Developer: 10Tons
Publisher: 10Tons
Release Date: 19th October
Price as of Article: £12,99 $14,99
The game is a direct spin-off of Neon Chrome and is said to be more of a prequel. You get to build your JYDGE and enter Edenbyrg. You need to eradicate crime and make it out of each mission alive.It’s pretty simple stuff and feels like it’s paying homage to Judge Dredd.Sounds very familiar if you ask me!
The Audio in this game, when compared to Neon Chrome, is actually improved. There are a number of included soundtracks which in the most part sound really good like “down with you” with the exception of a few duds like “Discord”. Makes you feel like you are about to go in and apply some rough justice. The sound of the heavy lazyr makes me feel like I’m a battle trooper in Star wars, shame it doesn’t have the same distinctive sound but it will do! The sound the men make when they go down is satisfying from their arrhhhhhhh’s to there oooooo’s I would point out that the voice of the Jydge sounds a bit weird. I can’t put my finger on it! But does not hamper the enjoyment. Overall 10tons have done a great job on the music and sound.
The sound of the heavy lazyr makes me feel like I’m a battle trooper in Star wars, shame it doesn’t have the same distinctive sound but it will do! The sound the men make when they go down is satisfying from their arrhhhhhhh’s to there oooooo’s. I would point out that the voice of the Jydge sounds a bit weird. I can’t put my finger on it! But does not hamper the enjoyment. Overall 10tons have done a great job on the music and sound.
Visually this is more or less exactly like Neon Chrome as most of the assets are recycled from that game so you could look it as being short-changed or more positively if it wasn’t broke and it’s based on that game then why change it.This time though one of my main gripes has been slightly alleviated in that there is a little more variation to the look of the levels. I liked being outside in the rain. Turning up in your cop car and people standing around. There seems to be more destructible parts in these levels now also. The explosions and effects look decent enough.
The neon signs are still about and the characters animations are all very similar. You will find here though that the bullets move slower allowing you to dodge easier. The game ran with no slowdown in either docked mode or on the Switch. I made sure this was checked as there were a few complaints on Neon Chrome.
This game is basically Neon Chrome in every sense, Gameplay mechanics are similar (its twin-stick shooter), your weapon is heavily upgradeable both from buying new projectiles for your weapon which you only have one of, called the Gavel to actually upgrading the projectile and how much damage it can do. It has a hammer on the end which you can use for melee combat but I prefer to stay back and so I spent all my cash on the heavy lazyr (spelt like that in the game) beam which bounces off walls. This beam would kill most enemies in one hit and was super satisfying but if you prefer you can invest in the Dynamite Gravel causing an explosion with each swing of your weapon or how about the rapid-fire upgrade to I the crease rate of fire by 20%. The list is extensive. There is something here for each differing mission.
There are lots of customisations you can apply to your JYDGE also from having a hacking tool to having a little drone with you much like in NEON Chrome if you were the hacker. You can apply bullet dodger to make your enemies bullets fire at 30% slower or how about shrinkify to make you smaller. Apparently, there are over 1 billion combinations you have so no JYDGE out there will ever be the same. Guys I have a confession I didn’t count all of these configurations so I can’t say how many over the billion it actually is. There was nothing better than not only the one hit kills but bouncing a bullet off a wall and killing someone. This reminds me a lot of syndicate wars which I adored back in the day. This game though has a fundamental difference to Neon Chrome and that is that it’s not a roguelike and it does not have procedurally driven levels. In fact, this is deemed a roguelike hater!
Here you know exactly what you are getting each time you begin a mission. Each mission will have you completing three objectives and these will vary from mission to mission but in essence, it’s something like, kill the enemies, rescue the hostages and all in thirty seconds with each objective gaining you a medal. If you do all three you will get three medals. With each mission you will get cash either from loot in the mission or for completing the mission which you can put towards your upgrades and these will be costly from unlocking extra slots on your Gavel to spending the cash increasing damage on your weapons & secondary weapons like the rockets. Act one will require fifteen medals to open up act two and you continue to progress in the game by collecting enough medals to unlock the next. The end of the act you will get a boss to kill and I think it’s a little naughty that they used some of the same bosses from Neon chrome in act one and two. Most of the harder enemies are human but just tougher to beat.
In ACT one you will open up hardcode mode which will give you the opportunity to acquire more medals but in a harder mode and it’s really fun because the hardcore missions vary slightly to the normal mode. You may have to kill all the enemies unnoticed or take no damage at all. This is where all the different upgrades will come in to help you want to complete a mission without getting seen? Equip shadow blend.
This is a more traditional type of game and having played Neon Chrome it’s something I really enjoyed. I liked becoming familiar playing the missions over and over so I could perfect each one and you can only really do that with the memory of knowing where every enemy and hostage is placed. For people that like the roguelike aspect of Neon Chrome then they may be thinking this may not be for them but that’s exactly the point, the game aims to be completely different, a roguelike hater but remaining familiar and it works a treat. It’s more accessible to the casual gamer but has something to please hardcore fans. It means you can play a mission when you have a spare two minutes which works with this system splendidly and most of all the game feels more structured and although I love roguelikes I really enjoyed the changeup. Controls on this game are very tight but I do wish they had included rumble support to heighten the experience.
This game took me about six or seven hours to complete but the fun here is going back and perfecting each mission and continuing to upgrade your character. Acquiring each medal will take you significantly longer.The game offers co-op where a friend can jump in whenever they like and that’s a really welcome addition but remember like Neon Chrome you will need a full controller each. I did not get to try co-op this time around and again like most of these Indie games there is no online to speak of. For me, the game is priced accordingly $14.99 or £12,99 is going to give you a whole heap of enjoyment.
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