It's Contra
I love Contra. I use to play Contra III for hours with friends and even though I would get my ass handed to me I still came back each time. Hard Corps: Uprising is Contra. Somethings, such as the artwork and leveling up, have changed or are new to the Contra series, but the basics are all there.
This game acts as a prequel to Contra: Hard Corps. You actually get to play Bahamut, the boss of Hard Corps and if you download the extra characters then you have up to five characters to reek devastation all across where ever this game takes place. The classic weapons such as the Laser and the Spread shot are all back and a bit more kick ass than before, each with two possible level tiers. Other level tiers include extra health, lives and various combat moves such as tackle or reflect. The combat is just like other contra games, run and shoot everything that moves. The boss battles are ridiculous, falling from a battleship with cars and metal platforms all around while a giant flying somethingorother smashes everything in its path in order to try and kill you. Things are still just as epic as before.
I know people have complained about check points and things like that and I will say there are two I can think of that suck a lot. The first level has the last check point posted before the boss but there are sequences that occur afterwards that could still result in an easy death for your character. The other is at the end before the final boss battle, this fight is in three stages but would be arguably better if split into 2 stages, checkpoint and final stage. Well that is if you want things to be handed to you on a silver plate and if I remember correctly, Contra is about punishing and rewarding the player, not making things super easy. I will say some of the sound clips are terrible. The first boss clip sounds like absolute crap when it is introduced. What is suppose to be a yell that strikes fear in the player will have them laughing their ass off instead. But that is really my only complaint with an otherwise great game.
I like this game. It reminds me of the older Contra games and it's a nice revival of a piece of my childhood that has been given a few new colors and a little artistic tweak. I just hope the franchise doesn't go dormant again. I still feel Contra could be millions of times better than it has been. Until then though, this will do.