For those that don’t know (Which means you are too young, because if you lived through it, you’d know it!) Contra was an arcade game made by Konami in 1987.  As with most arcade hits, Contra was released to various platforms for home gaming including the NES.  This is where the game found even more fame and became the classic that it is today.  It is a 2D side-scrolling run-n-gun game.  It has some platform elements (ie, you have to be able to make jumps to avoid death) but you’re mostly shooting at enemies all around you that become more and more difficult.  Along the way you can pick up power-ups in the forms of different kinds you can use such as a machine gun, laser, and the infamous “spreader.”  The challenge comes in the fact that one hit and you’re dead.  You do not have a shield or armor, you do not have a life bar.  You are hit, you die, and you only have 3 lives per continue. 

Now this was done back in the days of arcades where if you can make people die frequently then they will keep pumping in more quarters to keep playing, but over 20 years later games are very different and people may not be used to that.  Games now have life bars and/or regenerating health, save points, unlimited continues, etc.  Back in 1987 the only way to have unlimited continues was to have unlimited quarters in your pocket.  The NES version had the Konami code as I mentioned before to 30 lives, and the game was still a challenge.  Now with the XBLA release you have a set number of lives (3, as I said, no codes) and a set number of continues to try and still keep it a challenge since you are not paying quarters this time around.  This makes the game still quite a challenge today, although sometimes a bit too much if you aren’t used to these older style games.  I grew up playing them, so it was great to play again.  Even better is the fact that you can play 2 player co-op with a friend to try and beat it together (and no stealing lives in this version!).

There is also an option for an Xbox Live Game, but don’t expect to ever really use that option.  When the game was first released on XBLA it was slammed in many reviews for the online play being broken.  If you even connected at all you usually would have lag or even have it so that people would be seeing two different things happening in the game.  Your friend would be playing just fine but on your screen it looks like they were jumping around like idiots.  It was later on patched but the damage was done and no one was trying to play online anymore.  It’s been a few years and it is totally dead now and I did not have anyone else to try it with to see how it would run, but I do remember still having lag issues after the patch was released.  If getting this game for a fun co-op experience, expect to really do it local only.

A nice new feature with the XBLA version is the addition of leaderboards.  I have been a fan of these in games lately since we no longer have arcades to go to and try to beat scores, and also because now we can see how we compare to those around the world.  This version also has the usual 200 points worth of achievements to earn that have various requirement such as beating certain areas in a certain amount of time, getting a certain number of points co-op, beating the game with only 1 credit, and more.  I don’t even have half of them and it will be quite sometime before I get them so that is keeping me playing for some time still as well on top of the usual “just plain fun to play” style of game it is.  There is an option to play with the original arcade graphics or to play “enhanced” graphics which is basically just a smoothing filter.  The smoothing is ok, basically what you see with a lot of these XBLA arcade ports and the SEGA Classics.

4/5 Stars – This is a classic game that is still just as fun and challenging as it was back in 1987.  For only 400 MS points ($5) you will get to play without needing a pocketful of quarters and with friends on your couch or (maybe) online.  Well worth the money.  Click here to go to the official Xbox.com listing and add it to your download queue.

I’ll start with the same thing that everyone seems to say about Demon’s Souls: This game is HARD.  Now, instead of some games being extremely difficult because of things being cheap or bad cameras and cheap deaths, this game just is tough because you have to play a bit more cautious.  One little mistake can kill you, but if you learn from your mistakes you will continue to make progress and really get far in the game.  It is an action/RPG with a 3rd person camera view similar to Dragon Age but with fully real time combat that is sword based (with the option to get a crossbow or bow and arrow).  There are a few different classes to pick from, but as you level up you can change the stats as you see fit if you don’t like a particular weakness of that class.  I chose to play as the Barbarian so I have no magic abilities at all, so I cannot comment on that.  I really feel like I’m missing a big part of the game by doing so and thinking of restarting with another character.

Now I mentioned leveling up and this brings up a major part of the game, Souls.  There are lots of RPGs out there and they almost all deal with gold and XP, but not very many deal with them like in this game.  In Demon’s Souls the souls that you collect after killing someone are BOTH gold and XP.  This means that on top of dealing with the already challenging game difficulty you have to decide if you want to use your souls to buy weapons, armor, or items, or do you want to level up your guy.  This game is very difficult with one little mistake costing you your life and when you die you lose all the souls that you have collected.  You can try to run back to where you died to reclaim those souls but if you die on your quest to get them they will be lost forever and you’re stuck trying to just regain the souls from your last trek.  I truly believe that part of how I have already played over 10 hours is just me just trying to regain souls and losing them forever, as I have barely progressed in the game itself.  I have 1 trophy and it was from killing the first boss, I have yet to get to the 2nd.

The controls in the game are great and not at all a factor into the game’s difficulty.  It plays very similar to the old PC games Rune and Blade of Darkness if anyone out there remembers those.  You move/strafe with the left stick and aim/look around with the right stick with the shoulder buttons setups as your left and right hands.  L1/R1 will be your light/regular attacks (or blocks in the case of shields) and L2/R2 will be the stronger (but slower) attacks/blocks.  The X button is to jump, Square is to use whatever item you have selected (can cycle through with the D-pad), Triangle will switch from holding a sword one handed to two handed, and Circle is to dodge or hold to run.  Whenever using attacks or running you use up stamina which refills over time (slower if you’re in a defensive stance) which adds another bit of difficulty and strategy to the gameplay.

The game does have an online component as well, but it is not something you will be used to.  At first it is just limited to leaving messages for others.  You can’t type whatever you want but there are a bunch of pre-made messages that you can leave in various places to try and help others playing out.  For example you can put “use caution ahead” in an area where an enemy is hiding, or “treasure ahead” in an area that may be somewhat hidden.  Other people playing on the same server as you will see the message left and you can see what they leave as well.  If someone likes something you’ve written they can rate it as such and you will get a bonus in your game as well.  As you progress you will gain items that actually allow you to join other people playing and help them out in their quests.  If you successfully help someone you can bring yourself back to life (most of the game you will be playing as a lost soul) or make the game a bit easier (every time you die the game will actually get harder instead of easier).  I have heard of some people joining another’s game just to kill them and bring themselves back, but have yet to witness it or try myself.  Unfortunately you cannot choose who you play with or even which server you are on so playing with your friends will have to be purely by chance and there is no voice chat support at all.

Finally the graphics are something many people talk about in this game and usually in a positive light, but I will have to respectfully disagree.  While the game doesn’t necessarily have horrible graphics, I don’t think they are all that great either.  They get the job done but there are a lot of times the detail just isn’t there with some textures looking very muddy and times that the game has a weird glow that is due to you being a soul but it washes out the game’s graphics even more.  I’ve seen worse in games so I’m not totally down on them, just I think the system can do so much better and people are wrongfully praising what it does.

In the end I would give the game a solid 4/5 due to having a ton of fun with it despite my lack of progress and the high difficulty.  The game is tough, but you can learn from your mistakes and it feels very rewarding when you finally get through a certain section.  I will not make this an official score yet until I play more.  I do highly recommend it to any action/RPG fan especially if you’re looking for a challenge, but don’t play for a great multiplayer experience.

So it’s the future.  The year is 1999… wait, what?  Yeah, gotta love that stuff.  Anyway, you’re on a game show where you have you fight through enemies to collect your cash and prizes.  As I said, it’s a twin stick shooter with the left stick controlling where you move and the right stick aiming.  Now since this is from the early 90s it is digital control so your movement speed is always the same and you can only aim in 8 directions, but you’ll do just fine.  Run around, shoot, dodge bullets and enemies, pick up prizes.  Rinse, wash, and repeat.  The odd sense of humor helps the game out and the ability to pick different paths to take makes it slightly less repetitive.  There are also powerups you can collect such as shields and various weapons to use.  After going through a few sections you will then fight a boss, then move onto the next area.

Where this game really shines though is playing some 2 player co-op.  You and a friend can work together to try and compete in this game show and work together to take the enemies down.  The game is tough single player, and doesn’t get much easier playing 2 player, but it’s just more fun when someone is there to back you up.  This is where the XBLA version will shine over the Midway Arcade Treasures since it has Xbox Live online play.  Sadly this is a benefit to those who have already purchased it since it is no longer available for purchase.  If you get the Midway Arcade Treasures you can still enjoy co-op, but local play only.  The XBLA version also has slightly smoothed out graphics for HDTVs, but nothing major.

There isn’t much more to say about this game.  It’s an older game so may not be as “pretty” as games like Geometry Wars or or Super Stardust HD, but the gameplay is still there.  Online play is nice, but only for those that already knew how enjoyable this game was.  If you get the Midway Arcade Treasures edition you can get it for not much more than the XBLA version was and get 19 other games, so it is a better value overall.  Grab a friend and enjoy.  The XBLA version also has online leaderboards which are obviously not available in the Midway Arcade Treasures.  The PS2 version is playable on PS3’s with PS2 support so PS3 owners can enjoy, and Wii owners can play the GameCube collection.  Unfortunately the Xbox version is not backwards compatible on the Xbox 360.

3.5/5 Stars – Another shame to be missing on XBLA, but hopefully WB or whoever holds the rights now will re-release it in the future.  It was one of the first XBLA games (it was there on launch day) so it is not super polished in presentation, but what more did you want from Smash TV without it being a full remake or sequel?  The collection is perfection emulated if you go that route and is exactly the same on Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube.  Old school twin-stick at its finest.

Quick history lesson: Root Beer Tapper started as Tapper with a sponsorship by Budweiser and was placed in bars to get drunk people to sink lots of money into.  The arcade cabinet had a “beer tap” type controller plus the joystick.  While this was great, Midway wanted to make more money and therefore made a “kid friendly” version that was just “Root Beer” instead of Bud and put that in arcades.  Why do I mention this?  Because outside of hunting down an old arcade machine or downloading illegal ROMs, you will never see Tapper again, but always “Root Beer Tapper.”  Midway wants to keep it safe for kiddies still (and I’m sure that the Bud license had long expired).  Does this matter for gameplay? Nope, but hey, I have to fill some space.

The game itself is simple, you are a bartender that has to deal with his customers.  You have to fill the glass up all the way and then sling it down the bar to the customers.  The challenge comes in the fact that as the customers are waiting they walk closer and closer to the end of the bar, if they get there they will toss you down and you lose a “life.”  Also, after they drink they will send the glass back down to you.  If you don’t catch it, it breaks and again you lose a life.  Finally the last way to lose in this game is if you send a glass down with no one to catch it, it will break and spill.  As the game progresses you have to handle more and more customers that come at a faster rate and more bars that you have to hop between.  The only “power up” to speak of is you can collect tips which you use to make dancers appear that distract customers to help you catch your breath.  This is a gameplay style that has had a recent resurgence with the casual game series Diner Dash, as well as it’s spin offs and other games like it.  There is a reason they copied the gameplay: It’s still addictive to this day.  I first played this game back on the Commadore 64 and played it on Midway Arcade Treasures and XBLA and I will still come back again and again to try to do better and beat high scores.  It’s simple and fun and if you like Diner Dash I would strongly suggest you see where it all began.

The graphics and sound are typical of the time (that is, simplistic, but oh well, the gameplay is great).  If you play on Midway Arcade Treasures it will be a straight port of the arcade game while the XBLA version will have slightly enhanced graphics that look a bit better on an HDTV.  Some other differences between the versions are that Midway Arcade Treasures only has local leaderboards (the Xbox version has Xbox Live leaderboards but those will be shut down come April) while the XBLA version has online leaderboards as well as local.  The Midway Arcade Treasures is local play only while the XBLA version has online play over Xbox Live.  Other than that it is still the same game those that remember it love.  Unfortunately due to Midway going out of business it has been pulled from XBLA so if you did not purchase it you are out of luck for now (unless some new rights holder decides to publish it again) so you will have to stick with the Midway Arcade Treasures edition which is the same no matter whether you get it for PS2, Xbox, or GameCube.  Now since the controllers of today do not have a “tap” like in the arcades it is merely holding a button and letting go, and it works just as well.  The PS2 version will obviously play in PS3s with PS2 support as well as the Gamecube version working on the Wii, but unfortunately the Xbox version will not play in an Xbox 360.

4/5 Stars – A classic game that is just as addictive now as it was when it came out.  Sad to see the XBLA no longer be available (if you’ve already purchased it then you’re safe and can keep playing) but at least if you missed out you can still get a great collection with 19 other games. 

From developers Diezel Power comes yet another shooter that you can get from Steam.  The shot I have at the top of the review for a cover is one I found online, but I found another that looked more like the non GFW covers, yet have yet to see this game in stores.  Seems that the game is Steam exclusive for the time being, but for only $9.99 it may be better off as a digital-only release than full retail. 

There are multiple modes in the current version of Nation Red.  When playing single player you have Mission (survive and complete a series of missions), Survival (survive as long as possible with only the machine gun), and Free Play (get the maximum experience points).  There are 9 missions total and once you unlock them you can start at whichever one you want.  Survival is just one level but since it’s all about just having endless enemies and the backgrounds don’t change much level to level it is not as big of a deal.  Free play has one level but you can also choose baracade mode where the zombies are not just trying to kill you, but also breach your base and you have barriers and sentry guns setup to help fend them off.  A recent patch also added multiplayer which is currently just 2 player local co-op with each of those 3 game modes and its own set of leaderboards.  All of these modes are of the quick “pick up and play” variety with the main hook of the game being to get the highest score possible and getting to see where you stand on the global Steam leaderboards.  The original release was just local leaderboards so this was a welcome update.  The main menu also has Strategic mode listed but I am not sure what this is since I haven’t unlocked it yet (and have no idea how to do so).  There are hints at an Auto-Perk mode to unlock as well.

No matter which mode you pick the game play remains the same.  You are a member of some form of military that is stuck where there are lots of zombies and you shoot until they are all dead, or you are dead.  It’s a twin stick shooter and you can play with mouse/keyboard or the Xbox 360 control (another welcome addition from a post-release update).  I personally prefer the Xbox 360 controller setup because there is no aiming advantage to having the cursor aimed directly on the enemy, it just cares about being in the right direction.  The A button does a diving move for defense, right trigger shoots, left trigger is for your kick or grenades, and the right bumper is for reloading.  This is all full customizable as are the keys if you choose keyboard/mouse.  As you kill zombies you earn XP and after you earn each level you get perks such as new weapons, a last ditch explosion to kill those around you when you die, double XP, and many more.  This is a nice twist to go along with the various other power ups and weapons you can pick up to prevent the game from getting too stale.  It is still best played in short bursts for that “arcade style” feel but there is at least enough variety to keep you coming back and who knows what else Diezel Power will add in the future.  There are also plenty of Steam Achievements to earn.

The graphics to the game are not going to strain your video card but definitely get the job done.  While not super detailed and very “brown/grey” for most of the textures, you know what is going on and where things are.  It is a budget/indie game so I did not expect much from it and the lack of power needed means it will run great on a wider range of computers.  It ran just fine on my laptop and my desktop with an ATI Radeon 3540 card ran it at max settings in 1080p.

4/5 Stars - Coming in at a mere 510MB this is something that won’t take up much space on your hard drive, and at $9.99 (and frequently on sale) it won’t hurt your wallet much either.  The developers have shown a lot of post-release support with quite a few free updates and they very well could add more.  Those sick of twin-stick shooters may not find enough to change their mind, but for those that do still like them they will definitely enjoy this game.  Click here to go to the Steam listing for the game to purchase or try the demo out.