Neon Chrome

 
Developer: 10tons Ltd
Released: Apr 2016
Usual Price: £10.99
Similar To: Daedalus-No Escape / Enter The Gungeon / Jydge / Time Recoil / Utopia 9
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY

Neon Chrome throws the player into a huge office complex located within a dark neon-lit metropolis not unlike that depicted in the Blade Runner film of old. Armed with heavy-duty fire power and in true twin-stick fashion you fire at and destroy mechs, robots, humanoids, turrets and droids along with structures of various kinds in a quest to reach the ultimate evil boss atop of a deeply intimidating and towering 30-floor building. It's all very high-tech and security is enorm so you must first settle down inside a pod at your home base to don your special suit equipped with the power to wield special abilities (known as assets) and to carry a primary weapon and a special weapon requiring energy. You enter one of six unlockable capsules, matching six chapters, and then go and wreak havoc in an attempt to get ever further up the system.  

BALANCE & PACE

However this is an RPG so before venturing forth you'll need to decide what to spend all those credits on that you have looted from previous runs. This is done at your home base and just involves approaching a number of vending machines that dish out boosts such as extra health, damage, luck and energy in exchange for all that cash. You can also buy weapons, perks and various abilities but as these are given out at the beginning and can be found from various capsules anyway I don't really see the point. You get portalled to the floors via those little pods and - a tiny bit stronger and effective each time - it's just you against the corporate machine. Obviously seeing the action in plan view helps you anticipate and strategise so pulling off moves to pick out adversaries like you're the world number one assassin never gets old. 
       

PRESENTATION & DESIGN 

The environments and the destruction caused therein are the true stars in this explosive game. Each high-tech floor is randomly generated and consists of all sorts of security measures to combat intruders. But the designers have made obliterating it so much fun that you know you'll be back for more. Mechs and robots get beautifully crunched, humans die with the right cries of anguish, structures explode with force, and equipment shatters in a sea of glittering shards. The movement and control of your character plus the way ammo rattles out and then diminishes from your firearm makes the whole rampage extremely realistic. The menu count is very low both in and outside the game which keeps the player's attention and focus on the proper job.  

PROGRESS SYSTEM

Progress can be tracked in many ways in Neon Chrome. The simplest is to note how many of the six lower chambers at your home base have changed from red to green. These act as unlockable checkpoints through the six chapters. Secondly, after you've entered the "Chapter Chamber" you're taken to a side-view of the building and shown how the floors are laid out between chapters so noting which floor you're on is another way of measuring progress. Finally, there are those vending machines at your home-base that upgrade health and weapons etc. These can be maxed out at 100 and so how high they are gives a clear indication of how strong you have become. 

CONCLUSION

I have already noted how the destructive environments and authentic realism help make Neon Chrome the great game that it is but I would do the game a disservice if I didn't mention the high quality of sound. This aspect is a major plus and it's the little things like the blips, clicks and bleeps of certain mechanisms activating as well as the explosions and guns reloading that really helps to immerse the player. Other extras such as awesome special weapons, booby traps to be avoided, interesting and scarily designed bosses to defeat, extra enemies drafted in to enhance the challenge, and timed bombs all help to increase the tension and are all welcome additions that will guarantee that you'll return to Neon Corp many times.