Contra gets the 3D treatment but something is missing

Fancy some Contra? If you owned an NES back in 1988, you’re probably getting misty-eyed from the nostalgia. Since its original release, Contra has occasionally returned to punish/entertain the hardcore fan. Machinima recently came out with a different kind of Contra—a Half-Life 2 mod, to be exact. The result: You get to see the entire jungle stage in 3D, but instead of the machine-gun toting Billy or Lance, you get Gordon Freeman, the Half-Life protagonist.

It sure is impressive to see a faithful recreation of the level (you’ll forgive the absence of the one-hit kill), but I had to ask—where is the Spread gun? Sure, the creator placed in a machine gun (which is actually the HL2 submachine gun) and a Fire rifle, but not every weapon is in there. In fact, even the Laser is noticeably absent.

Look, I’m glad to see a 3D version of Contra’s first level, but would it be too much to ask to see the appropriate weapons? These weapons made Contra enjoyable. Let’s face it; it’s not entertaining to repeatedly get killed as a result of getting shot by a hard-to-see bullet or being touched by a random alien.

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