Contra III: Alien Wars: by Wiitube77

The controls for this game whether you are playing it on the SNES or on the Wii are virtually the same, the following is for when the game is side scrolling.

D-Pad provides the movement and aiming
Y is the fire button
X switching between the two weapons you can carry
B allows you to jump
A lets off a nuke to destroy or damage every enemy on the screen
L&R along with Y allows you to do a jumping/attacking move
Just holding L&R makes your character pose with both guns on hips for the camera

When you are on a level that is looking down from the top the controls switch a little bit.

D-Pad still allows you move but L&R turn you in the respective directions and B lets you go prone to avoid damage.

Over all both sets of controls are mapped out fairly well, though if you haven't played it before or for sometime you are liable to hit the nuke button a few times when you don't need to and waste them.

There is not any alternate sets of controls or ways to customize them which is not to detrimental to game play.

Each weapon has its own unique and distinct firing sound. The in game music is very fitting mirroring the pace of the game and picking up tempo when needed. Other sound effects from your character dieing to enemies to the nuke are all very well chosen. Though the music may not be awe inspiring it gets the job done as do the other sound effects.

You can't look at an older game and be that critical of the graphics because you are looking back on it. But I feel that even today this game has decent if not great graphics for its day and its game play.

You can certainly tell what you are doing and what is going on, though at times there may be so much stuff on screen that you might miss something.

The story of the game centers around an alien invasion and devastation of the Earth and the only ones to stop it are two guys who have to destroy every last cotton picking one of those alien bastards.

Initially you are armed with two machine guns but can soon pick up weapons ranging from a flamethrower to a lazer (both of with work even better on the top down veiw) to a homing missile.



While the game only has 6 levels they are multi stage levels, each with its own distinct style from the first level of an batteried city to a wild ride on a group of missiles being fired at a alien ship to an desert infest with alien scum.

This is also the type of game were you don't get to make mistakes, one hit kills you, you fall you die, no life meter. You do get extra lives and some continues but that is it.

Overall this game is very fun playing one player or two player. But the game is much better played with a friend as it allows you to kill more alien bastards.


Ratings:
Controls 8.8
Sound 8.7
Graphics/Art Design 9.0
Game Play/Story 9.4