TLDR; Game is stupid long, writing is often really childish, music is great, artstyle is hit or miss, and I wish the gameplay had more depth when you didn't have cards.
Man talk about a conflicting game, because I really want to give this game like a 2 or 2.5 but I don't know if it really deserves all of that.
First of all, I found that this game was WAY TOO LONG for the story they were trying to tell and the last 10 hours or so of gameplay were filled with me really wishing that I was playing something else.
Yes, I think the gameplay can be fun, and the mechanics do help you to feel like a speeding bullet.
The card system is cool, and the way they interact with each other is sick! But whenever I was just running around cardless, I just felt so freaking BORED, and I'm not really sure why. Maybe because you just feel like a box sliding across the floor with no sense of momentum gain or conservation and you don't even get a view model to get a good sense of how fast you're actually moving. This game just turned into me waiting for the next card at every turn possible because the movement without cards just lacked any DEPTH.
I would've LOVED if there were more movement options in the game outside of having a specific card. Because of this, getting an ace medal on every stage is more a matter of knowing what to do and which routes to take rather than mechanical skill or any game knowledge deeper than a kiddie pool, although I'll admit that this is probably just a preference of mine rather than a flaw in the actual game.
As for literally everything else, one time I saw a steam review of this game that called it a "Machine Girl album with a free game" and I thought about it a lot during my playthrough because the music actually did so much heavy lifting for me.
The album by Machine Girl was great and definitely kept me going, even though certain songs would get a little annoying to hear after the 20th run of a level. (The songs would also loop for an entire chapter which DEFINITELY annoyed me near the end of the game)
Although the landscapes can sometimes be beautiful, the writing, and the overall art style of the game tended to be hit or miss for me.
I don't wanna completely discredit the writing of these characters, as in serious moments they tended to have something ACTUALLY interesting to say, but SO MUCH of this game's dialogue felt like it was written by or FOR middle schoolers. And it especially hurt because all those gifts that I spent a good amount of time collecting in the games 100+ levels only increased the amount of middle school DRIVEL that I had to listen to/read.
I will admit that by the end, I did end up caring for most of the Neons we get to meet, but I wish I just didn't have to play through 20 hours of the game to care.
The artstyle often reminded me of webtoon comics and I'm not sure if that's a good thing.
In conclusion, I wouldn't say I regretted playing Neon White but I don't see myself opening this game anytime soon and would've liked to see the game have more depth, both in its writing AND it's movement.
Man talk about a conflicting game, because I really want to give this game like a 2 or 2.5 but I don't know if it really deserves all of that.
First of all, I found that this game was WAY TOO LONG for the story they were trying to tell and the last 10 hours or so of gameplay were filled with me really wishing that I was playing something else.
Yes, I think the gameplay can be fun, and the mechanics do help you to feel like a speeding bullet.
The card system is cool, and the way they interact with each other is sick! But whenever I was just running around cardless, I just felt so freaking BORED, and I'm not really sure why. Maybe because you just feel like a box sliding across the floor with no sense of momentum gain or conservation and you don't even get a view model to get a good sense of how fast you're actually moving. This game just turned into me waiting for the next card at every turn possible because the movement without cards just lacked any DEPTH.
I would've LOVED if there were more movement options in the game outside of having a specific card. Because of this, getting an ace medal on every stage is more a matter of knowing what to do and which routes to take rather than mechanical skill or any game knowledge deeper than a kiddie pool, although I'll admit that this is probably just a preference of mine rather than a flaw in the actual game.
As for literally everything else, one time I saw a steam review of this game that called it a "Machine Girl album with a free game" and I thought about it a lot during my playthrough because the music actually did so much heavy lifting for me.
The album by Machine Girl was great and definitely kept me going, even though certain songs would get a little annoying to hear after the 20th run of a level. (The songs would also loop for an entire chapter which DEFINITELY annoyed me near the end of the game)
Although the landscapes can sometimes be beautiful, the writing, and the overall art style of the game tended to be hit or miss for me.
I don't wanna completely discredit the writing of these characters, as in serious moments they tended to have something ACTUALLY interesting to say, but SO MUCH of this game's dialogue felt like it was written by or FOR middle schoolers. And it especially hurt because all those gifts that I spent a good amount of time collecting in the games 100+ levels only increased the amount of middle school DRIVEL that I had to listen to/read.
I will admit that by the end, I did end up caring for most of the Neons we get to meet, but I wish I just didn't have to play through 20 hours of the game to care.
The artstyle often reminded me of webtoon comics and I'm not sure if that's a good thing.
In conclusion, I wouldn't say I regretted playing Neon White but I don't see myself opening this game anytime soon and would've liked to see the game have more depth, both in its writing AND it's movement.