What is Neo Contra? It's absurd. It's old. It's brief. It's unforg🥃iving. And in somജe ways it's compelling... OK, so is it actually good?

That depends more than𒉰 usual on your own attitude to games, but you don't have to be some faded geek in rose tinted glasses to enjoy it. At least, not once y𒊎ou've found how to change the difficulty to 'easy'.

Cont💜ra was an (apparently) popular top-down scrollin🔴g shooter in the oldest of old-school styles, though it mixed directions to create a feeling of 3D.

This new version (hence the 'Neo' - nothing to do with The Matrix) is actually 3D, which is allegedly somethi♐ng we shouꦚld be excited about.

However, the game workꦺs in exactly the same way. Still. Never mind, eh?

There's not much time for sightseeing anyway. One hit kills you.ꦰ Touching an enemy kills you. At times, avoiding all the bullets, rockets, blade-swinging soldiers and electrical attacks is like throwing a letter through a postbox from the end of the garden.

In a storm. It's incredibly hard, and with only five lives with which to finish an entire level - which includes a boss fight - near-endlജess repetition is the order of t💎he day.

ꦇFortunately, that Easy setting we mentioned gives you 30 lives instead, letting beginners at l💛east see more than the first five minutes.

You might think four levels is pretty paltry (and you might be right) ꦦbut with such concentrated action, it's not the problem it could be. Even on Easy it's going to take a few hours to complete - on Normal, possibly days.

And it's all about experience, knowledge. At first, when you don't know the ✨attac🦩k patterns of the many enemies, it's easy to be overwhelmed.

But keep at it 🐎and you build an understanding that lets you avoid pa🌜in and exploit the inevitable weak spots. It's a classic gameplay tactic.

Each character has three weapon sets, but really there's little between them🧜 bar the look - each has a targeted mi✨ssile, a high-rate-of-fire type thing and a grenade thing.

✃There's also little difference between the characters, and both appear in the utterly ludicrous cutscenes whether they were the𝄹re in-game or not.

It's always inte🅘nse, however - a pace unlike 'normal' games now - making other 3D shooters look snail's pace. And just how much of a change you want will determine your feelings about Neo Contra: it's undeniably old, absurd, brief and unforgiving.

But if the parade of war-based first-person shooters aren't lighting you up any m🌃ore, it could be exactly what you need.

Neo Contra is out for PS2 on 25 February