Hello!

Since I reviewed a lot of Rpgs, some adventure games and one shooter, I decided, for a change, to try a totally different game: a beat 'em up!
Oh yes, this is not like Ryuukishi No Me II, Mugen Legends or Retsu Arashi Psychic Storm (not to mention the DyhortFight serie), three classic Jrpgs that looks like fighting games since they use the graphics of some popular beat 'em ups. No, this is a REAL fighting game.
This game, Neon Lightning Force, is made with Openbor, an engine that lets you create fighting games like Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, Burning Fight or Vendetta.

Graphically the game is gorgeous: sprites are taken from Dejin Makai, so they are quite big, colorful and detailed, and they fit well with the backgrounds that comes from other games like Vendetta, for example. The setting is coherent: we play as a police enforcer in a cyberpunk city, so you can expect to fight cyborgs and mutants besides the usual hi-tech punks. There's a good variety of opponents, and some cool bosses too.
Some cutscenes between levels tells us the story about our team. Oh yes, the team: we have the classic trinity of fighting games, the fast character, the powerhouse and the middle ground. Strangely this time the fast one isn't the girl of the team but the cool looking Steve, Isolde is the balanced fighter and the strong and slow one is Dr. Negishi, a large monstrous creature.

The gameplay is classic but with some cool additions: this particular beat 'em up has bonus stages, different selectable routes and weapons, all things that can be found on some fighting games, but here we have all of them! Great!
I like how special moves consume TP points that are earnet hitting bad guys, a nicer alternative than having special moves consume health like in some older games. Oh and you can also parry attacks! This game has everything.


Steven advances boldly armed with a sharp knife

Music and sounds are nothing special but clearly appropriate to the genre and setting of the game.
This game has also some unlockables earned after you finish the game, a not impossible feat since despite the enemies hits hard you have a generous number of lives and also continues! I found the difficulty quite balanced and never frustrating.

Verdict
I won't hide you that this is one of the three best Openbor games I've played, not the best but surely one that deserve to e tried especially if you are a fan of the genre and/or you play with a friend. The game is translated from spanish and this shows clearly in the names of the opponents, but it's not an issue. This is a really great beat-em-up, fun and fluid, animations are smooth and well done. My only problem with this game is that you have many commands to remeber since beside movement, attack, jump and special attack you have also parry and jump/roll towards the background and jump/roll towards the foreground. This is a bit more than what I expected, but it's ok!
In the end I recommend this game, as I said it's one of my favourite Openbor games and while not perfect, it provided me a lot of fun!

It's 4.5/5, and well deserved!