after almost 27 hours, i finally managed to get ace rank and gifts for every level (besides the sidequests because i think im ready to be done with this game lol). with that being said, it's really good! i'll admit i'm one of those sickos that didn't read much of the dialogue, since im already playing paradise killer so i've been doing enough reading. the gameplay though ---my lord it is so good. can't speak on playing with controller, but with a keyboard and mouse it plays absolutely flawlessly. tight controls and a variety of weapons gives you the versatility to beat the levels however you like --but you'll wanna do it fast. flying through levels as fast as your hands and mind can is when this game excels the most; not to mention the fantastic machine girl soundtrack that makes getting your best time feel that much more intense. the only issue i really had with the missions is that eventually the gift placement resulted in either "climb up this really high building" or "go search in some random area until you finally stumble upon it", but this can be easily fixed by having a guide on hand. if you've ever thought to yourself that you wanna speedrun a game but don't feel like putting all that time into one thing, neon white gives you the rush that (i assume) speedrunners thrive on.

arcsys signed a deal with god that said they weren't allowed to make a bad fighting game and they still keep that promise to this day. legitimately think this might be one of the best beginner fighting games. it's mechanics are deep enough to keep fighting game fans interested, but still leagues more approachable than something like a SF (the parry mechanic might be a good introduction to third strike for new players tbh). i love it! can't believe how many of these ps360 fighting games i missed out on.

i've played a bit of touhou 12.3 in the past and while i love touhou, i think i might actually prefer this one. while 12.3 tends to focus more heavily on spacing and projectile use, it feels like EFZ is more focused on tossing your opponent around the screen with huge combos. it's also been interesting to find out how many visual novel-based fighting games are ridiculously fun. maybe i need to get textractor setup and play some VNs....

if you wanna check out the game, the community discord has downloads and setup info. invite: https://discordapp.com/invite/aUgqXAt

i keep trying and trying to get into tekken and i repeatedly just can't get the feel for it.
and i think i know why now.

it's cuz virtua fighter is so good!
every virtua fighter i've tried is a blast and this is no exception