Contra is back and is taking on a battle royale form | CBT Review - Contra: Tournament

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Contra: Tournament brings the iconic Contra series to the mobile battle royale genre, offering players a fresh take on the popular gaming formula. A Closed Beta Test for Contra: Tournament has recently started, allowing players to experience and provide feedback on this upcoming new title.

🟩Pros

+Well-optimized test build

+Gunplay looks solid

+Traditional and familiar battle royale game mechanics

🟥Cons

-Pay-to-Win cosmetics

-Deviation from classic arcade Contra style

-Positional sound Issues

Contra: Tournament is a third-person battle royale survival game designed for mobile devices. In this fresh but pleasantly surprising take on the Contra franchise, you and up to 100 players engage in a fierce battle to claim the title of the ultimate winner within a vast and sprawling map.

The gameplay of Contra: Tournament follows the familiar battle royale convention, pitting up to 100 players against each other in a sprawling map. Upon dropping in with a thrilling rocket riding jump sequence, players will have to scavenge for weapons, armor, and supplies. The current only map available, Galuga Islands, already provides ample space for exploration, driving, and intense encounters with other players. Currently, the game only allows you to play in squads of 4, with on option of playing in solo or duo, but that’s probably going to change as the game develops.

A nod to the Contra series' roots, the game features the classic double jump summersault mechanic, allowing players to more easily reach higher elevation, compared to other battle royale games.

While the game deviates from the fast-paced, arcade shooter style of its predecessors, the third person movement feels smooth, and the gunplay is solid, ensuring an engaging experience for battle royale enthusiasts. As far as the gameplay formula goes, it is all Contra but name only. Despite being a test build, the game is surprisingly optimized, and the map design is visually appealing.

Contra: Tournament introduces a roster of five characters, each with their own distinct active and passive abilities to differentiate them from each other. Series poster boys Bill and Lance make a welcome appearance, alongside new additions like the cute Aleta and female fatale Lilia. Browny, a combat robot featured in Contra: Hard Corps, also returns in this game with a redesigned look that closely resembles Pathfinder from Apex Legends. Their unique passive and active skills offer strategic depth and allow players to experiment with different playstyles. Aleta's support-focused abilities, for instance, can prove invaluable in team-based modes.

The game offers a wide array of weapons, ranging from fictional firearms with real-life resemblances to futuristic laser weapons which are more rare. Players can loot these weapons from the game world or find them in supply drops. Players can also loot backpacks, armor, and helmets scattered throughout the map. However, it's worth noting that these items do not reflect in the characters' visual appearance. This design choice is primarily influenced by the game's focus on cosmetic customization, which takes precedence over altering the character's visual representation based on gameplay items.

As a live service game, Contra: Tournament incorporates familiar features such as login bonuses, weekly events, and in-game cosmetics available for purchase. However, it is important to acknowledge that the game currently implements a pay-to-win scheme. This scheme involves certain weapon cosmetics sold in the store providing performance advantages, such as improved aim speed, stability, recoil, accuracy, magazine capacity, and other aspects. It is crucial to consider how this implementation may impact the balance and fairness of gameplay.

Galuga Islands, the current sole map in Contra: Tournament, impresses with its size and clean visual fidelity, no unnecessary elements are present, resulting in a good performance and clear line of sight for a competitive battleground. It also features Regular Battle Royale and Boss Challenge, although they are not really much different from each other, one just adds boss challenges on top of a Battle Royale showdown.

While the game has decent sounds for the guns, there are occasional issues with footsteps and positional audio. As a result the sound experience is somewhat of a mixed bag for me. On numerous occasions, there are instances where I keep hearing some footsteps coming from behind me, only to realize 99% of the time it's just my own footsteps, it's just better to rely on the mini-map footstep markers to know the general enemy position.

Conclusion:

A deviation from its arcade shooter roots, Contra: Tournament delivers an enjoyable mobile battle royale experience, combining familiar elements with its own unique Contra twist. The smooth movement, solid gunplay, and well-optimized gameplay even this early in a closed beta test is a good indicator of its potential. It’s true that the pay-to-win scheme and sound design issues detract from an otherwise enjoyable experience, but with some refinements and careful balancing, Contra: Tournament has the potential to become a successful game upon its release. That being said, I am skeptical about how well it will fare in an already saturated mobile battle royale market.

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