Project Neon Review

If you are of a certain age like myself or older, one of your first core gaming memories is probably at an arcade playing a shoot em up like Galaga, The genre has evolved over the years into games like R-Type and Raiden, classic and easy to pick up, difficult to master. While rare these days every so often a new game comes along to relive that classic feeling. That’s where developer Fullset comes in with their new game, Project Neon.

Project Neon at its heart is the very definition of the classic shoot em up game. You start with your basic ship and only a few enemies on screen while you blast away and defeat them all. As you progress your ship gets more powerful, but the enemies level up as well and your screen quickly fills with them.

There are 3 power-ups, one to boost the main weapon, one that allows you to shoot forwards and sideways and a beam power (still not entirely sure what this one does if I’m honest) that you can pick up for your ship while you defeat enemies. You get them by defeating enemies and when they pop up is completely random. The interesting part about how Fullset has set this up is that every time they do pop up, all 3 pop up at once in a circle. That circle slowly spins and whichever of the 3 power-ups you decide to fly into will be the one you level up.

This adds a slight bit of strategy to your gameplay as you will have to think for that split second which one to pick up. Typically most games of this style just drop power-ups at you and you fly around and grab them. It is one of the few ways Project Neon stands out compared to others.

I will say the limited number of power-ups and what they actually do is a bit underwhelming. It would have been nice to see a bit more variety but it’s not the end of the world. And in a game that is so short keeping it so limited makes some sense.

A Short, Well Paced Experience

As mentioned, Project Neon is a rather short experience. You can get through the games 5 levels in about 30 minutes. I think that stays true to its arcade style. And if you are like me and not the greatest at these games don’t sweat it. You can get up to 5 lives (standard is 3) to get through the game and if you run out of lives, well you can just hit continue and they reset, along with your score.

This system is both a gift and a curse. On the one hand it makes the game accessible for everyone. On the other hand usually the points of these games is to see who can get through the game with the best score. You can of course still do that by having a really good one so not all is lost.

As you progress through each level you will notice a bit of a theme based on the ground below you. You will fight over the skies of different planets and the enemies will change a little bit depending on what level you are on. They definitely get more difficult as you progress, seemingly as you gain more powers, though you do lose your power-ups if you hit continue which can make the later levels even more challenging, especially at the boss at the end of each level.

Overall though I never got frustrated or anything. If I was going for a no death run I might have felt different, but for those just wanting a fun shoot em up, Project Neon provides that. I will say that the game defaults as a side scrolling experience but you can change to a vertical experience which made things that more more enjoyable and manageable, at least for me.

Verdict

Despite it’s very short run time of about 30 minutes, Project Neon is a fun shoot em up that will bring you back to the 90s. It feels good to play and has that nostalgia factor. However with its limited weapon types and lack of any game modes to give it replayability, this one will likely have a short shelf life in your playing rotation.