Neon Chrome review for PS4, Xbox One

I was moderately intrigued by Neon Chrome. Its developer, 10tons, has a pretty good track record of porting casual mobile games to PlayStation platforms. Almost without fail, whether we’re talking Tennis in the Face, King Oddball, or Sparkle, I’ve invariably found myself addicted to whatever they’ve decided to bring over.

The caveat here, mind you, is that I got hooked on all those games on my Vita. Neon Chrome is only on PS4 (along with Xbox One and PC). So the question for this game, as far as I was concerned, was whether I’d find 10tons’ brand of casual fun as enjoyable on a home console as I did on a handheld.

Short answer: nope.

I should immediately clarify that I don’t think Neon Chrome is a bad game. It’s perfectly competent in pretty much every respect. It features a futuristic-looking cyberpunk aesthetic that’s undeniably easy on the eyes. It brings in a mildly interesting roguelike twist, with procedurally generated levels to keep each new room seeming fresh and new. And it…uh…it…ummm…

Honestly, that’s all I have to say about it. It doesn’t do anything badly, but it also doesn’t do anything so well that it makes you sit up and take notice. It’s a pretty standard top-down, twin-stick shooter: you get a range of guns to shoot at a wide variety of enemies, and you slowly upgrade your attributes. There’s slight variety between the different playable characters, but not so much that it’s particularly noticeable. If you’ve ever played any game of this ilk before, you’ll know exactly what to expect here.

To be sure, that’s not the worst thing in the world. But it doesn’t make for an interesting game, either. In small doses, it might work — which takes me back to that caveat above — but as a sit-down, console experience, Neon Chrome just feels a little lacking.