War is H#$@... and so is this...
First of all, this is one of the nicest Contra games to roll your eyeballs across. Comparing to the older Contra games, that's not too hard to imagine. Now I'm not saying they're revolutionary, obviously, but they get the job done, and done well... enemies are animated well too, and they burn, blow up, and die frequently... as long as you keep shooting. And the bosses... they've taken over the game... they're big, gross, menacing, and perfect cannon fodder. Did you see the mutated Seaman? Yecch... how bout the first boss?
Gameplay is as simple as a Contra game gets. Shoot, shoot, and if it calls for it, charge and shoot. With the exception of a few sections of stages, the game basically feels like a marathon of boss battles. Mastery of these will result in a rather short experience, the only flaw with the game in my opinion. But what a ride... Oh yeah, there's some light platforming in some areas too. In some places it can actually be a pain trying to gauge jumps and keep from dying... which any novice Contra player(and myself) will find themselves doing frequently. The difficulty is somewhere up in the higher stratosphere... especially if you're shooting for a S ranking... the only way to unlock the best ending, I assume, since that's what it did in Neo Contra.
You're limited to only 3 weapons... which will really piss off Contra purists, each with a regular shot and a charge shot. Plus the ability to lock your weapon in a set direction, and or lock your character in one place and shoot in 8 directions. You will learn these moves... and use them well... or you will die... many times...
Let's just go ahead and get this out of the way... the soundtrack to Shattered Soldier kicks @$$!!! Music to frag by. Mixing metal and techno, it's always catchy, regardless of the situation. I highly recommend tracking down and importing it.
The return of an old favorite, in every conceivable way. You want a game that's a tad forgiving and eases you in gently... go home virgin. You want a game that'll put hairs on your chest, here you go son... have at it.