Neo Geo Reviews T-Z

The Neo Geo is not technically capable of rendering real 3D graphics, but you'd be hard-pressed to tell when you witness Viewpoint's amazing textured visuals. As you fly a ship diagonally up a canal, cannons rise up from the ground, metallic creatures emerge from the sides, and floor tiles "flip" to create a dynamic obstacle course. I was pretty blown away by Viewpoint - until I remembered that its spiritual predecessor, Zaxxon, was released ten years prior! One fundamental difference is that how you don't need to worry about adjusting your altitude in Viewpoint because your ship always floats just over the surface. Each canal features a dazzling array of robotic creatures including slinkies, land fish, spinning turtles, laser-shooting flowers, and giant crabs. The animation is smooth, and while slowdown does creep in occasionally, it's hardly a detriment. You can tap a button to fire rapidly, or hold it in to unleash a charged shot. Side-cannons triple your firepower and pressing B unleashes one of several special weapons. In this case, these weapons really are special. The best is the "wall of flames" which marches up the screen and consumes everything in its path. It's probably the most effective and satisfying weapon I've ever used! The swarming homing missiles are also a visual treat. Some stages have interactive elements such as levers you need to shoot to open gates. Hazards can rise up from out of the ground and strike you from beneath, and they can seem pretty cheap if you aren't expecting them. In some sections medium-sized characters will linger around for too long, sometimes impervious to attack. Losing a ship sometimes means you'll need to repeat a long, tedious stretch, and that really sucks. This is a very difficult game, so there's no shame in playing the easy mode. The soundtrack is an eclectic mix of beats with a few hip-hop samples tossed in. Viewpoint is a real Neo Geo standard that helped defined the system, so it's a fine addition to the collection if you can afford it. And despite its age, it's still more imaginative and visually appealing than most modern shooters. © Copyright 2010 The Video Game Critic.

This game's intro features some unidentified man saying "You came at the right time. Use the time machine to go all over the world. Where the strong people are. I pray for a healthy battle." What the heck is a healthy battle? World Heroes is one of several quality 2D fighting series to grace the Neo Geo. Its innovative controls utilize only three buttons: punch, kick, and throw. Tapping a button initiates a quick hit and holding it down unleashes a stronger attack. The two main characters, Hanzo and Fuuma, are remarkably similar to Ken and Ryu of Street Fighter II (SNES, 1992). When Hanzo throws a projectile it sounds like he's yelling "I screwed up!" Other fighters include clones of Bruce Lee (Dragon), Joan of Arc (Janne), and Genghis Khan (J. Carn). Brocken is a dead ringer for M. Bison (also from Street Fighter II) although his limb-stretching moves are more similar to Dhalsim. Rasputin is a magician whose hands and feet become huge when he attacks. Muscle Power (yeah, that's his actual name) is a Hulk Hogan lookalike who excels at throw moves. The matches are a little slow and it's not unusual for the clock to run out. Still, I enjoy the deliberate pace of the game. The big, colorful fighters are nicely animated although the blinking circles beneath them do not resemble shadows. The collision detection isn't perfect and occasionally way off. The attractive stages include a bell tower (with scampering rats), a caged city rooftop, and Mount Fuji complete with sparring monkeys! A bonus stage lets you pulverize a large boulder until it resembles a statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In addition to the normal mode there's a death match that incorporates unwelcome hazards like electric beams and spikes. Occasionally the game will tell you you're about to engage in a "hair-splitting battle". That doesn't sound very dangerous to me. Unintentional humor notwithstanding, World Heroes is a heck of a good time. © Copyright 2015 The Video Game Critic.

This prompted my friend Brent to inquire "Have you ever considered doing a list of games with the most arrogant sounding names?" World Heroes Perfect is the fourth and final installment of the exotic one-on-one fighting series. It's super rare in cartridge format, so instead of taking out a second mortgage I opted to review the economical CD version. Some Neo Geo games play fine off a CD, but not fighting games. Whenever you select a different character you initiate a whole new load process. I played Perfect with some friends as the last leg of a World Heroes marathon, and it was almost unbearable. If games with long load times are considered "beer friendly", this one might just turn me into an alcoholic. You spend more time watching that little dog jump up and down on the load screen than playing the actual game. And when you finally play disappointment quickly sets in. In two-player mode the winner must continue to use the same character, and you always seem stuck on the same stage. The stages are poorly designed and some are downright annoying. The volcano stage looks like something on the Genesis, and the dinosaur stage is so cheesy I was expecting Barney to show up. The control scheme now uses all four buttons (two punch and two kick) which makes a lot of sense. There's also a new "hero" meter that adds some depth. The old scoring system has returned, probably because nobody could figure out the one in World Heroes Jet. The characters have been rebalanced to favor the smaller quicker characters. This wasn't a bad idea but I think they went overboard. The action is so fast that smaller characters can jump around like fleas as the large character struggle just to react. When J. Max is defeated it sounds like he's yelling "Sheeeeet!" World Heroes Perfect is a flawed game. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but the term "Perfect" tends to do that. I found this game far more palatable on World Heroes Anthology (PS2, 2008). © Copyright 2015 The Video Game Critic.