Review: Commando Steel Disaster (DS)
One would think oneself on the corner of Good Times Ave and LOL Blvd when playing a game that has the words “Commando”, “Steel”, and “Disaster” on the game’s cover, accompanied by box art showcasing a smirking grunt who somehow manages to tote a gat larger than his upper body with just one hand. Such is Commando: Steel Disaster, a run-and-gunner that, very much like a digital Diddy, “samples” heavily from SNK Playmore’s beloved military action franchise, but mucks the whole affair up with shortsighted gameplay.
Let’s not pussyfoot here: Commando: Steel Disaster is an unabashed Metal Slug clone. This is evident from the moment when you pop the cart into the DS and tackle the opening level in which you pilot a snowmobile through an artic area blasting rocket-pack wearing enemy troops from the sky. As in SNK Playmore’s aforementioned five-star series, the sprites are all very nice cartoony takes on the hell-on-earth that is war, but without Metal Slug’s hyper-animation. Commando: Steel Disaster’s visuals also suffer from dull, washed-out characters and backgrounds.
Review: Contra (NES)
Nowadays, when folks think of Konami, their minds invariably drift to the wild and wacky adventures of one Solid Snake, as he stealthily makes mincemeat of all manner of sci-fi/supernatural/G.I. Joe-level paramilitary freaks. But if you were to hop into the Way Back Machine and touchdown in the late ’80s/early ’90s the Konami name was associated with another kickass military-themed series: Contra, one of the early (and best) entries in the run-and-gun genre.
The ’80s were filled with such anti-drug slogans as “Just Say No”, “Crack Is Wack”, and the like, but Mrs. Reagan, and dozens of PSAs overlooked Contra’s shoot-everything-that-moves gameplay that had millions of kids strung out and looking for their “just a few minutes, ma!” fix. Bedrooms and living were just really tidy back alleys, really.
Contra’s premise is remarkably simple: two buffed soldiers named Mad Dog and Scorpion are dropped onto a small, alien-infested island that has the most bizarre climate known to man (it somehow pulls off being both tropical AND polar) to regulate in the name of the third rock.
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