It's all more "cartoony", and it plays like it's own thing, but there's a clear reverence for all the older titles (especially the NES version of 2, and Battletoads & Double Dragon) on display. There's a suprising amount of depth, Gleam, roll, trip, flying knee, throw a stunned enemy, ground strike, running shoulder check or slide, and combat only seems slower because enemies take more hits.
#Double dragon neon ign review upgrade
You can't grapple and knee bash, but everything else is in there, and more, depending on your upgrade path. Flying knees are no longer like shotgun blasts that send foes flying across the stage, the combat seems less gritty to match Wayforward's vision for the style of the game. If I imagined a modern take on Double Dragon 2 it would be closer to Hobo With A Shotgun than Neon's Venture Bros like ironic take on the material. All in all, the combat is as annoying as any other retro Double Dragon I’ve played over the years.I totally disagree, but I can see the problem some people have with the tone.
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Of course, the same does not apply to one of your attacks. Sometimes, you might even touch a foe with one of your punches, only for them not to count as an actual attack as the opponent was in the middle of an attack animation, giving them a stupidly long invincibility frame.
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The collision detection has a mind of its own, as you never know when you’re actually going to register a hit or not. Even though Billy and Jimmy feature more attacks than before, as well as some nice combos, the combat is slow-paced and riddled with technical issues. Sadly, despite the decent framerate, the overall gameplay is as slow as the original Double Dragon.
#Double dragon neon ign review portable
The only saving grace is that the framerate is excellent, with the game running at 60fps at all times, no matter if you’re playing on portable or docked mode, with one or two players.
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Character animations are quite weird, and their models are simplistic. It’s an eight year old XBLA game that wasn’t even that impressive back in the day. The visuals have been revamped, of course, but that doesn’t mean that Double Dragon Neon is a visually impressive title… at all. With the exception of a handful of new areas which moderately increase its overall length, it’s still the same old song and dance. You can fight by yourself, which results in the game becoming nearly impossible, or with a friend. The sole difference is that there is a brand new main villain in the house: the skull-faced Skullmageddon (great name for a death metal band, by the way). Everything you know from that classic is here: Marian gets kidnapped, you fight hordes of members from the Shadow Warriors gang, you have to deal with Abobo, and so on. Sure, namely from beat ’em up fanboys who looked at this game through rose-tinted glasses… but I was still curious nevertheless.ĭouble Dragon Neon is, just like Double Dragon Advance, a remake of the original 1987 arcade game. I’ve always wanted to give this old remake a shot, as I had heard good things about it in the past.
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Hell, they have proven their worth when it comes to retro-styled beat ’em ups with last year’s River City Girls. Sure, I may have played one or two mediocre titles from these guys in the past, such as Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia, but I know the team can come up with some excellent bangers if given enough time and resources. One thing made me hopeful upon booting the game up for the first time: seeing the WayForward logo. The classic introductory cutscene, this time with cutting-edge 2012 graphics.