If, like me, you grew up in the ’80s, you will remember a game called Contra. Whether intentional or not, developer and publisher Retrowave have brought us Iron Meat, and I found it impossible not to draw a comparison to it. I believe Retrowave have taken strong inspiration from Contra.

Yuri Markov, a scientist, was conducting secret experiments on the moon on an entity called “The Meat”, a ravenous alien that consumes and transforms iron into mutations. Escaping containment and finding its way to Earth, it spawns a horde of mutations in a massive feeding frenzy. It is up to you to destroy these abominations, then head to the moon to stop The Meat at its source.

As a run-and-gun, shoot ’em-up, two-dimensional, platforming side scroller, the controls are easy, only consisting of jumping, shooting, and switching weapons. Iron Meat can be played on a keyboard and mouse, or as I prefer, a gamepad, as using a thumbstick makes aiming much easier. It can also be played solo or with a partner, though playing co-op will double the strength and number of enemies you come up against.

Choosing between three difficulty levels, which reduce available lives, strengthen The Meat, and add additional obstacles as you make it harder, you will be challenged over the nine levels. Completing these will reward you with experience, ranking you up to unlock additional cosmetic characters to play as, or alternatively, use their parts to customize the original, mixing and matching heads, torsos, arms, and legs, allowing you to make a unique character.

Iron Meat is a simple game, consisting of killing things and blowing them up, obtaining bonuses to improve your weapons, increasing your score, or offering temporary upgrades such as an increased rate of fire, and staying alive will always be your primary goal. Death resets your weapon, reverting it back to its most basic form and removing any temporary upgrades. Enemies are interesting, but the bosses are the true highlight, coming with phases and making for interesting end-of-stage battles, and in my opinion, this is the main selling point.

Iron Meat is very short, and a single play-through can be finished in about an hour. If you’re after something to quickly smash out, or you’re the kind of person who likes to speedrun levels while increasing the difficulty, you’ll be content with this one.

Much like arcade machines of the late 90s, Iron Meat uses detailed pixel art style graphics, and colouring is exceptionally well presented, with bright red splatters of blood, vibrant pew pews as you fire your weapons, and bright, stylised explosions, but they never overpower the environment. These become more interesting as the game progresses, so being able to differentiate surfaces through all the mayhem is a testament to the care Retrowave has put into how Iron Meat is presented.

Additionally, if you want to relive the glorious days when arcades were all the rage, they’ve included an option to apply a CRT filter in the settings, giving those of us who remember Contra some very nostalgic vibes.

With a heavy rock guitar leading the charge, you can’t help but puff up your chest and run headlong into danger to save the planet. In contrast, the sound effects are just good, with each weapon sounding unique, but not really offering the same excitement music does.

The riffs invoke the feeling of playing some of the more retro games, but they still have that modern twist. However, just like the CRT filter, you can switch out the audio settings to use 8-bit sound, the retro filter completing your nostalgic experience.

For most people, Iron Meat will be an average game; one that you will probably play through once or twice before putting it away and forgetting about it. On the other hand, with it essentially being a clone of the original Contra games, it’s a great way to relive the glorious days of gaming in an arcade, and if you liked this genre, you’ll be more than happy with what’s on offer, even though it’s very short.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove