Contra: Operation Galuga review: Welcome back to the jungle

Konami's Contra series has had its peaks and valleys. It's coming off one of its bigger valleys in the form of 2019's dreadful Contra: Rogue Corps. In the wake of that mess, it was fair to ask if Konami even remembered how to make Contra games anymore. Fortunately, the publisher reached out to a developer that could, recruiting Shantae studio WayForward, who had previously put together the underrated Contra 4 on the Nintendo DS. Konami and WayForward's latest collaboration is Contra: Operation Galuga, a game meant to evoke the spirit of the original games in more ways than one. Operation Galuga features some elements of the original game, but brings plenty of new material to the table.

Band of brothers

Contra: Operation Galuga features two ways to experience its campaign: the exposition-heavy Story Mode and the more-straightforward Arcade Mode. Story Mode retells the original story of the 1980s with hulked-out bros Bill Rizer and Lance Bean sent out to the jungle islands of Galuga to take on the terrorist group known as Red Falcon. In the 80s, players just sort of accepted that these two beefcakes were on a mission to eliminate terrorists and it just sorta turned into a fight against aliens. In those days, weird out-of-nowhere story twists like that were just accepted as the norm. Story Mode actually takes the effort to explain how the enemy went from a terrorist cell to a race of evil aliens through detailed, though long-winded, cutscenes that introduce a variety of new characters.

Story Mode's cutscenes help introduce, and ultimately unlock, Operation Galuga's newer characters, like island defender Ariana, double agent Lucia, and steel commando Stanley Ironside. Story Mode is a nice way to flesh out Contra's lore, but it also leads to the realization that lore was never exactly this series' strong suit. Of course, it's possible to skip over the chatter and go straight to the action by jumping into Arcade Mode, but the game's other characters are behind Story Mode, so those who absolutely want to play as any of the aforementioned newcomers will have to sit through the game's narrative. That's too bad, because Story Mode's lore moments will also cut into the middle of gameplay and those moments can either be distracting or bring the action to a halt with no in-between.

Superb C

WayForward dabbles with a few minor gimmicks, which I'll touch on shortly, but Contra: Operation Galuga at its core is the classic run-and-gun formula that has made it so beloved for more than 35 years. Two players can get into Story Mode while up to four friends can get into Arcade Mode, though it's sad to see that there's no online play. Arcade Mode, in particular, almost demands that four friends dive in together. Just like the old days, Contra can be played solo, but it's at its absolute best with a friend.

What makes Operation Galuga interesting is that the game's options allow for players to approach it in a modern way or in the original way. By default, every character will get three lives and can take three hits before dying. However, there's an option that allows for one-hit kills, making it feel like the Contra of old. Likewise, the game will allow for characters to aim their weapons anywhere, but there's also a setting that only allows players to aim in eight directions, like the classic days. There are some contemporary ideas in place, like a double jump and a unique ability (usually a dash), to help with quicker movement. However, regardless of which options users have in place, characters will still die to the classic Contra death sound, giving Operation Galuga a delightful old-school aesthetic.

Vintage Contra power-ups are back just as everyone remembers them: Spread, Laser, Homing, and everything else. It's possible to hold up to two at a time and two of the same type can be stacked for a more powerful version of that attack. Power-ups come at a more frequent pace than in previous titles, but players now have the option to surrender their equipped power-up for a unique special attack. That helps whenever anyone needs a weapon slot opened up. With that said, the action is so fast and frantic that players are still just as likely to accidentally pick up an unwanted power-up at different points and lose whatever trusty one they're currently using, especially in speeder bike stages.

On that subject, Operation Galuga's stages are tremendous. Individual level design carries the atmosphere of the original Contra titles, but visually, they're a major step up for the series. Environments are beautifully rendered, explosions feel like they have an impact, and the backgrounds are amazingly detailed. The problem here is that the backgrounds can sometimes be so busy that they get distracting. This is especially true with auto-scrolling speeder bike stages, which scroll at a breakneck pace and have so much going on that it gets difficult to track enemy projectiles when they show up on-screen, leading to errant hits.

Boss battles (and mini-boss battles, to a lesser extent) have their ups and downs. They're scaled appropriately, usually taking up a full screen and being presented as an epic threat. It nails that aspect of what it means to be a Contra game. Like the speeder bike, stages, however, there's so much happening that it's tough to keep track of all of it. Some bosses will shoot out projectiles of multiple colors, making it tough to discern what will hurt you and what is just a harmless particle effect. Speaking of not knowing what hurts, some bosses will unleash attacks from both the foreground and background. While the foreground attacks feel manageable, it's sometimes overly difficult to tell which background effects will do harm. For example, the second stage sees the boss jump into the background and fire off a laser that goes all the way across the screen. The idea is to jump through the laser that isn't cutting into the foreground, but it's often tough to tell which part that is. Boss fights should feel epic, but they shouldn't feel unfair, and Operation Galuga's sometimes do.

That's not to say the campaign isn't doable. The last thing to note is that players earn Credits over the course of their playthroughs. Those Credits can be used to pick up different perks like extra health or a different starting power-up. Players can earn these Credits at a decent pace, especially if they start fresh Arcade Mode runs. There aren't a lot of perks to pick up, but they're a nice bonus to aim for, especially for players who need just a little more help to get through a stage.

Local 'Operation'

Contra: Operation Galuga offers plenty of new sights and challenges while retaining most of what made this series great in the first place. It can be old-school to a fault, though, as evidenced by its lack of online co-op.

It's a solid entry to the series, but it has its issues beyond its slow-paced story. There are some noticeable performance issues, especially as the screen fills up with more and more enemies and effects. Operation Galuga has a tremendous soundtrack comprised of original tracks that pay homage to the quintessential Contra songs of yesteryear, but there were multiple instances where I hit a glitch that left the background music muted. Operation Galuga is certainly Contra, but it can have its janky moments. Still, it's a welcome entry to the series and shows that the Contra series still packs a lot of firepower.

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch code provided by the publisher. Contra: Operation Galuga will release on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on Tuesday, March 12 for $39.99 USD. The game is rated T.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?