Between the shifting camera, infinite enemy spawns and their lethal accuracy you’ll be hard pressed to live more than a few minutes. With all of the problems I’ve run down it should come as no surprise that Legacy of War is unflinchingly difficult. It’s not worth it in my opinion, not when truly awesome games like Silent Bomber exist on the same platform. These moments are rare and you’ll have to suffer through hours of painfully gameplay to even see them. There are a few miniboss battles that prove challenging without being frustrating as well. Stage three features a nonlinear segment in a speedboat as you take out scuba diving enemies and mines. I actually like one or two of the levels in spite of their flaws. It certainly has the intensity the series is known for. If the aiming controls were better realized as in Neo Contra this could have been decent. Enemies spawn infinitely and attack from all sides. I suppose if you like relentless action the game has that in spades. I’m struggling to find anything positive to say. God I can’t believe I managed to tolerate it all the way to the end. Prepare to lose a considerable number of lives trying to navigate even the simplest sequence of three platforms. It doesn’t work and unfortunately the second half of the game relies on it heavily. Remember what I said about the camera giving a sub optimal view of the area? Now imagine dealing with platforming sequences along the lines of a Super Mario Bros. The absolute worst has to be the extensive amount of platforming. This encapsulates everything wrong with the game. There weak spots are never clearly defined and often require jumping around like an idiot to hit if you don’t have the necessary weapons. The game at least gets that part right although your enjoyment of the boss battles will be mixed. Contra is known for its fast paced action and frequent boss encounters. While you fumble about enemies with the accuracy of trained snipers pelt you off-screen. Despite following a linear path the level design still somehow manages to be confusing. This completely ruins most of the end game levels. It also doesn’t follow your movements fast enough and fails to change perspective when necessary. Most of the time it is extremely close limiting your view and leaving you open to off-screen fire. At its best it offers a wide view of the playing field. The camera is constantly zooming in and out and seems to revel in providing the worst angle at all times. It isn’t completely overhead it is more of a hybrid top down/third person shooter. Surprisingly enough the camera is the source of most of the game’s issues. That should have been easy enough titles like Loaded and Project Overkill more or less did the same. Where do I begin? Legacy of War uses the same top down viewpoint as Super C and Contra III in their overhead levels. Once again as cool as it sounds your choice is superfluous as the game has problems. The unique weapon load outs also return although here the machine gun and flamethrower are shared between all characters. Each differs in terms of movement speed and jumping height although it largely doesn’t matter. Ray Powered returns from that game and is joined by Tasha, Bubba, and CD-288, a robot. Like Contra Hard Corps you have a choice between four characters. ![]() Too bad all of that effort is wasted on a bad game. In fact the game has an optional 3d mode and came with those ridiculous “3d” glasses popular in the 80s. Aside from that first it was also the first to go multiplatform and in 3d. Legacy of War was not developed internally at Konami but by European developer Appaloosa. This is possibly the worst game in the series and would send it down a dark path before it would get better. Contra: Legacy of War went 3d and completely fails at a fundamental level. Can you imagine what a 2d Contra on the Saturn and PlayStation would have looked like? We would have to continue using our imaginations as that is not what we would receive. Going into the 32-bit era expectations were high for a follow-up. That game was one of the best action games of that era and raised the bar for its genre. Coming off the back of Hard Corps Contra enjoyed a new wave of popularity and quality.
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