Contra: Rogue Corps is a hot mess and it isn't a very good Contra game, but it actually isn't a terrible game overall. As long as you aren't offended by its very existence and the fact it's called "Contra" you might even be able to have fun with it. We don't hate it, anyway. Click to read more and watch gameplay.
I'm not actually a Contra fan, so I don't really care that Rogue Corps craps all over the legacy of the beloved series. This shouldn't be all that unexpected considering I've said for years I don't really like most platformers and "difficult for the sake of difficulty" games aren't my thing, but I thought I should clarify that anyway. Contra is just OK to me. I respect it, but I don't, like, play it for fun.
So when Contra: Rogue Corps was announced I was pretty indifferent towards it because it was A). A Contra game, and B). looked freaking awful. It was just really, really unappealing looking when it was first announced. Ugly, generic, boring - it hit the trifecta of suck. Andrew even joked that we should play it but I said I wasn't going to spend $40 just for a joke video.
Then Contra: Rogue Corps had a free weekend on Xbox One so I had no excuse not to play it. And I kind of liked it.
Contra: Rogue Corps is, indeed, a terrible Contra game, but as a co-op third-person arcade shooter it isn't so bad. It immediately reminded me of the forgotten Dreamcast gem, Cannon Spike. Rogue Corps has a lot more depth than Cannon Spike, though, thanks to tons of upgrades and customization, full length levels, and tons of other stuff. Cannon Spike was a short arcade game, after all, so of course it was very short and shallow, but Rogue Corps really does feel like the fleshed out next evolution of that formula.
If Rogue Corps was called Cannon Spike 2 instead of Contra people probably would have liked it. Of course, Cannon Spike was made by Capcom, and Rogue Corps was published by the dried out husk of Konami, but think of the possibilities! Imagine a Capcom x Konami crossover of fan favorite characters shooting their way through these levels instead of the generic IDGAF characters they crammed into this game. It would have been amazing!
But they didn't and they couldn't so we ended up with this. Back to my real point, though, is that Contra: Rogue Corps isn't all that bad. Give it a try for as cheap as you can and you might discover you like it.
