Online play and a gentler difficulty option make this retro download more palatable. Battling through simplistic, mazelike levels filled with countless drones requires you to frequently switch between robot and jet forms. Ultimately, the repetitive gameplay and limited scope show this old mech could use a tad more oil.
Square-Go writes: "The story in Thexder Neo is not exactly the USP of the game (Unique Selling Point in marketing speak). This is by and large because there isn't one. Basically, you're a robot that turns into a jet and shoots lasers, there are bad guys and each level has an exit point. Frankly, the robot/jet/lasers part is reason enough to buy a game for any child of the 80's. Cue "The Touch"... Maybe not."
Fans of old-school action are rather spoilt these days, especially since the advent of downloadable services such as Xbox Live, PSN, and the Wii's Virtual Console. Every week it seems as though some forgotten gem is either being re-released, remade, or re-jigged slightly. However, for every household name such as Contra, there's a much more obscure title being unleashed - case and point, the bizarrely named Thexder Neo.
RunDLC writes: "If you've never heard of Thexder, you're not the only one. It was a robot shooter initially made popular back in the 1980's, when the NES was just getting started and the only PC gaming at the time was done with the Apple IIgs and the Amiga. It did well in Japan, but didn't strike much of a chord here in the US. However, that didn't stop Square Enix from remaking it for the PSP a couple of months ago. Now that same game is available on the PlayStation 3, and it seems to work better on a home format."
