Neo 21 carries on the Neo Geo Pocket's tradition of simplistic casino games that are easy to pick up and put down at a moment's notice. If you're into blackjack, you can carry this game around with you and play a few hands whenever and wherever you want.
The main modes in the game are original and casino. Original mode places all sorts of odds on different hands, so you can win anywhere from two to 100 times your original bet. Casino mode plays it straight and, strangely enough, limits your bets to one credit, as opposed to five in original mode.
The game lets you split and double down, and pay for insurance when the dealer is showing an ace - just as in the real thing. The game also shuffles from time to time, so real card sharks might actually be able to practice their card-counting techniques.
The game's presentation works just fine. The game speaks to tell you what your card total is, and whether you win or lose. Unfortunately, the game freezes while it speaks, so once you've gotten tired of the voice, it'd be nice to turn it off and speed the game up a bit. The ability to save your progress at any time (simply shut the machine off - when you turn it back on, you'll pick up right where you left off) is extremely nice, and extended bookkeeping stats lets you know how much you've won or lost.
Neo 21 is what it is - a simple blackjack game. It doesn't try to dazzle with effects; it just effectively one-ups all those silly little LCD-screen blackjack machines that you find in convenience stores.
