There's no denying that Konami's Contra is a classic. First released in arcades back in 1987 and later successfully ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, the action-packed shooter featured a mix of side-scrolling and pseudo-3D levels, a number of powerful weapons, lots of tough opponents, and plenty of surprises. Impressive graphics, an excellent musical score, and two-player simultaneous gameplay ensured the game's long-term popularity, and a couple of great sequels--particularly the outstanding Contra III: The Alien Wars--helped turn Contra into one of Konami's best-known franchises. And now, after hitting a couple of bum notes during the late '90s, the Contra series returns in what can easily be described as an homage to the series' roots. Nostalgic Contra fans are therefore likely to get a real kick out of Contra: Shattered Soldier for the PlayStation 2, which essentially re-creates the series' classic gameplay using 3D polygons instead of 2D sprites. And while the game packs many of the same types of surprises and difficult challenges that have characterized the series' best offerings, the fact is, the year isn't 1987 anymore, and not everyone these days is going to appreciate this game's short length and simple gameplay. For that matter, die-hard Contra fans hoping for a pure Contra remake may find themselves a little disappointed that, for all its similarity to its classic predecessors, Contra: Shattered Soldier takes a few too many liberties. They'll more than likely enjoy the game anyway, though.

Contra: Shattered Soldier is a throwback to the series' roots.

Not that a game about blasting aliens needs any kind of story, but Contra: Shattered Soldier is basically a retelling not of the 1987 original, but of the Sylvester Stallone/Wesley Snipes sci-fi flick Demolition Man. In a far-flung future, Bill (who was player one in the original Contra) is released from some sort of cryogenic containment facility because he's the only soldier powerful enough to defeat Lance (who was player two in the original Contra), his former partner and now the apparent mastermind behind an all-out alien invasion. Player two this time is Lucia, a female counterpart to Bill, though both characters are completely identical in terms of gameplay. So Bill and/or Lucia set out to shoot their way through five short, action-packed levels.

In Contra: Shattered Soldier, you can run, you can jump, and you can shoot. You can actually shoot in eight directions (depending on where you push the directional pad or analog stick), and pressing and holding the L2 button causes you to lock your aim in one of those positions. Additionally, at any point, you can switch between three different weapons--a machine gun, a flamethrower, and a grenade launcher. These each have an optional charge-up attack, as well. The machine gun can shoot out a device that causes a pinwheel of bullets to spray the screen; the short-ranged flamethrower can fire a long-ranged energy blast; and the grenade launcher can shoot a salvo of seeking missiles. All these attacks feel somewhat underpowered, as they tend to be useful only in specific types of situations. For better or worse, there's no dominant weapon in the game. The three weapons in your possession are all you'll ever get, which seems rather disappointing since part of the fun of the classic Contra games was when you'd manage to grab exactly the one weapon power-up that you most desperately needed.

Prepare to die--often. Shattered Soldier ain't a walk in the park.

On the other hand, having constant access to three different weapons certainly makes Shattered Soldier seem like a more tactical game than its predecessors. Then again, the tactics are pretty thin. There's usually not just a best weapon for each situation, but even a best mode of fire. Some bosses are easily defeated using the flamethrower. Some swarming enemies are easily vanquished using the seeking missiles. Sure, there's nothing to prevent you from using any of the weapons in any situation, but rest assured you'll only meet a swift defeat if you're not using the right weapon for the job.

Contra's style of gameplay is still fun and intense and is still a real test of skill...and memorization. The fact is, you won't survive any of the game's five levels (four of which are playable from the get-go) the first time through, and probably not the second or third time, either. Each time you play you'll probably get a little farther along, armed with the prescience of exactly where all your enemies will come from leading up to the moment you perished in your previous attempt. This wouldn't be a Contra game unless a single hit from enemy fire or even the slightest contact with a foe was lethal, and so some of the game's battles can be extremely tough. But you'll gradually pick up on life-saving patterns you can use to safely get through pretty much all of the game's encounters.