Old School Game Review

My second game review CONTRA (Just because I am currently playing Contra:Returns on my android mobile)

By Konami release in 1987 for the arcade version which I have never played ever. Then at 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, ah the good old cartridge games where during that time if the game does not work just blow at the bottom where the chip is exposed and later it will work if not some just tap the cartridge to shake off the dust or use some cotton buds / swabs with a little alcohol and rub to clean and good to go.

So before the fame of the now famous Metal Slug there was this game where the characters are Bill and Lance who looks like Commando (by Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Rambo (by Silvester Stallone) respectively since they look alike in posture.

I think this is the first coop shooting game that I have ever played for a home gaming console just can’t remember who the person I played with in this game was. This is also the first game where I learned that there is a secret code for more lives since if one plays this game in a regular manner a player only gets 2 extra lives and once you punch in the code the legendary UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, B, A, START and a player gets 30 lives. But if you are a good gamer back then a player can get additional lives as they play as a reward each time a player reach a specific score.

The game had several other release:

Contra (1987) (Arcade, NES, MSX2, DOS, C64, CPC, ZX)

Super Contra (1988) (Arcade, NES, DOS, Amiga)

Operation C (1991) (Game Boy)

Contra III: The Alien Wars Contra Force (1992) (SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance)

Contra Force (1992) (NES)

Contra: Hard Corps (1994) (Mega Drive/Genesis)

Contra: Legacy of War (1996) (PlayStation, Sega Saturn)

C The Contra Adventure (1998) (Playstation)

Contra: Shattered Soldier (2002) (Playstation 2)

Neo Contra (2004) (Playstation 2)

Contra 4 (2007) (Nintendo DS)

Contra Rebirth (2009) (Wii)

Contra: The Wat of the Worlds (2009) (Cellphones)

Hard Corps: Uprising (2011) (Playstation 3, Xbox 360)

 Contra: Evolution (2010) (Arcade, Android, IPhone, IPad)

Contra 3D (2013) (Pachislot)

Neo Contra (2014) (Slot Machine) (Pachislot)

Contra: Return (2014) (Android, IPhone, IPad)

Contra 2028 (2018) (Windows) (a fan made game)

There are other contra games that came out but ended up being cancelled

Contra Spirits and Super Contra (Sega CD)

Contra Spirits 64 (Nintendo 64)

Contra (Nintendo Gamecube)

Contra 3DS (Nintendo 3DS)

The game during the NES or Family Computer release is a coop game where there can be either one or two players playing at the same time helping each other to take out the enemies and the bosses. The game starts off giving both players unlimited ammunition for their default machinegun and no need to reload just press or tap the fire button or just hold down the fire button if you controller back then has the “Turbo” function or you have the turbo A and B buttons located on top of the regular A and B buttons of you controller allowing automatic shooting without tapping the fire button or the jump button.

Player need to advance at the same time since there was no split screen function for the game and both players need to move and help each other in order to advance further in the game. The game gives bonus ammunition or rather temporary weapon change. Some of the weapons that can be received in the game are Machine Gun, Spread Gun, Laser, Flame Thrower, a rare drop with a “B” symbol which I never got and a glowing falcon which takes out weak enemies available on screen at the time). There are other weapons that came out in other franchises and weapons that were improved for better graphics and effects.

The game itself during that time was really smooth and for me was very interesting to play over and over no matter how many times I got to finish the game even with a co-player or solo. With or without the 30 lives cheat I guess I was able to finish the game and a player get three continues as well.

One thing though in playing the game with a co-player there is a way get back in game once your life runs out. The player that runs out of lives can borrow or just take one remaining life of your companion by pressing I think the A or B button. Talk about life steal from your buddy without telling him. Found this out by mistake back then.

                                                   

I was able to play other Contra game versions but the most memorable one was the first I got to play whish came out for the Family Computer console.

Currently I am now back to playing the classic game Contra now called Contra: Return released for android, IPhone and IPad. For me I have the android version, this game came out around 2014 and I am playing to game four years later since my phone back then was not for gaming purpose but only for calls and reading text messages.

Playing the new Contra game brings back a lot of memories specially seeing the old Family Computer game map and acquiring weapons was really a nostalgia for me.

I have not advanced further in the game since I have just started playing it. Started the game playing as Bill.

For this game version the players can upgrade skills, weapons and get new skins for the characters. Yes there are more characters in the new game and I hope I can get all of them except for those that needs in-game purchase which I have to spend real money on. I have not reached that level again where I have to spend extra cash for game characters, exclusive items, exclusive characters, skins and whatever extra costs for playing the game. But hey I can’t blame the producers of the game since that is one more way for them to earn money from the game and having me not spending real cash won't affect them that much since there are a lot of hardcore gamers out there that will spend money for special exclusive releases and whatnots.

Playing the game right now since I have just started is really a great experience bringing back some good memories of playing a new version of the game that I once played with decades ago. I hope I can finish this game as well or maybe just get as far as I can since I have no idea if this game has an ending but if it does have an ending it will be just in the story mode. There are different modes in playing the game a story mode where a player goes through quests and complete tasks and missions, PVP where players get to play against other players online which I have not tried yet, Challenge, Duo, Daily and Arena some other options that are not yet available for my current level for playing the game.

There are shops where a player can buy new weapons or acquire upgrades, bonus, event and other special options where the player can get more bonus for their game account. For the game account the game can be linked to either a Facebook account or a Garena account or just play as a guest. The game link or synch accounts allows players to save their game advancement in case a player change a mobile device or use another mobile device that they have.

There is also a ranking format which I still have to see how that goes and how a player acquires a rank for the game. For all I know a rank will also allow a player to acquire special bonuses or exclusive in game item but of course some will still require a cost of real money to get it a player might just get a discount or if a player is lucky the game might just give it for free or a use of in game money with a few discounts as well. I don’t know since I have just started playing the game.

Game experience for the Contra Return for now is really exciting for me since I am playing a game which I am familiar and fond at playing. Considering that this game has new applications which I am also accustomed to as well such as upgrading weapons and skills is a real plus for me since I can almost customize my character or just go with the flow on how the tutorial has taught a player on how to play the game. If there is a chance I can freely customize the setting of my character that will be nice but knowing myself on how to customize a game character it will be a real mess.

For now this game is a game that I might play every time I have a chance each day since I am playing three to five mobile game apps each day when I get home from work. A game that I will also recommend to gamers who are old school gamers and has not heard of this game yet just like me. Not only for old school gamers but also for new gamers looking for some new games to play in their spare time. Just like me a gamer from decades ago even up to now but not a hardcore one well almost. I am still a gamer even now but I play games in my spare time or when I have a chance to play some simple games and not the games that requires too much attention and too much time to play. This game might become one of those games since for now the game does not require too much game but it is addictive since it brings back memories and very interesting to play with.

For me this is a highly recommended game which I can recommend to other gamers.

Credits to wiki for the information of the game and the owner of the contra theme video from youtube and the owners of the pics got from the internet (google)

PERFECT BLUE: COMPLETE METAMORPHOSIS

First requested review by a friend and former classmate of mine from college. Well this is a bit late upload I was doing some tweaking and was busy from work and weekend personal business.

A full length anime film that came out 1997 (Fantasia Festival) and 1998 (Japan) with a running time of 81 minutes. Dubbed in both Japanese and English.

Given a genre of Dementia, Horror, Psychological, Drama and a rating of R+ due to mild nudity, blood, and other scenes that are not suited to younger audiences.

Ever wondered what it takes to be popular in the field of showbiz?

Pop idols, acting, hosting, directing, managing stars and other related fields when it comes to becoming a popular or known in show business. This anime film almost touches what actually happens in the life of those who wish to become popular or just to be known in the world of show business.

The film follows Mima Kirigoe the former lead singer (that is how I saw her standing in the trio) of the fictional J-pop idol group CHAM. Aiming to be an actress Mima left the group making the former trio into a duo. After leaving the idol group Mima enters the field of acting where she goes to great lengths to prove herself as an actress.

After Mima resigned as a J-pop idol she received a fan mail where it mentioned that a fan will be watching Mima’s Room which turns out to be a website and not her real room as per her manager’s information to her.

The website turned out to be about her everyday life from when she was an idol up to the time when she became an actress in a television drama titled Double Bind where she got to play a role as part of her new acting career.

As a rookie actress she was willing to take measures to prove her worth as an actress, this included her taking on a risky part where her character becomes a rape victim of men who were watching her dance in a strip club where her character works. This later caused her mentally disturbed which resulted to her having delusions which includes her mind mixing reality with her acting. I guess this is where psychotherapists comes in to help realign the mindset of actors separating their on screen characters from their real life personality.

Just like any other popular Idol or Star, there is also a hardcore fan in this film that denies the fact that his favorite idol has resigned from being an idol and chose to pursue a new career in acting. This fan follows a website called Mima’s Room a website where Mima’s daily life as a pop idol, not to mention Mima has no knowledge that this kind of website about her exists specially when she manages to get hold of a desktop and first looked at the said website she discovers that it covers almost every detail that she has done each day until she returns home.

Mima has a manager that is really close to her and thinks of her well-being every day from when she was an idol up to when she became an actress. She was also the one who objected the part that Mima's character in the drama will be a rape victim which will be one of the key points of the story where Mima begins to question both reality and the character she plays in the TV drama series. This also made an impact to her former reputation when she was an Idol, both to her fans as well as her former group members. Another turning point in this movie is when Mima was in a photo shoot where her poses were very seductive and to the point where she was instructed to show everything. This later triggered her brain to see an illusion of her previous self who was once an Idol talking to her and giving her a self guilt of why she crossed the line.

The film showed Mima starting to develop split personalty one who aims to be an actress and the other was her Idol personality who still wishes that she never quit the path of an Idol. This further escalated when both the film writer and the photographer were brutally murdered and the Mima finds the tools used for the murder in her apartment.

The film even though was an anime showed a close to reality events that may occur to those who are in the showbiz career and possibilities of what they will face just while climbing the steep path to be famous and engrave their names in the lime lights of showbiz.

For Mima she is one of those who had a simple dream of just being famous through singing and later chose to change her path and take up acting thinking that it will help her more not only because it will make her famous but also financially. Challenges and obstacles started crashing onto her path to the point that she has reached a breaking point where she could hardly tell what is real from her acting. Even getting to a point where she chases an illusion of herself saying that she is the real Mima and the Mima that she is now is a fake. But there is a twist after all those chases between the illusion Mima and the real Mima and that is something I will not say here for those who has not seen the film.

The film was a bit dark and crazy as the movie progressed showing the path that Mima chose to take from her dream of being an Idol up to the point when she took the path of becoming an actress where she faced a lot of obstacles and changes that slowly affected her everyday life.

I know this review has some spoilers since I just can't avoid hitting it, but for much better view of the story it is still better to try and watch and film.

Target audience of the film are more on mature audiences considering the "mild nudity" (which only included Mima and no other), the murder scenes were uncensored, bloody parts, topics discussed which are not suitable for younger audiences.

Another to take note for this film for those who has seen the film Black Swan before watching this film they might see scenes that are similar to both films. But that is for another review since I have not seen Black Swan yet but I have seen reviews compare both films.

Highly recommended for those into genre of dementia, horror, psychological anime. I enjoyed watching it in its Japanese dub version and I will be scheduling to watch the English dubbed version for another future review and comparison.

On to the next review.