anime

Five minutes into Anima: Gate of Memories and one could be forgiven for thinking that they were bearing witness to a slightly substandard Devil May Cry clone. Persevere beyond the first few hours, …
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Hard Corps: Uprising, developed by Arc System Works and published by Konami, is the latest in the Contra series, available now for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Hard Corps Uprising tells a zany tale about a corrupt nation or an evil dictator or both, some other evil bits here and there but truth be told the story is not the reason to buy the game, however there are many others. This latest installment in the Contra series, though not named as such, revamps the visuals with a crisp anime-esque appeal and animations and tops it off with an exciting hard rock soundtrack, as is Arc’s trademark.

Hard Corps epitomizes an action shoot ’em up in every way, for better and for worse. Tons of enemies on screen of which there are decent variety, but not too many you have to learn something new every two seconds, though the same can’t be said for the boss fights. The game starts a bit slow and there’s no formal tutorial so certain elements of the game go unexplained, but once you get the hang of the Action Ships and play some of the more inventive levels, Hard Corps shows itself to be as enjoyable and thrilling as any other Contra title. Read More

Are you a SHMUP (shoot ’em up) fan? Have you ever heard of a little game called GRADIUS? If you know of such things and have bee eagerly awaiting Otomedius Excellent, prepare for a postponement of your satisfaction.  Read More