DS Download Station Series Vol 7 has a variety of sweet new demos, including Ninja Gaiden, Cooking Mama 2, Phantom Hourglass, and yes...... CONTRA 4! I've had my DS on in sleep mode since 8am this morning, and I absolutely refuse to turn it off. :p
The demo covers the entirety of the first stage, right up to the base tower boss - and ends just as you're about to fight its second form. There's no music, sadly, but other than that, it seems to look and play exactly the same as the near-final build that the IGN videos showed off.
So, does it play well? My god, yes, does it ever. I played through the demo about a dozen times so far, and everything feels absolutely perfect. The controls are exacting to the hair, so you'll be able to make every jump, every shot and every intended grappling hook maneuver with complete ease. The pacing of the level is what impresses me the most; they've managed to include every single element that makes the Contra run 'n gun genre such a blast, from the variety of enemies that range from running drones, grenaders who actually aim at your position before tossing, ground cannons, and wall cannons..... to Contra-centric stage designs like slopes, multi-layered platforms, hand rails, and being able to duck into the water.
The dual-screens work even better than I imagined, and the blind spot in between is handled admirably; enemies and their shots (not to mention yours) are calibrated perfectly as they travel from screen to screen; it isn't like they're mismatched after their transitions, like some DS games tend to be. It looks to add an effective challenge, as you really do need to keep your eyes darting between screens. As for the grappling hook, it's really a sweet addition. They give you plenty of chances to try it out, and it's an intuitive new gameplay feature; you just need to watch for when you're swinging up, because it's completely automatic, and you might find yourself slamming into a bullet if you're not careful. That part the IGN video showed off, where you shoot the power-up, drop down, and use the grappling hook before falling? Yeah, it really is as fun to pull off as it looks. :)
And then there's the new weapon system. Being able to swap out any one of your two guns is a far more useful feature than I thought, especially coupled with the new "double powered-up weapon" concept. It's great to have that flexibility to essentially be able to choose the weapons you really want - and the sharing aspect should make for some pretty engaging co-op play. The powered-up weapons themselves are freaken cool; you're gonna marvel at the look and strength of a twice-souped up machine gun or spread shot. :) It's just too bad that if you forfeit a powered-up weapon, it automatically reverts back into a normal weapon.
The graphics are terrific. The onscreen characters are surprisingly large for a portable game, making the heavy action easy enough to see; folks who worried about having to squint because of the insane amount of stuff happening on the small screens should rest easy. And perhaps it's a bit of a blessing to not have the music included, because here you'll be able to hear every carefully nuanced gun shot, enemy shriek, explosion, and hit collision sound effect. And believe me, they're incredible sound effects; so much better than the gimpy-awkward sound set that Contra III had.
Here's an obvious word of warning: make doubly-sure you're playing this badboy on a DS with good diagonal controls. There are some DS models (Lite ones, to be more specific) that have ridiculously crummy directional controls on their diagonals, which, of course, is a complete no-no for a game like Contra. As much as I love the Lite, I can actually see this game playing better with the arguably superior d-pad of the original Phat DS.
WayForward looks to be on the ball. The demo has already managed to rock my socks off, and I'm praying like crazy that the full game manages to do the same.
