Anime racing around futuristic neon city lights? Count me in! Welcome to Neon Apex: Beyond The Limit, a fascinating indie (practically solo it seems) racing game that gives you both cars and bikes to take on the streets of Japan’s future in a racing game that tries some new ideas and stands out from the crowd.
Cars and bikes are available in this game, although never at the same time. There are eight characters (all handle the same) that go racing, and the two vehicle types handle differently. The car is grippier, especially on early turn-in, and at times, you can try a retro-D-pad nudge to gently shuffle the car around gentle curves. You can’t do that with the bikes, as they have a more circular turn-in, with less grip and immediate response. That said, Neon Apex is arcade through and through. Everything is fast, frantic, and fluid. Both vehicles are grippy, it’s just relative between each other. The car is slightly easier to pick up initially, but both are easy and approachable to use. Each vehicle has three speed tiers, which you’ll unlock over time, and each vehicle has a good 15-ish designs too, with different stats for acceleration, turning, and damage.
Damage is an interesting addition because Neon Apex takes place in one giant city area map. The game has circuit races, point-to-point sprints, and takedown races (ramming the opponent until they explode) and the routes are pre-planned across the map. Think Burnout Paradise, but without the ability to just free drive around the world. Neon Apex is much smaller, and the autobahn roads in the city centre are like concrete spaghetti. Most tracks take place there or pass through the city centre, and it does mean that tracks start to blend into each other too often. Visually, the game is striking – especially run bombing along at speed. It is just that you’ll see the same parts of the city over and over again, as most of the roads are in a central nucleus. Tunnels in the mountains or countryside roads do appear, but less frequently. Traffic is everywhere, though, and you can ram traffic to gain a boost, but that causes you damage. If you explode, then you’ll lose all the advantage the boost gains you, so risk vs reward is the balancing act you take.
Neon Apex: Beyond The Limit has a few interesting game modes. Aside from single race, championships, and time trials, there is also a career mode. Every event requires cash and a certain XP level to enter, and depending on how well you do, you’ll gain cash and XP back. The entire career mode is a giant online leaderboard showing where you are compared to everyone else playing career, so it’s a meta career progression race with everyone else, too. I really like this idea, and I’ve not seen it implemented like this anywhere else before. It makes this single-player only racing game feel a bit more competitive and rewarding when you see yourself climbing up the progression board, passing other players.
The cash you make in career mode can be used to buy spray paint to recolour your vehicle, or to buy upgrades for speed, acceleration, grip, and damage. The vehicles don’t move up classes; they just max out their personal upgradable settings, and those three classes are like a Mario Kart CC level. Level 3 requires much more drifting, braking, and precision. Level 1 still isn’t fully flat out everywhere, but it is far more approachable. I also liked the aggressive and futuristic vehicle designs, although the character designs look a bit blocky and strange. I was reminded of the anime Redline, but through the lens of a neon cel-shaded future.
With all the different upgrades, vehicles to unlock, and career events to progress through, there are a ton of things to do. Yes, due to the nature of the smaller world map, you’ll find some of it feels a bit repetitive and similar. The disproportionate amount of time you’ll be switching lanes on the giant motorways is a bit of a shame. Neon Apex: Beyond The Limit still has charm, character, uniqueness, and style to it, though. In an era where so many games play it safe, this feels like a passion project with a vision and goal. That means you’ll get some weird foibles in the design or visuals, but you’ll also get something with plenty of soul, too. Enjoyable.
Review copy provided by the publisher. Neon Apex: Beyond The Limit is out now.
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