Currently in limited Closed Beta, Contra Returns is a new mobile being developed by an internal studio at China’s Tencent Games based on the the classic Konami IP, Contra. If you did not know, a live-action movie based on Contra is also in the works. Rather than just the 2 original characters, Bill and Lance, there are now a total of 11 playable characters, some introduced in the video below.
Each character has his or her own unique skills to level up, and equipping selected rare weapons will also trigger new passive skills. Characters are collected via paying cash or collecting pieces to form a full one, each given a grade, similar to card collecting games. There is also a huge variety of guns and equipment, each able to be upgraded and modified in various ways, almost similar to a MMORPG.
Being developed exclusively for the China market, it should come to no surprise many of these features will require players to invest tons of cash, a practice which is common. However, I am really impressed with the amount of game content and playable modes the team managed to reiterate from traditional online games. There are boss raids, PVP, endless tower, co-op, and even a jumping mode!
Just to touch more on the classic 2-man co-op, players will be playing Contra in the single-player story campaign most of the time, with a pet system unlocked at level 40. At level 20, a dedicated 2-man co-op mode will be available. Each map can only be played 3 times per day in this mode, which is kind of a major let-down. So yeah, there is not co-op gameplay at all times, one of the core classic features.
