Time trials and other score-based systems aren't anything new in video games, though never have I ever played a game as enticing to perfect as Neon White. 15 hours in, and I'm barely halfway through. I'm too stubborn to finish a level until I've beaten all my friends.

Presentation-wise, there's nothing quite as appealing to me as this. Beautiful visuals, character design to die for, and a score done by my favorite band of all time. Couldn't ask for anything better or more fitting.

What keeps this game from being a full 5 stars is a lacking sense of scale. The game's pretty damn long, as mentioned, but it also feels a bit bare bones in other areas. A main cast of 5 characters is tiny, one or two more named Neons with their own designs would go a long way. Another symptom of (I'm assuming) a lack of resources, is that it does a lot of explaining locations in the world rather than showing them, making it feel smaller than heaven probably should.

Still, this game skyrocketed into becoming one of my all-time favorites as soon as I played it, and has left its mark on me in an interesting way by pushing me to change my IRL name. That's something no other game can take credit for, meaning this is the best game ever made by default. Go play it.

Neon white is a game that is really damn good and fun through gameplay, with story being pretty good, I like how the game uses the guns, as cards that can be used for clearing enemies, bounce mechanic and the discard ability, this along with Hi-fi rush are the few games that made me more immersed into this world, with the jumping and the enemies shooting at you, it made me feel excited to try a new map.

The story is pretty solid, its nothing much than a light and dark story, though that is not a knock against the story as there are twist and surprises that kept me engaged throughout the story.

The characters were pretty good, I liked them, they were either funny, tragic or interesting with some making root for them whether what they wanted, I especially liked White as a protagonist(Thank you, Steve Blum.)

While I would call this game a masterpiece, there are a few issues I had this that slightly annoyed me, First I felt like some of the characters did not really have screen time, though it is minor it still rubbed me the wrong way. The second problem is that the last levels can feel cheap in terms of finding every and it was painful to do, at some points it felt like pulling teeth, though the last issue is that there are some bits that annoyed me a bit in the story like they do the Beach episode or the anti-climatic way the villain is handled, these bits kind of made me disappointed or just sad.

Overall, the game is really good, even if it has those issues, I can highly recommend it as an excellent game.

Pros:
+Excellent music and presentation
+Excellent game design. Each level is like a puzzle to complete with little mechanical skills required.
+Very addicting. The levels are short with an emphasis on replayability to get the best scores possible. I never got bored once.

Cons:
-Characters are unlikeable, story is fine. The only blemish on an otherwise perfect game.

game so thoughtfully made even the dialogue is speed-runable!

despite the character writing being subpar, everything else about this game is superb. sublime soundtrack. fantastic game design.

also shoutout ben esposito for being the first person ever to put good representation of the jewish religion in a video game.

Sure the dialogue is a little cringey and cheesy at times, but idc. I laughed a few times and enjoyed the characters mostly. I was somewhat invested in the story. Plus I liked the voice cast. Steve Blum is great as always, plus ProZD being here is a plus as well. The game felt very anime. There was even a beach section so you know it's legit. Haha.

But the GAMEPLAY! This game is extremely fun. Speedrunning through levels is the most satisfying thing and the movement feels great. The card mechanic is so cool and the levels themselves are fun to traverse. I had a damn good time with this game and basically loved every second of it.

As much as I would like to platinum it on playstation, ain't no way in hell that's happening. Beat the ENTIRE GAME twice without dying? Yeah ain't no way. But I still loved playing the game and it was worth the $25.