Nintendo Switch DEMO IMPRESSIONS: Contra: Operation Galuga (2024)
Aside from upcoming software reveals, new Nintendo Direct’s have also recently become something to look forward to for what’s become a bit of a trend in the last few presentations: The “shadow drop” of surprise titles that will be made available that very day. Today’s Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase sure didn’t have anything major like last year’s Metroid Prime: Remastered shocker this morning, but they did offer up a demo for the upcoming Contra revival subtitled Operation Beluga Galuga.
Welp, I immediately got to downloading that thing and after a couple of playthroughs, am here now to talk about it because it’s probably best you hear it from me.
Developed by WayForward, an independent video game developer that has a fantastic track record in the 2D sidescrolling action genre, right out of the gate this game is completely baffling. Let’s just list a few examples of their accomplishments off the top of my head: A Boy and His Blob (Wii), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Wii), Aliens: Infestation (NDS), Duck Tales: Remastered (Wii U), The Mummy: Demastered (Switch), All those Shantae games, not to mention the Godlike Contra 4 (DS). Not a bad bunch there right? Every one of those titles features gorgeous pixel art and animation, excellent soundtracks, airtight controls and fantastic polish over all.
Yet with this new Contra installment well, let’s just say for some reason they have decided to take a uh…different approach.
Purely talking visuals here, I’ve just gotta say it: The game looks cheap, visually it comes off appearing kinda like a HD N64 game or even worse something you’d play on your phone. I honestly have no clue why when making a revival to one of the most iconic 8-16 bit series of all time, you go full polygon with the models and environments. Especially after you’ve already proven how hard you can knock this kinda thing out already with the aforementioned Contra 4. I suppose if that decision was made intentionally to create a retro spiritual 3D sequel we never got then maybe it could be forgiven. But that still wouldn’t excuse the poor art style chosen for the characters. And then there’s the just flat out awful framerate. For a game that I can’t imagine is coming close to pushing the Switch’s technical limitations, this thing stutters quite often and even flat out drops to a crawl in frequent instances. Not good, you guys.
Unfortunately, all other aspects of the game are also lacking to various degrees. The sound work is clearly going for nostalgia with authentic effects mimicking the original NES games’ death and and pause chimes which is fun. But the music itself is a weak orchestral cover of the original chip tunes that’s oddly muted and just feels kinda slapped on there. Nothing to excite or even pump up the action onscreen. It’s entirely possible that there will be a code or unlockable way to use the original soundtrack and that would be great, but this new mix is pretty awful.
And along with everything else, Operation Galuga also falls short in the control department. At first, it kind of feels right because all you’re doing is running and shooting…Contra 101. But quickly an odd sense of floatiness creeps in, the overall gravity doesn’t feel quite right with a lack of “weight” to your character’s actions. All of these elements mixed together simply don’t blend organically in any way and by the end I was left feeling a sterility that was a big letdown.
It’s really just a shame all around, I mean WayForward should be able to (and have!) produce an awesome Contra game, so what gives you guys?
I know that these are demo impressions of only the first stage and the final product still has yet to be released. It is entirely possible that it will turn out better than this initial sampling. But when that release is less than 3 weeks away, I can’t really assume any of these issues will be dramatically addressed and we’ll wind up with a best of the year contender. So with that in mind, do I still plan on picking it up?
Sure sounds like a hard maybe not, probably!
