Weapon of Choice

Weapon of Choice is set in the year 2188. After a failed attempt at colonizing a planet outside the solar system about a century ago, suddenly aliens ships appeared and crashed on a series of islands. To make matters worse, the surviving alien proceeded to attack the surrounding area. Now a special force called Solus Contingent, associated with the United Nations Police, are sent in to clean up the mess...

This is a side-scrolling platformer in the classic Contra style: the player character moves through the level and always shoots one of the carried guns (unlimited ammo) in order to kill alien opposition. The guns can be aimed in any direction by using an analogue stick and all of them also have alternate functions, e.g. one works similar to a jet pack and another one extends and allows to shoot around corners. Additionally the player character wears a spiderpack which clings on walls and ceilings.

The player character goes down after one hit, but the game automatically slow downs time when danger arises (how long before can be set in the options) and therefore allows a dodge. If this fails, one of the other soldiers enters the scene to carry on. This means that the number of available soldiers also equals the number of available lives. However, the active soldiers may carry one hurt soldier on the back who, after beating the level boss, enters the character roster. Additionally to the player's failed attempts, there are also other soldiers which may be collected. Each one has a unique gun.

The levels have branching points which lead to different storylines and eventually different endings. For example, shortly after starting the first level the player is contacted by a mysterious alien voice which asks to abandon the original order and to continue to a different location.

The DX release version of the game is rebalanced, with achievements, secret MBG pies to discover, and six difficulty settings.