Contra Rogue Corps Preview – Sh#t Gets Over the F@cking Top At E3 2019

While playing Contra Rogue Corps at E3 the other day, I had many, many questions. These include, but are not limited to, “why does this young woman have a mouth on her stomach that eats swords?, “how does this buff handsome man kick a literal nuke into the floor?” and “why does this panda-cyborg-human have such a complicated backstory?” I didn’t get answers to any of these questions, but that’s totally fine. I got to slaughter a bunch of skinless creatures using a bunch of ridiculous guns and super powers. And really, isn’t that what one looks for in this sort of game?

I’m genuinely asking, because Contra Rogue Corps took me completely by surprise. It feels like a 3D twin-stick sequel to Shank, which is a neat idea in its own right. I love over-the-top nonsense, and Contra Rogue Corps delivers that in spades in every single category. From the story to the gameplay to the visuals, everything is permanently set to 110%, and it just works.

Set after the world has gone to spit, Contra Corps puts you in the grimy shoes of the Jaegers, a group of crude and violently eccentric mercenaries who were seemingly made to slay monsters at an alarming rate. Each Jaeger has an absolutely ridiculous design, which all look amazing thanks to the work of various Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse comic artists. A lot of work clearly went into making this hellish world so glorious, and it shows.

Gameplay-wise, Contra Corps is an almost-top-down twin-stick shooter, surprisingly enough. I think it works pretty well in this case, as I had quite a lot of fun unloading scores of bullets and energy beams into foes. Special abilities and bombs, which can both do an absolute number on even the biggest group of enemies, make things even messier, as enemies will fly towards the screen or splatter all over. It’s concerningly satisfying to mow through hordes of foes in the most gratuitous ways possible, as it’s the epitome of a power fantasy in game form.

There also seems to be a good deal of customization present (with no microtransactions in sight). You can obtain new organs through missions, which you can transplant into your characters to give them stat increases and upgrades. You can lower your weapon cooldown time too, which is handy, as the guns in the demo all heated up at a surprisingly fast pace.

Contra Rogue Corps is a lot of gory, ridiculous, and silly fun, and I’m interested in trying out the full thing on September 24th.