NeuroVoider Review (Nintendo Switch)

Written by James Nicolay

Title: NeuroVoider
Developer: Flying Oak Games
Publisher: Plug In Digital
Genre: Action, Shooter, Roguelike, Shoot-'Em-Up
Price: $13.99
Also Available On: XB1, Steam, PS4

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I am a huge fan of the roguelike games--ones with procedurally generated levels that can make the game replayable for a long time. I can really just sink my teeth into and devour hundreds of hours playing The Binding of Isaac and Rogue Legacy, two of my favorite games in this genre. And I think, the futuristic twin-stick shooter RPG Neurovoider will definitely join that short list.

Like most roguelike games, Neurovoider is hardly about a story. There is one, though, it's not the best part of the game: you start as ball-like brains and make three decisions before you start your quest:

a. three robot types: Dash (can dodge bullets), Rampage (shoot and shoot galore), and Fortress (shield, baby); 

b. one of the 27 passive abilities (samples are being able to teleport, heal oneself, have a clearer map of the level, have more EPs, etc)

c. difficulty of level in terms of size of the level stage, number of elites (fellow armor-clad brains), and loot amount

From then on, you enter the stage and fire with your shoulder ZL or ZR buttons, activate passive abilities with either L or R, and enjoy endless, mindless shooting of robotic enemies and elites, until you destroy the required number of Reactor(s) in every level. After which, you go on Intermission screen where you repair your robot, change weapons and robotic parts, scrap items to boost your existing ones, and with multiplayer mode, you can share your robotic parts and weapons to them too.

Once all set, you can now enjoy blasting and shooting all the enemies again and again until you meet the four big bosses that appear every five levels, culminating into a battle with...(drum roll)... Neurovoider! Once in a while, you will also encounter Metaverse levels, where craziness and difficulty ensue to give yourself some more challege: more enemies, or dimmed stage level, or crazy number of elites all firing at you at once.

The level design looks great--and the visual animations and sound effects of explosions and bullets and laser rays all add to the level of intensity when playing the game. The electronic BGM was a really cool touch as well and gives the entire game an ominous but really cool vibe.

I have very few complaints with this game: first is the semi-steep learning curve--when I played local co-op with three friends, it was funny that we were discovering something new every 15 minutes of playing the game. If you are not fan of reading stuff in the game, it might be a bit more difficult to adjust as the RPG elements of the game would really require you to understand how the equipping, boosting, and scrapping mechanics work. But once you have mastered the basic mechanics, the game gets really engaging.

The second thing that could make people more interested with it is availability of online coop. This game definitely is more fun when played with friends as you can get invested in how your robots can help each other, especially when deciding which passive abilities to get or which robot class to take. But with Nintendo Switch's limited voice chat for online multiplayer, maybe it's not really a miss.

And my final complaint is actually the title of the game. I actually forgot the name of this game multiple times after having played the game for more than five hours. It's not very memorable and it sounds like a title of a Class B movie.

Overall, Neurovoider is still a great game. With The Binding of Isaac, I think this is a must-have roguelike game for all Nintendo Switch players, and, definitely, one of its most interesting local multiplayer indie games. At $13.99, this game guarantees hundreds of gameplay hours, and it's fun for both solo or local coop multiplayer mode.

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 SCORE: 4.5/5

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