Contra: Operation Galuga (Nintendo Switch) Review

Contra: Operation Galuga is alarming at the start of the game. While it is appreciated that the developers attempted a story mode, their efforts couldn't have been more half-hearted. The story is very generic and the tone feels like a G.I. Joe knockoff than being like anything the franchise has had before. Classic Contra drew a lot of inspiration from hardcore R-rated action movies from the 1980s. Titles like Predator, Aliens, First Blood, and The Terminator were the basis for the tone and visual style of the original games. Operation Galuga resembles a cheap mobile game where the characters resemble Playskool versions of Contra concepts. When squinting, some of the bosses and characters kind of look like the H.R. Giger-inspired designs, but now with a lot of soft and round features to make them feel like they were designed for children who love Marvel films.

The script is hopelessly generic. It is written in a very predictable style where it's easy to anticipate what lines will be said next. It also doesn't help that the voice actors' delivery is terrible. At first it would be easy to assume that Bill Rizer's voice actor was a guy trying to sound like Steve Blum, but it actually is Steve Blum. The actor is so utterly disinterested in the material that he ends up sounding like a knockoff of himself.

Even if fans choose to ignore the lame story and focus on the reliable arcade mode, the subpar graphics will still persist. Metroid Dread shows how excellent a gritty 2.5D run-and-gun action game can look, but Operation Galuga ends up looking extremely far behind. There is no grit or artistry. The style goes for a very plain, Fortnite-like visual signature that is devoid of detail. Textures are rough and ugly. Animations are also stiff, which is surprising since WayForward usually puts a lot of care into the animations in their Shantae titles. In most regards, Contra: Rogue Corps ends up looking better, which is sad because that was one rugged-looking game, but it got by because it had distinct and memorable character designs and a gnarly, grungy punk atmosphere.

Somehow, WayForward miscalculated the mechanics of what make a good run-and-gun shooter. A major aspect that most people take for granted is screen real estate. Usually games like this are 4:3 aspect ratio to make sure that incoming foes have a chance to attack players. When in 16:9, the extra screen space gives gamers a vast and wide view of what's coming. This trivialises a great deal of the challenge and there was no thought to at least design the characters to be wider or make the bullets bigger in order to consider the increased space.

Other aspects of balance that were not considered were the weapons. On the harder difficulty, moves using the homing rockets are way too effective in most cases. It is too easy to take baby steps and let the rockets do what they do best and always keep the screen clean of pretty much any foe. In prior Contra titles that featured homing rockets, the core experience focused a lot on boss battles where players had to prioritise evasion. When most of the stages are standard action-platforming, something like the homing rockets trivialises the enemy placement and most of the challenge. The homing rockets are also not a rare power-up - they show up all the time in every stage, and with the perk system, it is possible to always start with them and keep them at level two.

Some of the perks can also be used to create game-breaking combos that can effectively keep the player-character immortal. Abilities that restore hit-points at the cost of sacrificing a power-up are too effective since power-ups show up constantly and the ability to call one with a cooldown always ensures there is some guarantee that it is possible to stay alive indefinitely. Contra titles are traditionally unbelievably intense and hardcore, so for something like Operation Galuga to be shockingly easy is disappointing. The game also does not have difficulty exclusive bosses or a true final boss for the hardest difficulty like in Contra III: The Alien Wars. Operation Galuga gives up everything to anyone who plays it on any mode, which does not offer much incentive to play on the harder modes.

The core mechanics also feel off. The inputs have a noticeable delay, which proves to be the hardest foe in the entire game. Whether it's jumping, dashing, or ducking, expect several milliseconds before following through with the animation. The result makes the controls feel sticky and unresponsive. This is something some might be able to adapt to, but nobody will be able to adjust to the frequent and long load times. This is likely a result of using the Unity Engine, which doesn't always play nice on Nintendo Switch hardware. On more capable hardware, it may not be an issue. It makes replays less enjoyable and more tedious.

Like past entries, this is a short game that offers a lot of replay value, but Operation Galuga does go further than most to keep it fresh. This entry has more playable characters than any other Contra before it, and WayForward went through the effort to make them play slightly different and have an exclusive perk to unlock. The post-game unlockable characters cost an unusually large amount of currency, and while they are worth the effort to earn, the process is tiresome. Expect to replay the story or arcade mode to the end a few dozen times to unlock all of them. Ultimately, though, there are far better run-and-gun options out there, like Blazing Chrome or Gunlord X, that will scratch that itch far better.