Contra - Hard Corps

Play as one of four different members of the Hard Corps team. Raised in the city slums, Ray Poward is an expert combatant. Sheena Etranzi is a jungle girl especially skilled in guerilla tactics. Brad Fang is part wolf-man, part cyborg, with a Gatling gun grafted onto his left arm. Browny is a robotic intelligence tool who packs a laser.

Each character has a standard machine gun, bombs and four possible weapons pick-ups, including Spread, which fires in five directions at once, Shower Crash, which rains down exploding shells, and Gemini Scatter, which returns like a boomerang. The available weapons depend on which character you are controlling but they are basically the same..

The enemies are varied. Many of the levels have different gimmicks such as hover-bikes or helicopters. The bosses are huge, intimidating, and fun to play against. The graphics themselves are simply stunning. The use of parallax scrolling in some of the levels help convey a realistic view of cityscapes and motion. Everything seems to be beautifully drawn and animated.

Game lets you team up with a friend through more than 10 levels, some of which are hidden. The game has a certain degree of nonlinear play in that there are a number of different pathways to take, storylines to follow, and game endings to achieve. You'll run, jump, slide, climb (on walls and ceilings) and shoot your way through cities, jungles, alien space and other exotic locations. You'll even battle aliens while riding a motorcycle and while perched atop a flying spacecraft.

Game plays fast and furiously and is just as beautiful as any other Genesis game ever created. The game is simply amazing. It just goes to show what talented artists and programmers can do when they put forth the effort.