Neo Geo Reviews A-D

I really do like 3 Count Bout, but I suspect I'd enjoy it more if I were a professional wrestling fan. The graphics are impressive, even by Neo Geo standards. The characters are absolutely huge, consuming up to three-quarters of the screen in height. This game makes liberal use of the system's color palette, with outfits that tend to be quite loud. Each of the ten wrestlers has a unique introductory sequence and a distinct set of moves. Unlike most Neo Geo games that use two buttons (three at most), 3 Count Bout uses all four, and the number of possible move combinations is astounding. Besides the standard punches and kicks, you can administer sleeper holds, jump off turnbuckles, bounce off ropes, and even perform out-of-the-ring attacks! Button functions vary depending on your opponent's proximity, and the extensive number of attacks ensures you'll see a new animation each time you play. One fighter who looks like a Village People reject has a move that involves him sticking his nose in an opponent's butt crack! For better or worse, the special moves can be very tricky to execute. In addition, the game's awesome graphics are largely overshadowed by its rough animation, making it hard to discern what's going on in the heat of battle. There's a lot of joystick jiggling and button mashing involved, so technique often takes a back seat to pure chaos. In addition to standard matches, there are also "street fights" that take place in urban locations and incorporate weapons like bats and stun guns. Even more intriguing are the two-player tag-team matches against CPU-controlled opponents. 3 Count Bout is certainly an admirable attempt to bring professional wrestling to the Neo Geo, but you'll need to be a fan of this "sport" to truly appreciate all it has to offer. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

For those with an appreciation for old school gaming, Aero Fighters 2 (AF2) is pure button-pounding bliss. They don't make games like this anymore. A vertically-scrolling airplane shooter, AF2 is jammed-packed with scaling enemies, breathtaking scenery, and satisfying explosions. This fairly inexpensive CD title even includes a nice two-player simultaneous mode. There are eight planes to choose from, each with its own unique brand of firepower. The pilots are somewhat unconventional (including a dolphin and schoolgirl), but you only see them between stages, so it hardly matters. AF2's gameplay is seriously fun. The military-themed targets include plenty of tanks, cannons, and helicopters, and the bosses are huge mechanical beasts. Ten brief but exciting stages provide interesting backdrops and semi-destructible scenery. Locations include Manhattan, a suburban neighborhood, and Hawaii. My favorite part of the game is flying over the amusement park with its moving rides and screaming kids (hint: shoot the Ferris wheel). AF2 maintains a relatively serious tone throughout, until the final stage throws you for a loop, pitting you against a giant baboon in a spaceship. Al-righty then! The challenge is significant but not insurmountable, and you can shoot down many of the projectiles the game throws at you. To shoot rapidly you have to tap the buttons incessantly, so this is not a game you'll play for hours on end. Another aspect I frowned upon is how your score does NOT reset when you use one of the unlimited continues. The continues are tempting, but they pretty much defeat the purpose of the game, which is to score points (in case you forgot). Using the unlimited continues, it's possible to finish the game in under 45 minutes. For maxiumum enjoyment, I'd recommend playing Aero Fighters 2 on the easy skill level but using no continues. In Japan, this game was released under the name Sonic Wings 2. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

I've played some terrific Neo Geo shooters in my time, but this is not one of them! Alpha Mission II's monotonous graphics and confusing weapon system gave me a real headache. The visuals are hardly impressive as you fly over a parade of generic space stations. It looks like a second-rate Genesis game. Only some nice scaling saves the graphics from being completely mediocre. I like how chunks of the massive enemy ships can break off and fall to the planet below. You attain power-ups by touching floating letters, and you can change these letters by shooting them, which also pushes them further up the screen. The problem is, you basically need to stop firing to gather them, and one thing I hate is a shooting game that discourages shooting! Just be sure not to collect an upside-down letter, since it actually functions as a power-down (another thing you hate to see in a shooter). All of this tedious letter watching has got to go. In addition, the needlessly complex weapon system includes selecting weapons from a pull down menu in the heat of battle, which is moronic. Alpha Missions II lets you hold down the fire button to shoot continously, but if you want to do substantial damage you have to tap the button incessantly. I also dislike is how enemies and structures that can take multiple hits seem impervious to the first few shots. Only when they explode do you realize you were actually doing damage. Alpha Mission II's design is so poor that it's hard to believe this is a sequel to something! A two-player simultaneous mode is included. The sythesized music is okay, but the computerized voice is unintelligible. This game is not a total loss, but Alpha Mission II hardly shows what the Neo Geo is capable of. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

Often mistaken for a performance-enhancing drug for baseball players, Andro Dunos is actually a fun Neo Geo shooter of the side-scrolling variety. There are flashier, more interesting shooters for the system, but if you can snag this one for a reasonable price, you won't be disappointed. In terms of graphics, it looks a bit like a high-end SNES title - minus the slowdown, that is. The generic space stations and caverns are forgettable, and even the bosses tend to be uninspired monolithic machines. But Andro Dunos scores points with its two-player co-op mode, responsive controls, and ability to switch weapons on the fly. You'll find yourself constantly flipping between your four configurable weapons to meet each new challenge. It's also possible to charge your weapons to unleash a torrent of destruction. Enemies are often seen scaling in from the background, and while I'm sure this visual effect was impressive in 1992, it really just tends to clutter the screen. Unlike most shooters, using a "continue" brings you back with substantial firepower, and while this doesn't seem totally fair, it's hard to complain. The best feature of Andro Dunos is its two-player simultaneous mode, which exhibits absolutely no slow-down in the heat of battle. If only the programmers had been more thoughtful when selecting colors for the two ships! One is orange and the other is bright pink, and it's very easy to get them confused when the screen gets crowded. The game's upbeat electronic music took a while to win me over, but ultimately it did. Andro Dunos won't blow you away, but if traditional side-scrolling shooters are your thing, there's plenty to like about this one. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

For a Neo Geo title, Blue's Journey is decidedly weak. It tries to be a Mario Bros. clone, but it's not even in the same ballpark thanks to its confusing gameplay and counter-intuitive controls. As a small elf-like creature in a side-scrolling, pastel world, you must fend off cartoon monsters while leaping between platforms. Armed with a huge green leaf, you can "smack down" birds, lizards, Vikings, and potato-looking thingamajigs. These stunned creatures can then be picked up and hurled at other adversaries. In addition, it's possible to jump on creatures and "spin" them off the screen. None of it makes much sense, and I found myself hopelessly confused. Enemies close in from all sides, and rock-dropping birds only add to the aggravation. Blue's single innovation involves pressing the C button, which allows you to shrink down into a tiny version of your character. But besides allowing you to reach certain items (tucked away in logs for example), I really couldn't find a practical use for this. Blue's Journey does feature branching paths, and you can purchase items with "flowers" you collect. As the instructions elegantly state, "The flower is your money. Hung onto it." Sadly, the bad English is the most entertaining aspect of Blue's Journey. I love a good platform game, but this one feels awkward, and I couldn't get a feel for it. The graphics are colorful and the music is bouncy, but neither are particularly appealing. A two-player simultaneous mode is available, but that's just twice as mediocre. Suffice to say, this journey is not one I will be embarking on very often. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

Over the years I've developed an appreciation for Burning Fight. The game has huge sprites, eye candy galore, and features you won't find in other side-scrolling brawlers. The character selection could be more diverse. There's an Asian dude named Ryu and two slow blonde-haired fighters named Duke and Billy. The animation is stiff and Duke struts around like he has a pole up his butt. The stages are the highlight of the game, beginning with an opening street stage with bright arcades and shops. Destroying soda machines and food stands reveal corn dogs which make you healthy and strong, just like in real life. You can beat up trash cans to reveal priceless jewelry. But the best part is how you can enter certain stores, trashing the interiors for points and health! You can even destroy a fax machine, and who hasn't ever wanted to do that? The second stage takes place in a sparkling shopping mall with a boss who looks like Hulk Hogan. Subsequent stages feature more predictable locations like a subway, port, and construction site. The only thing missing is the obligatory sewer. The fighting action is by-the-numbers but still a lot of fun. There's a nice selection of goons ranging chain-wielding thugs to dynamite tossers to overweight rednecks. Your attacks (punch, jump, kick) are effective, and hitting all three buttons unleashes your special. There are plenty of weapons including poles, knives, bottles, and best of all - guns! There's nothing better than shooting a gangster with his own gun. Buring Fight has its quirks. You can toss thugs, but only about two inches. In one part of the game some homeless guy comes around and starts rubbing up on you. What's that all about? Some of the dialogue is weird, like the boss who asks "will you burn with me?" The game is great with two players, but take care not to harm your partner. Burning Fight is a lot better than I first gave it credit for. If you enjoy Streets of Rage or Final Fight, this is quite a treat. © Copyright 2015 The Video Game Critic.

The Neo Geo has some amazing games that you can't get on other systems, and Crossed Swords is one of them. It's a first-person sword fighting game where you can see through the outline of your warrior (ala Punch Out). Through six levels, you are accosted by giant rats, bugs, frog warriors, crabs, skeletons, and armored knights of every variety. The characters are huge and nicely animated, and each stage features brilliant medieval scenery, including a number of huge, multi-level castles. The play mechanics of Crossed Swords is very original and instantly gratifying. The A button attacks with your sword, and B is for your special attack, but in order to strike your targets, you'll need to block their attacks first, pushing up for a high block and down for a middle block. You can tell where the enemy is about to strike you by their body movements, but you'll need quick reflexes to react in time. This back-and-forth, block-and-attack technique is great fun, at least for a while. When you defeat an enemy, he explodes into pieces and drops a bonus item like health, magic, or gold. You also periodically encounter a merchant who lets you buy health or upgrade your weapon. The audio is fantastic, with a sweeping musical score and superb sound effects, including skeletons that hiss at you, and knights that laugh when they land a blow. There's virtually no loading, and a two-player simultaneous mode is included. Crossed Swords is a quality game, but it falls victim to the "unlimited continue" syndrome that plagues many Neo Geo titles. When you die, all you have to do is hit "Start" to pick up immediately from where you left off. Any creature you were fighting still has damage, and you don't even lose your gold. Plus there's no score to judge your performance. As a result, it's tempting to continue all the way to the end. I must have used about thirty continues to finish this game! As I was gradually wearing down the final boss, all I could think of was, "Doesn't this guy realize I have unlimited continues? Why does he have to make this so hard?" If you play Crossed Swords as long as I did (almost two hours), you will get tired of the repetitive action and running into the same enemies over and over again. In fact when it's finally over you may never want to look at it again. But despite its poor replay value, Crossed Swords is a unique title that should be experienced by Neo Geo owners. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

Hey - check it out - a game you can play on your lunch break! Yeah, you can probably beat this one in a half-hour, thanks to the unlimited continues that let you pick up immediately where you died. Cyber Lip is a fast paced, rapid-fire shooter where one or two soldiers blast their way through futuristic environments, frying terminators, aliens, and slimy bosses. Comparisons to Metal Slug are obvious, but Cyber Lip is not in the same league. Its graphics have an attractive arcade quality, but the scenery is mainly composed of generic metal platforms and elevators. Still, Cyber-Lip's action is relentless and for the most part, fun. Your weapon can be powered up in a number of ways (including wide shot and bazooka), but you can only aim forward, backward, and up. This is frustrating since most enemies tend to attack from an angle. Enemy soldiers briefly transform into terminator exoskeletons when blasted - a nice touch. One thing I don't like is how touching an enemy means instant death - I lost more lives being touched than being shot! Each stage is introduced by some anchorman-looking guy with constantly blinking eyes and awful lip synching. After losing a life, your next "life" enters on a flying sled-like vehicle. The sled gives you temporary invincibility, but it looks idiotic. Once you reach the final stage, the mysterious Cyber Lip is revealed to be a powerful computer (with metal lips). He's introduced by this ominous dialogue: "I am Cyber Lip. I am the computer you are looking for. I am not insain, I have just been evilly reprogrammed". No, those are not typos. Unfortunately, before the final showdown you may have to face several of the previous bosses AGAIN - which sucks. It's even possible to repeat entire stages in this game, and that's no good. Cyber Lip is hard, and you'll blow through continues like there's no tomorrow. Your score is reset between games at least, so you have something to shoot for. Cyber Lip is not a major title for the Neo Geo, but it's an amusing diversion for shooter fans. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.