An OG Contra Experience Finally Arrives: A Contra: Operation Galuga Review

By Manuel

Players: 1-4 (Local)
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC

When I first heard that Contra: Operation Galuga was releasing soon, I was a bit worried. Modern takes on the Contra series can be rather hit or miss, and few manage to capture the magic of the early games. Then I learned that it was being developed by WayForward, the same developer behind what is arguably the last great Contra game: Contra 4 on the Nintendo DS. I knew I had to play it when it came out, and here we are. Available now on just about every major platform, we're going to be taking a look at the Nintendo Switch version today. Will the game live up to the legacy of this legendary series? Or will it be another game that gets the formula completely wrong? Let's dive in and find out!

The story in a nutshell.

Lance is my favorite.

Contra: Operation Galuga is sort of a full-on remake of the first Contra game. It uses the setting, characters, and even basic premise in a way that's both familiar, but also very unique. The game opens up far in the future, in the year 26XX. The Red Falcon Army, a terrorist group, has taken control of the Galuga Islands near New Zealand. While other defense forces have been sent in to stop the Red Falcon Army, it's ultimately left to Bill Rizer and Lance Bean to step in and finish the job. Our pair of heroes are what are known as "Contras", and are basically the best soldiers one could ever ask for. It doesn't take long for the duo to realize that there is more to entire situation than just Red Falcon, as they seem to be controlled by aliens who have an interest in an ancient civilization found in the Galuga Islands. While there's more to say regarding the story, I'll just leave the rest for potential players to discover on their own. This is mainly because I don't think that a detailed story in a game like this is all that important, but also because it's a bit too complicated to explain quickly and concisely. Actually, while I do appreciate the focus given to the writing and world-building, I felt like every story scene in-game went on just a bit too long. What's most important here setup-wise is that you have a bunch of good guys whose job it is to take out the Red Falcon army and a whole lot of aliens. Our duo isn't alone in their task either, as joining Bill and Lance are Galuga Island native Ariana, X-FLO operation Lucia, and GX Army Officer Stanley Ironside. They all have their own reasons for fighting, and they all have stories that I'm also leaving for players to learn on their own. More than just building on the original Contra's premise, I think that Operation Galuga does a good job tying together the entire series together in a way that the original games never bothered to do. While it's definitely arguable if that's necessary or not, it's something I appreciated more due to it being done very subtly. Before I move on from discussing the game's narrative, I can't help but point out that this game missed an opportunity to give the Probotectors an in-universe reason for being there. The generic robots that previously only existed in the EU versions of the game are fully playable here, but do not factor into the story at all. Oh, and just in case you're wondering, you only get the long, drawn-out plot and dialogue sequences within the game's Story Mode. If you want to jump right into the action without any of that, you just need to head over to the Arcade or Challenge Modes. There's a time and place for a story, but you don't always need it in a Contra game.

Some areas are totally reimagined.

I didn't even talk about the hoverbikes.

While I went into this thinking I could just gloss over gameplay since this sticks heavily to the formula that made the original Contra a hit, I realized that there are a lot of things here that I have to cover in detail. Probably most jarring to new players is the fact that you now have a life bar by default. The amount of life you have varies between characters, and you can upgrade that amount via the perks system. This may sound like a totally new addition, but the life bars mostly operate as even more extra lives. One hit takes away a set amount from the life bar, and there is no way to heal yourself from any damage taken. The only thing that separates life bar damage versus a standard one-hit death is that you're able to keep your currently equipped weapon if you still have some of that bar left. You can actually turn off the life bar if you want a more hardcore experience, but I for one think it's a great addition to the formula. Moving onto weapons, you'll find all the classics are here. You have your standard rifle, the machine gun, the spread gun, the laser, the flame thrower, the homing gun, and the crush gun. These operate pretty much like all their past versions, but here you're able to carry two guns at a time similar to Contra III: The Alien Wars. You can freely switch between both weapon slots, and new weapon pickups will fill any empty slot by default. One neat change to the weapons is the power up system. Collecting the same weapon twice makes it a more powerful version. Getting hit knocks the weapon back to its basic form, so it's best to use them sparingly, and to maybe save a second level weapon for a tough boss fight. While you're only able to power up a weapon to its second stage through normal gameplay, you can actually increase that level through the perks system. Also, even though all the weapon power ups remain the same across all characters, the actual way the weapons fire between each of them can be very different. For example, Lucia will use the spread gun as a charge weapon, Stanley will fire discs as his machine gun, and so on. Moving the system along, you'll notice that there are a lot more weapon drops than you'd usually find in a Contra game. This is partly to make up for the fact that you could potentially have flour players playing simultaneously, but it also helps with the weapon upgrade system. While it's not a true negative, I found the constant rain of weapon power ups to be rather annoying as I'd often have to wait out their de-spawn if they landed in my path. That minor annoyance aside, you're definitely going to find a favorite weapon combo and stick to it. My favorite two weapons were the homing gun and the flame thrower by the way.

This boss is quite the ugly dude!

Heart Burn!

Weapons and lives aside, there are other things that make Operation Galuga unique among Contra games. Seeing as the main game can be completed in about an hour if you know what you're doing, replaying it over and over again is the name of the game here. Though this is best done via the Arcade or Challenge Modes, you can complete any form of the game for points you can spend on perks.  I've mentioned the perks system a few times already, and much of the game seems to be based around it. If you want to make the game easier, you'll have to buy perks to grant more lives or health. If you want to always have your favorite weapon on hand, you're going to want to grab the perks that let you do just that. If you just want to play the full game with all characters and music options available to you, well, you better start unlocking those perks! While it's not really my idea of fun to repeatedly play the same game over and over again just to unlock stuff that I wish was just available from the start, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't like having goals to work towards. The diverse cast even make it so that replaying the game can feel like a totally different experience. Though you're limited in who you can pick in the Story Mode, you're free to play as anyone in Arcade or Challenge. It's there that you'll probably doing most of your runs, and I'm all for that as the game moves very fast once the story bits are taken out. I guess my big gripe about the perks system would be the fact that some of the cooler characters, who I won't mention by name for the sake of keeping this review spoiler-free, that an insane amount of points to unlock. I only managed to unlock one before I gave up doing the rest. I'll most likely come back to it, but this review would be even later if I went for that elusive 100% completion. All that aside, I have to say that I found the entire equipping perks mechanic to be a bit lacking. While some perks are universal, like unlocking characters or more lives, other perks like the extended life bars or starting weapons, have to be equipped. Seeing as you're only able to really have two perks equipped at any one time, I started to feel like unlocking them was rather pointless. Obviously limiting them like this is done to keep the game's difficulty balanced, but I couldn't help but wish that there was a game mode where I was able to unload a fully decked out character.

Since I have beat the game about ten times at the time of this writing, I figured I'd relate my experiences beating the game the first couple of times. Right off the bat, I have to say that I think Operation Galuga handles difficulty well. Not so much in that it offers a fully balanced gameplay experience, but that players are given lots of ways to make the game more accessible. While I'd have to admit that I'm not exactly the most prolific run-and-gun action gamer out there, I have beat the original Contra with standard lives and no continues. Operation Galuga isn't exactly a hard or unfair game, but it's one that seems to expect you to memorize the stage layouts to succeed. My first thoughts going into it were that things were far too intense for me. Enemy placement seemed unfair, characters clung to ceilings and poles when I didn't want them to, and the double jump timing seemed just a bit off. It got to the point where I had to switch to the easiest difficulty just so I could beat the game the first time around. Even there I sometimes had some problems, and there were a few stages where I had to continue from a Game Over just to complete them. Thankfully, unlike the original Contra, continuing in Operation Galuga simply sends you back to the nearest checkpoint. Each level has about 3-4 of these, so you'll rarely have to completely replay large portions of the game. The odd thing is that I eventually learned the levels so well that I was able to go back to the standard difficulty and beat most stages with just one or two lives. This type of memorization-heavy, trial-and-error type gameplay may sound like a very standard thing for modern action games, but I don't think it's something one associates with Contra. This isn't truly a negative though, since getting good at the game has been quite the journey, I'm just not sure how I feel about that initial trial-by-fire first hour.

I hate these jumping sections.

Ariana is pretty cool too.

There's no denying that multiplayer is where Contra's heart lies, and Operation Galuga truly takes it to the next level. As far as I know, this is the first Contra game to feature four-player simultaneous co-op. You can even jump straight into a four-player game as soon as you start, though you'll be limited to Bill, Lance, and the Probotectors. This is as good a point as any to point out that not ALL the other characters are unlocked through the perks system. Most characters that you encounter in the Story Mode, such as Ariana, Lucia, and Stanley, are unlocked across all modes after beating certain levels. I'm at a loss on how to properly describe Four-player Contra, but I'm going to try my best. I played it for just half the game to try it out, and I guess I'll start with the positives first. Right way, I want to talk about performance. I thought four-players at once would just wreck the Switch, but I didn't notice anything major even with four people all creating chaos at once. There's also a lot of tactical fun to be had if you pick the right team to join you. The problem is that I don't think this is the type of game that needs four players. I'm reminded a lot of the chaos one gets in the New Super Mario Bros. games, and I can't help but feel that 2 players is great, 3 is pushing it, and 4 is way too far. There will always be that one person who causes your death by moving the screen too far forward, or for even not moving forward fast enough at other times. You'd think more players would mean more coverage firepower-wise for all the on-screen enemies, but it usually just means that you'll be fighting to communicate the simplest of instructions. Good luck completing the jumping sections in The Ruins, or any other section that requires precision timing. It can be cool to utilize different characters strengths and skills in a single game, but it just never feels right. Then again, like I said when I was mentioning the positives, there's a lot of fun to be had if you assemble the right team. I'm sure that four Contra hardcore players can make short work of the game if they move like a well-oiled machine at all times. The problem is getting everyone onto that same level. Which I'm not sure is entirely realistic in most scenarios. Then again, you can just stick to classic two-player Contra and leave the four-player nonsense for a drunken game night.

Arcade Mode lets you change things up.

This alien hive looks a bit too clean, right?

I have a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to graphics in Operation Galuga, as I go back and forth between absolutely loving how the game looks, and thinking that it's just okay. I think the problem lies with how smooth and clean everything looks. All the character models, enemies, and backgrounds look almost like they're plastic toys going through the motions of an action game in an equally plastic diorama playset. I don't know how else to describe it, but I can say that it made me wish that the game went for a more retro look. I'm not saying that it should’ve went full NES, but some well-detailed sprite work might've done this game justice. All that aside, I have to say that this is a beautiful game, even when it's showing some intensely ugly things Each level looks unique, most have several zones to them, there's always a lot of action going on at once, and I even like the new character designs. The bosses area all impressive too, and the final one will probably live rent-free in all my nightmares from now on. Oh, and just to mention it once again, the game runs fairly well on the Nintendo Switch, something I feel I always have to point out when a multiplatform release includes both it and the PS5. It did stutter a bit in menus and cutscenes, but thankfully never when it mattered. Actually, speaking of cutscenes, there's one thing about them that really bothered me. Most cutscenes in the game use standard game graphics, but some of them involve the characters actually doing stuff, and others are just still images. The latter are always the worst to experience, as these scenes can really drag on. Then the game's ending just throws everything out the window that came before it visually. Obviously I won't go into detail about WHAT the ending includes, but I want to mention that it suddenly turns into a comic book-style cutscene out of nowhere. There's no other part of the game that looks like those scenes, and I can't help but feel that it was a relic left over from a different point in development. Since I'm currently leaning into loving the game's graphics and art style, I want to clarify that the lack of cohesion between the various aspects of the game was the only thing that really bothered me. Nothing in this game looks bad by any means, but a bit more work could've made everything look amazing.

Part of me wants to write off talking about sound altogether as I literally have nothing negative to say about it. The music is amazing, and I really want to pick up this game's soundtrack when I have the chance. While some of the songs are remixed tracks taken from various games throughout the series, there's a lot of new music to enjoy too. The new mixes well with the old, and there's more audio callbacks than I could ever hope to relate here. While they didn't offer any retro-inspired options for the game's visuals, they really went all out when it comes to the music. You can unlock various soundtracks for the game, many of them being coming directly from past Contra games, or even go full wacky by playing the game with only Castlevania music. You can only change the soundtracks in the Arcade of Challenge Modes, but those will probably what you'll be playing most anyway. Simply put, every track here is amazing, and there's not a dud in the bunch. Then there's the voice acting. Once again I have no complaints at all, and I must say that I found the entire cast to be amazing. Everyone is perfectly suited for their role, and they really breathed life into the game's rather dry story. I can definitely say that I would not have enjoyed the game as much as I did if it weren't for them. I can go on and on about how amazing everything audio-wise is in Operation Galuga, but I'll leave it there. Just do me a favor, and play the game as loud as possible!

These paths were so annoying.

Gotta grab all those perks!

I already sort of talked about Operation Galuga's replayability a bit earlier, but let me cover it more in-depth now. While I never really timed it, one can beat the Arcade Mode in an hour or less. I'm sure it's far less than an hour, but I'll err on the side of caution just in case. Some of the levels are rather long, and you might have to back up a bit for a continue or two, but you're looking at a rather short game no matter how you cut it. Much like the original Contra, this is a game you're meant to play over and over again, each time hopefully playing better than the run that came before. I definitely fell into this gameplay loop on my own, and playing multiplayer really ramps up the fun. The problem is that the game doesn't offer a lot of variety. There are eight levels, and all the game modes use those levels only. There aren't any bonus areas, no shuffling of zones, and even the challenges in Challenge Mode take specific sections of what you've already played before. Then there's the fact that the game actually leaves out a core gameplay element from the original Contra. Operation Galuga adds in hoverbike gameplay which I didn't talk about much because I didn't exactly care for it, but it left the 3D room-by-room base infiltration sections on the cutting room floor. I know this isn't meant to be an EXACT remake of the original, but I would've loved to see how those sections could've been re-imagined, and them being missing made me realize how thin the content we are given actually is. Considering the game costs a rather high $39.99 at the time of this writing, I'm not sure I can say that it offers a level of content worthy of that price. Sure there are a lot of unlockables, and that four-player multiplayer has lots of potential, but it's a game that you're likely to see all of in only an hour or two. I guess if you're someone who has played and replayed Contra, Super C, Contra III: The Alien Wars, and even Contra: Hard Corps, then you'll have no problem falling into the rather repetitive gameplay loop. Everyone else better brace themselves for some aspects of the retro experience that probably haven't aged with the most grace.

This is the game pretty much.

Later everyone!

While I have some issues with the overall amount of content that Contra: Operation Galuga has to offer, I must say that it's an amazing game that's worth picking up if you're a fan of the original Contra. While Contra fans will arguably get the most enjoyment of the game, I can see more casual gamers having lots of fun here too. The perks system can really loosen up the difficulty for the non-hardcore, the large cast of characters adds much-needed variety, and the four-player mechanic is just crazy enough to make this into an accidental party game. While I might have to suggest waiting to see if you can pick it up during a sale due to its rather steep price, I still have to suggest grabbing it on whatever platform you can, as soon as you can. My big hope is that we get some sequels to this game fast, as there was an awful lot of teasing at the end of this one, but I guess we'll have to wait and see on that. Whether we get a follow-up or not, I know that I'll still be playing this one from time to time, especially with friends in multiplayer.

Check Out Contra: Operation Galuga on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/contra-operation-galuga-switch/

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Story: A-
Gameplay: B+
Graphics: A
Music/Sound: A+
Value: B-

Overall: A-

Pros:
+ A fun reboot of the first Contra game.
+ While you can totally ignore it by playing Arcade Mode, the new story does a good job fleshing out the entire retro Contra universe.
+ Each available character plays quite differently from each other, right down to the way they use the game's weapons.
+ The Perks system can be used to alter difficulty, or simply create runs tailored to your playing style.
+ The music, graphics, and overall presentation are pretty much top notch.
+ Playing multiplayer is as fun as ever, and you can go at it with four players simultaneous this time around.
+ Though I didn't play many of them for this review, the challenge stages within Challenge Mode are sure to test the skills of hardcore Contra players.

+/- I found the sequel baiting at the end of the game quite exciting, even if there isn't a follow-up game announced at the time of writing.
+/- The Konami Code does nothing!

Cons:
- The game can feel quite hard at first, and some stages might require a lot of trial and error from casual players.
- Even though it might not come as a surprise to some, the core game can be completed in about an hour.
- This game might be highly replayable, but all game modes only offer variations on the same small pool of levels.
- Though the game seems almost tailored around the Perks system, the high cost of said Perks means you'll be playing the same levels for countless hours to unlock everything.
- Its current price feels just a tad too high for the amount of content you get.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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Indeed.

#ContraOG