Other PS4 titles include Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, West of Dead, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness and Contra: Rogue Corps (which are backwards compatible on PS5). The PS4 and PS5 titles include Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, Unpacking, Planet Coaster: Console Edition, Tails Noir, Cloudpunk, Call of the Sea and PAW Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls.

The only PS5-exclusive title is This War of Mine: Final Cut. The above titles are a part of the Game Catalog for Extra and Premium subscribers. The latter gets access to three Star Ocean titles – Star Ocean First Departure R, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and Star Ocean: The Last Hope – 4K and FHD Remaster – and Dragon’s Crown Pro, all on PS4.

Octopus BT – Death Stranding

This is the first time Sam meets Higgs, the latter hamming it up as best as he can. Afterwards, Higgs summons a monstrous octopus BT to battle you. It’s threatening enough but not really. Stay on the rooftops and keep throwing Hematic Grenades. Despite all the flailing, it’s not really that aggressive and can be dealt with from a distance in almost comically easy fashion.

I love Contra a lot, and I am reiterating this point to establish that I didn’t set out to hate Rogue Corps. In fact, the announcement of a new entry in the series made me excited, and even after widespread skepticism following its E3 debut, I was on board with it. I didn’t need it to be the best looking or most ambitious game. I just wanted Contra. More Contra, and I would be satisfied. And hey, they had the original creator of the franchise on board, so surely Konami would deliver, right?

Unfortunately, they did not. There are several levels Rogue Corps fails on – one of them is that of being a good game, but I would have even taken a poor game if it meant I got some of that spirit of classic Contra. Unfortunately, not only is Rogue Corps not like classic Contra, in some regards, it seems to be aggressively antithetical to what you would think Contra is about. Coupled with the general lack of even token care put into the package, I have to wonder exactly what Konami was thinking when they greenlit this project – or who it was even meant for.

"Not only is Rogue Corps not like classic Contra, in some regards, it seems to be aggressively antithetical to what you would think Contra is about."

For the uninitiated, and this part is important to understand the level of indignation I have here, Contra is a series of run and gun shooters. You’re thrown against waves upon waves of enemies, and you mow your way through them, spraying them, and anything that moves really, with bullets and lead. As I mentioned before, the series has a shlocky science fiction setup of an alien invasion, and a general inability to really take itself seriously.

Let’s talk about what part of this Rogue Corps gets right. It continues with the general alien invasion theme of the series (in fact, Rogue Corps appears to be set shortly after the original trilogy, although it ignores the excellent Contra 4 along the way), and it’s extremely over the top and wacky. It’s got loud and crass humor, not unlike what you’d expect from Duke Nukem. While not necessarily entirely in line with what Contra was, it works. I can’t fault it there.

The issue is everything else. On a most basic level, Contra: Rogue Corps fails at being Contra. The primary culprit here is a mechanic that has no business being in Contra, or really, any run and gun game- weapon overheating. Essentially, using your weapon too much causes it to overheat, at which point you can no longer use it, and need to wait for it to cool down. Cooldown periods are seldom more than a few seconds, but a few seconds is all it takes to break the flow of your shooting spree. Now you’re shooting, then waiting for your weapon to recharge, then shooting, then waiting for your weapon to charge, and possibly trying to avoid getting hit along the way. It’s abysmal.

This is further exacerbated by the fact that the shooting itself actually feels good- once you get used to the extremely fiddly controls, at any rate. There is a nice, tangible sense of impact, and the game actually has some great ideas to keep you more involved in the flow of the action, from Overwatch style character-specific finishers to melee attacks, to lite-RPG mechanics involving upgrading your weapons and characters and making them more powerful and lethal on the field.

"Any gains Contra makes are completely undone by the all-undermining mechanic that is overheating. This is not exaggeration, and there are no words to describe how not Contra anything that makes you stop shooting is. It’s like creating a Mario game that doesn’t let you jump."

This is actually new to Contra– but these are sensible additions. You can see how having weapon and loot drops along with RPG mechanics would enrich Contra, and give you a reason beyond just aiming for a great run to keep running the levels. The issue is that any gains Contra makes are completely undone by the all-undermining mechanic that is overheating. This is not exaggeration, and there are no words to describe how not Contra anything that makes you stop shooting is. It’s like creating a Mario game that doesn’t let you jump.

Even if I ignore the baggage that comes with being a new Contra, and try to assess this game on its own terms, it comes up short. As a plain old run and gun game, it’s… well, again, it’s a run and gun game that doesn’t want you to gun much. When you get into the flow of the action, it actually can be fun. Enemies are great to take down, the game uses a lot of over the top visuals to represent the carnage and havoc you’re wreaking, and the shooting has impact. Enemy design can be smart, and arenas are surprisingly well constructed. All of this would be great if the game would let you shoot, or was even balanced around the cooldown mechanic, which it absolutely does not appear to be. How exactly are you supposed to take on a relentless swarm of enemies when your primary tool for doing so keeps arbitrarily being taken away from you every few seconds?

"On a technical level this might be one of the most primitive games this generation, with awful textures and character models, and slowdown when there are explosions on screen."

If the game played well, I’d find its other failings easier to forgive. It looks absolutely horrid, for one thing. On a technical level this might be one of the most primitive games this generation, with awful textures and character models, and slowdown when there are explosions on screen (which, in a run and gun game, there are a lot of), but even on an artistic level, the gloomy and murky proceedings are a far cry from the bright and colorful Contra you might remember. The sound fares worse: though the voice acting does the job, and I have little to no complaints with it, the music lacks any punch or sense of weight, and it feels like someone turned the volume down to the lowest possible, so that you can only occasionally hear it in the background. Sometimes.

There is merit to Contra: Rogue Corps, as I said. It has some sensible ideas on how to evolve its franchise, it strikes the right tone, and it can actually be fun with others, thanks to the game continuing the series’ tradition of supporting co-op (local and online), while also adding a versus mode. But the issues undermine a lot of what it’s going for. It looks ugly, sounds worse, and loves to get in its own way, to the extent that your enjoyment feels constantly impeded. Worst of all, at least for a Contra fan, this game is the antithesis of what Contra is supposed to be. Playing Rogue Corps, I at last understood what Metal Gear fans must have felt when they played Metal Gear Survive last year.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 4.

The announcement of Contra: Rogue Corps was unexpected…very unexpected. Yeah, to be honest, it doesn’t get much more unexpected than that one. The game not only came after many assumed the series was long dead, it didn’t look anything like previous entries. For some people, that’s been a bit of a downer, but there is hope as the series could find its way back to being 2D down the road.

Speaking with DualShockers, Producer Nobuya Nakazato said that Contra could go 2D again. He explained earlier in an interview with GamingBolt that the shift to 3D with Rogue Corps was due to the 4 player co-op. Nakazato says that doesn’t mean the series is necessarily done with 2D, but said they would need some way to innovate before doing so.

“Yeah, I love the old 2D games as well and I’d love to make new ones, but just modernizing the graphics, upgrading the graphics, and creating something new in them would not be the right way to do it, in my opinion,” Nakazato-san said. “I’d have to come up with a new innovation and maybe change a bit of the genre and then I can start working on one of those.”

Contra: Rogue Corps will release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on September 24th. If you’re curious about this new direction, a demo is available to try the game out on consoles.

E3 this year was a leaky one, with a lot of major games and surprises being leaked well before the show officially began. But there were still some unexpected arrivals, and I think it’s fair to say that the announcement of Contra: Rogue Corps was one of them, for better or worse. The revival of the classic shooter franchise has been met with some polarizing responses, since the game looks and plays little like what’s expected from a Contra title. Well, you got the chance to try it out for yourself now, as a demo has been released.

Across all console versions of the game, the demo for Rogue Corps is live now. The demo will feature the single-player campaign, as well as both co-op and competitive online play called Carnage League, so you can get a broad sampling of what the game is all about.

Contra: Rogue Corps will launch September 24th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch. The game will also have a PC version on the same date, but as of now no demo has been announced for that version of the title.

Gears 5

The Coalition’s Gears 5 promises to be the biggest, most ambitious Gears of War title yet. Along with a hefty campaign mode (which received more footage at Gamescom), there’s Horde mode which adds character Ultimates and changes up Power mechanics; Escape for quick, three-player Hive runs; a map builder to create your own custom Escape maps; and Versus, which has been expanded with Arcade Mode and Tour of Duty seasonal content. Gears 5 is out on September 10^th for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. Will it be a worthy follow-up to the series? It won’t be long before we find out.

Contra as a series has been dormant for a while, as far as new mainline entries are concerned. What prompted a return to this franchise?

It’s the 30th anniversary of the franchise. So we thought that would be the perfect time to bring the franchise back. Besides that, some of the old Contra games are on the SNES Mini and people were happy to see these games back. We have this kind of retro game boom right now. So we thought this was perfect timing to bring old glory back to modern days.

"So the new game has 3-D graphics, new characters, new camera angle, so it may surprise the fans. But we’re keeping the same Contra feeling in terms of mechanics."

Was there ever a conversation during early development days about maybe making this a side scrolling 2D title like the classic Contra games?

Yes. Of course Contra Rogue Corps was based on the 2D scrolling games. But what we’re really enjoying is playing the game with your brother or your sister, and we wanted to expand that to four players. But having four players on screen in a 2D scrolling game is kind of messy. So we thought that make in the game for 3D would have a different point of you that would be easier for the players to understand where they are and what they’re doing.

There are millions of veteran series fans that are going to go into Rogue Corps with loads of expectations, considering the pedigree and value attached to the Contra name. What’s it like for you as developers to shoulder that responsibility?

So the new game has 3-D graphics, new characters, new camera angle, so it may surprise the fans. But we’re keeping the same Contra feeling in terms of mechanics. It’s easy to control. You have the same feeling from the first enemy to the last enemy, when you’re killing enemies. That would be for the fans that would be when they were playing real games.

"This time we don’t just have two men fighting, we have a variety of different characters."

What was the idea behind using comic book style graphics rather than full movie-style cutscenes?

This time we don’t just have two men fighting, we have a variety of different characters. So we wanted A style that could match any kind of character. Besides the atmosphere in Contra, I think it’s fitting to use this comic book art in the game. So it’s easy for us to choose this art to make these classes.

In recent years, Konami’s presence (and reputation) in the industry has gone down quite a bit, with their efforts in the games scene largely being reduced to the yearly PES games, mobile titles, and the like. At E3 this year though, they made a surprise announcement with Contra: Rogue Corps, the first new instalment in the series in nearly a decade.

Rogue Corps is also a 3D, isometric top-down title, and while Contra has had isometric perspectives in its games before, it built its legacy as a 2D side-scrolling run-n-gun shooter. So with Rogue Corps, why exactly did Konami go in this direction, and was there ever a time when they were considering making Rogue Corps a sidescrolling game as well?

We sat down for a short interview with the game’s lead developer Nobuya Nakazato at E3 and asked him that question. Nakazato told GamingBolt that though 2D sidescrolling gameplay had initially been considered, the developers wanted to include 4 player co-op, and they felt a 3D top-down perspective would be better suited to that.

“Yes,” said Nakazato when asked if a 2D perspective was ever in consideration. “Of course, Contra: Rogue Corps was based on the 2D sidescrolling games. But what we’re really enjoying is playing the game with your brother or your sister, and we wanted to expand that to four players. But having four players on-screen in a 2D scrolling game is kind of messy. So we thought that make in the game for 3D would have a different point of you that would be easier for the players to understand where they are and what they’re doing.”

Contra: Rogue Corps is out on September 24 for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. If you have a hankering for some good old sidescrolling run-n-gun Contra gameplay, you can always pick up the Anniversary Collection.

Outriders

Did you think that Marvel’s Avengers was the only game that would be revealed with no gameplay and fancy cinematics? Think again! People Can Fly finally debuted Outriders, its co-op shooter taking place on a planet with endless dangers. You’ll have a large arsenal of weapons and “powerful gunplay” but there’s not really much else to go off of. It’s out in Summer 2020 for Xbox One, PS4 and PC for what it’s worth but until then, we play the waiting game.

E3 is always filled with surprises and well, here was definitely one. There have been rumblings that Contra would see a revival of some kind for quite some time, and now we finally get to see that as the newest game in the franchise has been revealed: Contra: Rogue Corps.

Announced at Nintendo’s E3 Direct, it is probably not exactly what you expect. The game is said to take place after the events of Contra III. Unlike other previous games, this is an isometric shooter. You’ll get to choose from a cast of various characters, including a giant panda who is ready to gun down some alien invaders. Check out the trailer below.

Contra: Rouge Corps will release September 24th for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The game’s publisher, Konami, was said to have a big surprise later in the day, and it could be something related to this.