Review of 'Neon Square' by the dude guy

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Neon Square is a game that, appropriately, stars a neon square, who shoots other neon squares with various types of shiny lasers (some of which are square, and neon).  It's nothing you haven't seen before, and the gameplay never really excels, but the game has a few neat ideas, and the pretty explosions are fun to look at.

The gameplay is basically exactly what you would expect.  It's a vertical shooter where different types of enemies swarm towards you from the top of the screen, and you need to destroy them to advance to the next level.  While there's technically nothing wrong with Neon Square's execution of this formula, I found it to feel a little... well, bland and flat.  Your shots hardly do any damage, so most of the time you'll be "spraying and praying" while dodging enemy projectiles (and enemies).  You also have a shield and limited "power shots," but neither of these adds that certain spark that a good arcade shooter needs.  On the other hand, I loved the different "character types" that you can choose to play as, each of which have different special weapons and sheild radiuses.

The graphics of Neon Square are great.  Sure, there aren't any detailed sprites or fancy 2d physics and lighting, or anything like that.  But it's sharp-looking and clean, and all the various particle explosions and glowing shots look quite pretty.  I don't like how your health and ammo bars are just solid black bars on the sides of the screen (I didn't even realize they were there at first), and I'm not entirely convinced that the artstyle is entirely cohesive... but I nitpick.  The game looks good.

Sound, on the other hand...well, it's competent.  Each game type is accompanied by the expected high-octane techno (some, and there are a few blips and beeps that herald bullets being fired.  Nothing terribly memorable about it, but nothing bad either.

In essence, this is a solid enough shooter with some neat visuals, but it's nothing that's going to hold your interest for a long time.  Still, all the requirements for an addictive arcadey experience are here, and you could certainly do worse.  I found it to be a little bland, but you might think differently.  I give it a 3/5.