Neon Chrome is a top-down twin stick shooter with rouge-like elements set in a a cyberpunk future full of bright colours, from the 10tons Ltd, the delevopers behind the cult classic Crimsonland. There are a lot of influences from their previous title here, but they also were not afraid to branch out a bit, and make something new, without having a cookie cutter game too similar to their last.


The game's controls are pretty standard for that of a twin stick shooter. Whilst looking at your character from a top down view, one hand (or stick) controls movement, and the other controls aiming and shooting. Unlike a few twin stick shooters I have played, there is also a melee button, and more unlike other twin stick games, the melee is actually quite useful and powerful. The game can be played with a Mouse and Keyboard setup, or with a controller (although I haven't tried it with a controller yet), and with other controllers, can be played by up to four people in a Local Co-op setting.

In the game, you are playing a hacker, who is using "assets", basically blank slate people/bots to assault the Neon Chrome facility. The facility is run by the Overseer, who is evil for some such reason and has a bit of dialouge at the beginning, and a few levels here and there. I'm sure once you progress more, his character gets flushed out a bit more, but I've only got a bit over two hours in it, and haven't progressed that far yet. These assets are what you play as, and use to assault the facility; every time you die you are taken back to a small room where you (the hacker), have a few terminals available to you where you can upgrade your character(s), look at what you've unlocked (weapons, cybernetics,etc) and choose your next assest to play with. There are a few different classes of assets, but three will be randomly available to you each time you spawn. Classes include a Techie, who has a rechargable shield and more energy than the others, but less overall health, an Assassain who in the shadows is harder for enemies to spot and detect and several more. Each class will also have a different weapon and ability each time, so sometimes it's best to pick a class for a weapon you like, rather than a specific skill set. As you progress though the game, you will be collecting money from dead enemies, or from looting various items you come across. This money can be spent at some of the other terminals to upgrade your assets after your death, but before you pick a new asset to use. The upgrades are Health, Damage, Luck (increases cash you pick up and rarity of loot), Energy (used for your abilities; shockwave, missles,etc) and Slots (which determines how many cybernetic upgrades you can carry [explained later]).

Once you've picked an asset, you will then be able to pick which floor you start on, 1 through 6, but you can only start at floors 2 and higher once you have reached them at least once. Between each set of floors are different levels, all randomly generated, between floors 1 and 2 are three levels, 2 and 3 are five, and more are added between higher level floors for a total of 31 levels. There are bosses that seperate each floor as well, and can be quite difficult. You will spend some time dying and "buying" your way to better stats to take them on easier. You will spawn in an elevator in each level, and be looking for a green one to proceed to the next. Through each level, there will be various enemies and traps (laser fields, mines and the like), as well as boxes to loot for money, and crates with weapons and/or cybernetic upgrades and each time will be different, as the levels are randomly generated. The cybernetic upgrades are essentially perks, and are found in small capsules you walk in that are randomly placed in the levels. Once you activate it, you have a choice from three random ones that you get to keep for the duration of this assest's life. The perks include things like faster rate of fire and more damage, more melee damage, move faster and many many more. There are 50 perks altogether, but most of them must be found in other crates while you progress, and some perks can only be found on certain floors (so you can't get amazing end tier perks just by playing the first levels over and over). After buying the upgraded slots for your asset you can have a maximum of 10, so you must pick wisely. There are also crates with different weapons to be found, and some crates that upgrade the loot level of weapons you will find (including the weapon you currently have), giving them more damage. On some levels, there are alternate purple elevators (which you will see an alternate path between levels 5-6 for example, on the loading screen) which will take you to a sort of bonus level, each has it's own sort of theme for a puzzle, and will you often be rewarded with a box containing a new perk to them go into your random pool for when you upgrade yourself.

As far as variety goes, there seems to be quite a bit. There are 50 cybernetic upgrades, 16 abilities and 26 weapons that you can unlock and there are different sets to be aquired on different floors. There are lots of different enemies and traps/defense systems you will encounter, and of the two bosses I've faced so far, each was very different and had a unique method to sucessfully killing.

The graphics won't blow you away, but the atmosphere and colours will. The game is called Neon Chrome, and for good reason, there are plenty of bright and flashing colours making the levels very vibrant and appealing. The game has pretty low system requirements so I can't really see anyone having any issues running this on max, and in my time I haven't had any frame issues or stutter at all. The game simply runs smooth, and lets you sit down and shoot stuff without worrying about how well it will run. The sound effects are also good, and the music is what you'd expect looking at a game like this - a very 80's style electronic and futuristic music.


Pros

• Extremely fun and easy to pick up
  
• Very bright and colourful level designs
  
• Rouge-like elements and lots to unlock will keep you coming back
  
• Great variety in weapons and abilities/perks as well as enemies
  
• Four player local co-op
  
• Lots of destructible envrionments and objects

Cons

• Only one game mode (Crimsonland had various types of surivial modes in addition to the main quest)
  
• Local Co-op, would have loved if this had some online co-op, even if it was only for two people
  
• Perhaps a bit pricey for most considering the genre (16.99 CDN when full price)

All in all, so far I love it. I put a ton of hours in their previous game both on steam, and long before that and I can see this gane will be the same way. I love the colourful art style, the music and all the variety in weapons and enemies. Although I wish it were a few dollars cheaper, I know I'll more than get my money's worth out of this game and will surely have double digit hours in this before tomorrow. This will be one of my favourite twin stick games for sure.