundred of games.
The speed of the character also seems to dip when strafing, why did they make it slower?
Character positioning, the game does have a dodge button.
I'm all for games evolving however they still need to retain some semblance of what they were before. The grapple arm in Contra 4 is a good inclusion, it doesn't get in the way of the frenetic pace of the game. Weapon cooldowns in a Contra game? Nah it just doesn't feel right in my eyes.
Weapon cooldown doesn't alter the pace of the game. You still can shoot enemies with no mercy, the difference is that you need to properly time your weapons instead of just holding a button.
I just scrolled through the new video Mike Matei posted and ya,this game is a complete mess.
I scrolled through his video and he was playing the game like a generic shooter, expecting the same results, failing all the time and then complaining about "not muh Contra!!!1". So basically blaming the game because he has no interest in learning its system.
Everything feels sluggish to me. Like others have said, the fact that simply pointing the right stick in a direction slows you down doesn't feel good at all. The lock on when you are shooting in a direction, especially if another enemy is on a higher or lower plane than you, is pretty bad as well. The movement itself also doesn't feel crisp. Maybe that's due to the slight input lag, the framerate, or a bit of both.
Jump to target enemies in higher planes.
I also am not a fan of the cooldown system. It seems like it's there arbitrarily. It would make a little more sense to me if the enemy types were built around the different weapon effects, but it doesn't seem like it - it seems like a lazy design choice to me. It's like the devs were prototyping the game, had the general gameplay figured out, threw the enemies in there and thought, well how can we artificially make the gameplay seem deeper? i GOT IT! WEAPON COOLDOWNS WITH CHARACTER PROGRESSION!!!
Nah, it works very well and you can pull off combos with the weapons (throw a missile while you shoot with the machine gun to maximize damage). It's fun, rewarding and I imagine it will be even better and more complex with 4 players.
This game is VERY japanese, in a good way. It reminds me of Treasure titles - it's all about experimenting and mastering its quirky mechanics.