There was a time when the place to see the coolest video games with the best graphics was the arcade. They had graphics and gameplay that could not be matched at home by the Atari or even the NES. Neon Inferno feels like a remake of something from that era of gaming.
The concept is simple: it’s 2055 in New York city, and you play as an assassin for a crime family taking on the Yakuza, the NYPD, and an organization called Pangea. Once you complete the first level you are asked to choose between three missions. You can ask for more information to get some backstory on your targets, but the order you complete them doesn’t affect the game. These three missions will have you shooting your way through Brooklyn, the Bronx, an opera house, and a dance club before you visit the final boss’ high-rise level. Along the way, you’ll also spend some time piloting a motorcycle and a jet ski.
Vehicle portions of the game will have you switching between the foreground and background while shooting and dodging enemies. Aside from these sections, the majority of the game has your character in the foreground battling enemies in the same plane as you while other enemies (and sometimes bosses) can attack you from the background or even switch between planes. Pressing the right bumper locks your character in place and brings up crosshairs which you then move with your left stick to target enemies in the other plane.
Enemies will be attacking you with relatively slow-moving bullets and they will be various colors. The green ones can be deflected with a swing of your sword or you can hold the sword button for a second allowing you to aim where you want the green bullets to go. If you also hold the right shoulder button, you can deflect bullets into the background. Be warned though, while you can always bat the green bullets away, there seems to be a few second cooldown on the ability to redirect them.
At times the ballet of jumping, dodge-rolling, shooting, sword-swinging, and bullet-deflecting can seem daunting. With enough practice, memorization of enemy locations, and checkpoint respawns you should be capable of getting to see the end credits in a few hours. If not, try buying some single-use weapon upgrades between levels to give yourself a better chance.
Conclusion
This type of game may not be for everyone, but for anyone who misses the era of “gameplay only possible in an arcade cabinet” you might want to check out Neon Inferno.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
