Thexder walks into a bar, the bartender looks at him and sa--BOOM!
I never played the original Thexder that NEO is based on but I can't imagine it being much better (or worse). Typical of the mid-80s arcade shooter, Thexder NEO is very difficult. So much so that it teeters on boring. I made up a joke to give you an idea; "Thexder walks into a bar, the bartender looks at him and sa--BOOM! Thexder explodes." It's not so much annoying or frustrating, as much as it's an expectation, and when you realize you've got nothing to live for the game becomes fairly dull.
Thexder is a giant robot that can quickly and easily transform into a jet! I know, it sounds sweet and oddly familiar (I'm pretty sure the original Thexder was the first game to do it, but it wasn't the last.) Being in robot form means you're bigger and move slower, but it also allows you to shoot your laser eye - your sole offense against the hordes of bad robots trying to blow you apart - in any direction. Sounds pretty good, huh?
It would be great just to stay a robot, but there are certain portions of levels that Thexder either can't fit through, or are too far to jump, meaning you'll have to transmorify into your jet mode. As a jet, you're much faster, thinner, and you can fly anywhere, but your laser only shoots forward, which wouldn't be a problem if enemies didn't fly at you from all angles... But they do, so it is.
Forcing you to switch between the two modes is about as complicated as the game gets in terms of design. In other words, it's pretty straight forward; avoid enemies and make it to the end of the level. If you die, you start at the beginning. Damn it. Aside from your laser, you've also got a force field that you can turn on, but it drains pretty quickly and often times you'll turn it on too late (as I said, enemies come from everywhere and they're quite fast.) What usually happens is, you'll jet into a room through a thin corridor, see a wave of adversaries fly at you, morph into robot form and spark up your shield, kill as many enemies as possible, at which point the shield runs out and you're pretty easy pickings for the remaining foray.
Other than that, there isn't much more to the gameplay and I think that's what makes it rather dull. It's not like you're collecting anything to become a stronger robot or that the story is fully realized and somewhat deep (there really isn't a story, per se, just a thread that barely holds things together), so it becomes monotonous surprisingly quick. Throw in the death-by-miniscule-robot every 3 minutes and it's kind of hard to appreciate what little nostalgia a game like Thexder would/should have.
A real shame too, because the game looks pretty good with tons of particle effects and runs well even when there's a ton of action on screen. I'm all for 3D remakes of sidescrollers (New Super Mario Bros., even G&G on the PSP a couple of years ago, etc.), but this is one of those times where no amount of visual upgrades are gonna save you from the pain. After recently playing PJM Deluxe for the PSP I understand that the difficulty of a game can actually work for or against it... For Thexder NEO it works against the game.
Ironically, I know a game like this has its place. As part-SHMUP, part-RobotJock based gaming, I know there are certain players out there that will definitely flock to it. Unfortunately, I can't really say who would fall into this category. Diehard shooter fans might be disappointed by the games other gameplay restrictions, while classic gamers may be turned off by hectic amount of enemies that often charge at you. I guess if you're into 80s classics that are difficult for the sake of being difficult, you'll probably enjoy what Thexder NEO is pushing (and hey, it's only $10). Otherwise, you may just want to stick with what you know.
