Contra Force

Download Contra Force and join the elite team in this action-packed shoot-'em-up! Battle through intense missions, eliminate threats, and save the city from destruction. The fight for justice starts now – play now!
a game by Konami
Genre: Action
Platform: NESNES
Editor Rating: 7.6/10, based on 6 reviews
User Rating: 6.9/10 - 38 votes
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See also: High Score Games, Shoot 'Em Up Games, Run-and-Gun Games, Contra Games
Contra Force
Contra Force
Contra Force

Take cover, NES troops! Neo City's under assault once again, and Konami sends a new soldier squadron into battle -- the Contra Force. Hold your fire and don't radio in those battle plans just yet. If you're thinking this game delivers the same fast-paced, Contra-cool action as the previous games in the series, think again. You just overestimated the power of the Force.

Tag Team

Ditching the straight-up, two-player warfare from Contra and Super C, Contra Force leans towards both strategy and cooperative action. You and a control- pad partner pick from four C-Force handgunners - Burn, Smith, Iron, and Beans. Each compatriot has a different foot speed, jumping ability, and weapons arsenal. The advantage is that you can switch between them anytime.

ProTip: Use Burn's grenades at close range for quick mass destruction.

Another new Contra feature enables you to direct a "resting" enForcer to cover your back! At the player select menu, you pick one of six screen positions for him to guard for five seconds. Much like an Option in Gradius, the extra player acts as a second gun who follows in your footsteps. It's nothing radical, but it helps you pass tricky spots.

Don't rely on backup during boss encounters.

Short Fuse

If you like to run and gun on the fly, prepare to attach super glue to your combat boots. Despite a great sounding, four-soldier setup, C-Force is the slowest-moving action game for the NES in a loooooong time. The unfrantic pace is designed to enable you to think before you shoot, but who wants to do that? Moreover, multi-character screen clutter spells big trouble for the NES system's processor.

Stand still behind the barrels and shell the Level 2 missile boss. His shots will skim by your ear, but won't inflict damage.

Weak action combines with equally unmuscular level layouts. Three standard side-view stages and two top-view levels form the shorter-than-usual mission. You get unlimited continues, but slowdown plus overflowing enemies equal a rough challenge. The wild and creative alien goobers from previous Contra episodes are gone, replaced by a nondescript band of soldier strongmen.

The control is clean, but often hampered by a too-slow-to-scroll screen. Additionally, this Contra's only solid blast is the weapon power-up system, which enables you to swap between Machine Guns, Homing Missiles, and Hand Grenades by collecting toolbox icons.

Blast this Level 3 lever mechanism to release a giant crate. The chain reaction will propel you up the skyscraper.

Contra's formerly robust graphics suffer some downgrading in this chapter. Ricker, sparse sprite detail, and occasionally washed-out colors detract from the almost good-looking backgrounds. The music and sounds are unobtrusively average.

Unnecessary Use of Force

Konami had an awesome video game formula that worked in Contra and Super C. For whatever reason, Contra Force strays from the path and pays the price. The visuals and audios are passable, but the slow-moving, uninspired game play is the worst casualty of war. The four-character command feature is a great idea whose time should come someday. May the Force be without you.

Download Contra Force

NES

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
  • P-200, 32 MB RAM

Game Reviews

Contra is coming to both the Super Nintendo and the Nintendo Entertainment System. This 8 bit version continues the same tradition set by the previous Contras. However, it is not just another sequel as Konami has made some changes. The biggest difference in this game is that there now are four players instead of two to choose from. In the beginning of the game, you can pick which of the four characters you want to use. Another difference is that you don't find your weapon, as each character has their own specialized weapons at the start of the game. This game is still like Contra though, because there is still plenty of action, and you have to fight your way through the various areas, then destroy the end boss in each level of the game. Finally, like the original Contra, the levels in this version alternate game play from side scrolling to overhead views. What's nice about the overhead screens is the fact that you don't just charge straight head, rather you can move around almost everywhere giving you the chance to explore the whole level. You have to remember to do this as you will find power-ups hidden in strange places.

Of course, this game is two player simultaneous (if it wasn't it wouldn't be Contra), but in this game it can be two player with only one person playing! Like the arcades Konami built in the 'join in' feature. At anytime during the game the second player can come in, and help you out. With two players though, it makes the game very easy to beat because you do not have to worry about killing everything yourself. But, if you are playing alone and there is no one to come and play the second player, all hope is not lost. You can have one of the other four characters come in and attack the enemies. This character will stay on the screen for about 5 seconds. When this character comes in you

can have him cover your back or front, cover all around you , or you can set it so he is behind or in front of you and he will imitate everything that you do. When the player comes in, he will be fully powered. If you are playing the game and are about to lose your last life, you can switch your player to one of the other three. This will give you two additional men because each of the four players has three lives, but, if you lose all three lives of any one player your game will be over, even if any of the other four characters still have lives left so stay alert!.

Contra action continues in the newest edition of the series. Save the head of the CIA who has been kidnapped by terrorists. Choose the correct person and weapon for the level and head out to eliminate the terrorists.

Has once again graced NES players with an excellent action game. This cart has you out to stop enemy forces from control of the planet. Sure to be a hit!

It's the third in the classic Contra series. Battle through five brutal stages. Great weapons, great graphics, great action -- and all you have to do is avoid blowing up the world!

Contra Force is a run and gun style video game, released by Konami in 1992 in North America. Unfortunately, the game released for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was only available in North America. The game was a spin-off of the Contra series, and was the third game released for NES. The game focused more on certain modern task forces, instead of different sci-fi elements, as in the previous games. The new forces have to fight human terrorists, with modern weapons and settings featured in this sequel.

The game was also planned to be released in Japan, under the title of Arc Hound, but it was cancelled in the end. Konami decided to make North America the only release location for the spin-off, leaving the huge European market off as well.

The story happens in the fictional metropolis of Neo City in the same year of the release, 1992. Contra Force is a group of special forces led by Burns, whose task is to defeat the crime syndicate known as DNME. The whole action starts when Burns receives a phone call from Fox, who informs him that the Head of Intelligence is in danger. He arranges a meeting with his informant to learn more about the case, but when he goes to the meeting, he finds out Fox has been murdered by the crime syndicate. Burns and his squad have now to find out on their own about the terrorist group.

The player can control up to four different characters, but he will have to choose one of them in the beginning of the game. Besides Burns, the leader, the players can choose Iron, a weapon expert, Smith, a sharpshooter and Beans, a demolition expert. Each character comes with his own weapons, skills, speed and jumping attributes.

There are five stages in the game, with three of them played from the side-view perspective, and two of them from the overhead perspective. Fighting enemies and moving from a level to another are the objectives of this game. There is a boss awaiting at the end of each level, who has to be defeated in order to progress to the next level.

The player can jump, crouch, and walk left or right in the side-view stages, and move in eight different directions in the overhead perspective. He can't jump or crouch in the overhead perspective levels.

The game was fairly popular when released, and received a lot of positive feedback by users, press and critics. GameSpot users rated the game with 8.3 from a total of 290 votes. GameStats users rated the game with a total of 7.6 out of 10.

Snapshots and Media

NES/Famicom/Dendy Screenshots

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