It’s time to rebel against the machines that have dominated the planet! Choose your hero and shoot like they used to in this fabulous Run’n’gun, heir to the mythical Contra saga. In the Blazing Chrome review, we tell you about this fabulous trip to the past.
Right when I finished with the final boss of Blazing Chrome , one of those tributes appeared that is made to put your nostalgia to the surface. It does this by “loading” an audio track to accompany the final scenes of the game and emulating the scratched-disc sound that early CD players had when they had to clumsily turn to find the right track. Yes, that noise that sounded like you were scratching glass.
Like this, there are many examples in JoyMasher’s work . They are still beautiful, but effective. The best, however, are the ones you get while you play. Who does not remember those 16-bit game slowdowns that unintentionally turned the entire sequence into slow motion? There are bosses in Blazing Chrome that use this same resource, although now on memory everywhere, to return you to the past, but with the knowledge that that particular boss would be practically impossible without that slowdown. That’s nostalgia applied to game mechanics. You can not ask for much more.
Blazing Chrome has been a revitalizing experience. I have fallen into all the traps of my own memories, playing Run’n’guns and Shoot’em ups. Wanting to evoke those moments as they were. Here, Blazing Chrome proposes the same to you, but from a reconciling perspective, which understands perfectly that the player you were twenty years ago continues to live in you, but probably does not have the time or the patience to go overboard again Against: Hard Corps, for example, in one sitting.
Fight for humanity in Blazing Chrome! This is your launch trailer
So Blazing Chrome proposes you an alternative. Finish the game on medium difficulty, with five lives, infinite continuations, and some well-measured checkpoints between the five missions the arcade presents. Once you get it, if you get it, which is not an easy task, you can unlock the most classic mode, with three lives, limited continuations and no control points between mission and mission.
Special weapons are very useful for the toughest enemies, keep them well before losing them along with a life.
With this decision, which tries to direct your nostalgia and your belief that you can handle the hard way, JoyMasher makes sure that you watch the entire game to the end and that you learn its patterns. That you train, that you feel the challenge that it hides and unlock the other two characters and modes available. And now, if you want, you can try to finish the game with three lives and three continuations, or with that long-awaited 1cc. But at least, for those who no longer have the nerves, nor the patience, nor the time, nor the reflexes, they will still feel the same sensations as when you manage to advance in Hollow Knight or overcome a world of Celeste . That satisfaction in overcoming a challenge, coupled with progression.
Blazing Chrome, run and shootBlazing Chrome is capable of perfectly emulating the original sensations of that representative of the Run’n’gun that was Contra. Perhaps being his stage in the 16 bits with Contra Hard Corps from Mega Drive and Super Probotector: Alien Rebels from Super Nintendo his greatest inspirations. From the graphical palette to the rendering techniques for special phases, which emulate the famous 3D effect using Mode 7, making your way through the five missions proposed by Blazing Chrome is a true delight. And yes, of course the video game does not forget those spectacular phases on a motorcycle or aboard gigantic mecha.
The mythical motorcycle phases could not miss the appointment, perfect to add more speed to the arcade.
I even like the playable additions or how it interprets the already known ones. The ability to get rid of enemies that get too close with a melee attack is very well implemented, although it sometimes costs more than the account to understand well how to execute it perfectly. The ability to stop your progress at the time of shooting, by pressing a button, I feel more useful than ever, because although Blazing Chrome knows that there will be good speedrunners that go through the levels at high speeds, it has built each level so you can clean it better than in the original Contra. By combining these two abilities, you can better control the attacks that arrive not only in front of the player, but also the feared enemies that attack from behind and from the air.
I like that feeling of not feeling pressured to move forward quickly. It’s still a good option, as there are Power Ups that increase your speed and unlock double jump, but if you are a more methodical gamer, you also have your site in Blazing Chrome. At the end of the day, any strategy is good as long as it brings you to the end of the level alive. I think Blazing Chrome does a great job of giving those clues to the player, making them aware of which Power Up is best each time. If the shield or attack upgrade is worth picking up , knowing when to keep the special weapons to evaporate a tough enemy at a stroke and when to use the standard weapon to advance.
It beautifully emulates the original sensations of the mythical ContraIt is not exempt, however, from some things that could improve or a certain involution, even if we look at the most recent installments of Contra itself. The enemies are very well designed, but maybe overuse of the repetitionone of the most basic in the final stages of the game. Also, although ending the game in normal mode unlocks a handful of options, we have seen other examples, such as the wonderful and somewhat unknown Hard Corps Uprising, who knew how to give a longer life to these types of arcade experiences through progress options or the inclusion of an online mode for two players, something that is missing in Blazing Chrome. The study claims to be discussing the possibility of incorporating this cooperative online facet, but at the moment they do not promise anything. Not only that, but the more platforming factor the saga explored here has been omitted by focusing all his attention on the classics. There is however a classic Boss Rush mode , to face all the final bosses of the game and the addition oftwo extra characters focused on melee once we finish the adventure for the first time.
Final bosses are tough, but they all have a pattern to learn and master. It is time to take out the heavy artillery.
Despite the fact that Blazing Chrome tries to emulate that characteristic graphic section of 16-bit 2D, the images can be misleading, since the game in motion displays a greater variety of effects, scenarios and, above all, colors that could be created at that time. Just take a look at the final bosses, multiple and varied in each of the phases, which will always test our nerves until we learn all their patterns correctly, while sometimes they leave us some very successful sequences and effects. Special mention for the final boss and his “dimensional alterations”. The options also allow us to add a few filters for pixelated graphics, Among which stands out the option of emulating a classic CRT monitor, even with its curvature.
“Very good”
Blazing chrome
Blazing Chrome is a good game not because it rescues a successful and classic Run’n’gun formula, but because it recreates it with a great level design and mechanics that at all times seek the player’s demand, with a very well measured difficulty. JoyMasher wants you to pass her game. Although that means infinite continuations, the moments in which we appear are perfectly chosen so that you feel the challenge and the improvement through the practice and learning of patterns. Once the adventure is over, this is where the arcade begins and this time machine takes you completely back to that past that you are so eager to show you and so eager to relive.
- Great interpretation of the aesthetics and mechanics of the time, but evolved.
- Very well measured difficulty, for those who want a challenge from the present and the past.
- Repeat of some enemies in the final bars.
- More game modes and online options are missing.
