It's good for trophy hunting and scratching that nostalgic/retro itch you may have...but not for much else.
Honestly without trophy hunting, players can blow through this game in at minimum a hour. Anyone can just shoot the enemies necessary to getting to the level exit in the shortest amount of time possible. The challenge comes in with meeting each level related trophy's objective of clearing all enemies. Within each level there are several hidden paths and hard to get to enemies. Approaching the game this way also gives players an advantage. When you kill enemies, you not only refill energy (which depletes upon taking damage, using weapons, and using sheilds) but also upgrade the amount of energy your mech can hold at a given time. So by the time you get games final (and only) boss, your mech can withstand far more damage than if you decided to just simply blow carelessly through the game. This isn't saying very much though since the final boss is a bit of a push over. The other challenging aspect to the game is that once you die, regardless of your progress, you start all over from the beginning. Thexder NEO has that old school unforgiving nature about it when it comes to this, lol. Which is another reason as to why one may be better off killing every enemy possible to build up their energy meter.
Story wise, the game stays very true to its retro roots and doesn't attempt to mar the legacy of the game by tacking on a potential subpar plot. In other words, there really isn't much of a story beyond whatever the original Thexter was about and it never attempts to tell one. Its just as simple as "beat a level, get your results, and move on to the next one". I think the visuals are passable but nothing that pushes the PS3 to its limits. The redone musical score was VERY well done and catchy. I still find myself huming the main theme of the game on occassion. The sound effects are fittingly retro and adds to the game's classic feel.
My Breakdown:
What's Good:
- True to the original game
- The role that achievements played in this game
- ^ Challenging if pursued
- Great musical score
- Offers online play
- A great combination of platforming and shoot'em up action
What's Not-So-Good:
- Nothing overly impressive about the visuals
- Gameplay relies too much on the trophy support
- Could've added power-ups
- Boss battles at the end of every or most stages would have been a nice update
What's Bad:
- Maybe a bit too unforgiving for many of today's audiences
- A very underwhelming final boss fight
In all, Thexder NEO is a very fun game to play in one sitting but don't expect to invest a lot of time in it. Its very rare that I say this, but trophy hunting is the best way to play this game.