This stupid little shmup has no right to be as good as it actually is. It's crudely made, childish, and very, very irreverent, but Deathmofumofu really lean into how silly the base concept of a flying cat shmup is, and the end result is just great fun.
At it's core, Neko is a Horizontal shmup basically wholly focused on bullet cancelling with bombs - essentially building up meter and clearing the screen of many bullets as possible, with each bullet turning into score items. It's simple by the standards of modern shmup scoring systems, but it has a surprising amount of nuance, particularly when it comes to managing and routing bombs, taking deliberate deaths for more bombs (and when you're near the 5-life limit), and managing enemy health so they die at the right time. It's a really satisfying system, implemented well, and with the levels built well around it. It couldn't quite carry a traditional shmup alone, but that's where the charm comes in.
And Neko Navy sure is charming. A very silly sense of humour, the general cutesy artstyle with just an edge of bizzare pseudo-horror, lighthearted music, and a general sense of self-awareness that makes it very easy to just lose yourself to the silly little ride that this game is. I find it hard not to smile at the silly jokes, the references, the bizzare sense of space and time - and the stage 3 boss always makes me laugh.
There are issues, of course - The game is a tad easy, with only DEATH COURSE being any significant challenge. Production values are obviously rock bottom, and there's something to be said for the art definetly not being for everyone. I also think if you're not into the irreverant spiral of irreverance that Neko Navy is, you're probably not going to get too much out of it. The Character balance of the game is also a bit off, though the very fact im bringing that up should be telling that i'm taking this game way too seriously in the first place.
But seriously, this game's lovely. Very few games will put a smile on my face in the same way Neko Navy does, every dang time.
At it's core, Neko is a Horizontal shmup basically wholly focused on bullet cancelling with bombs - essentially building up meter and clearing the screen of many bullets as possible, with each bullet turning into score items. It's simple by the standards of modern shmup scoring systems, but it has a surprising amount of nuance, particularly when it comes to managing and routing bombs, taking deliberate deaths for more bombs (and when you're near the 5-life limit), and managing enemy health so they die at the right time. It's a really satisfying system, implemented well, and with the levels built well around it. It couldn't quite carry a traditional shmup alone, but that's where the charm comes in.
And Neko Navy sure is charming. A very silly sense of humour, the general cutesy artstyle with just an edge of bizzare pseudo-horror, lighthearted music, and a general sense of self-awareness that makes it very easy to just lose yourself to the silly little ride that this game is. I find it hard not to smile at the silly jokes, the references, the bizzare sense of space and time - and the stage 3 boss always makes me laugh.
There are issues, of course - The game is a tad easy, with only DEATH COURSE being any significant challenge. Production values are obviously rock bottom, and there's something to be said for the art definetly not being for everyone. I also think if you're not into the irreverant spiral of irreverance that Neko Navy is, you're probably not going to get too much out of it. The Character balance of the game is also a bit off, though the very fact im bringing that up should be telling that i'm taking this game way too seriously in the first place.
But seriously, this game's lovely. Very few games will put a smile on my face in the same way Neko Navy does, every dang time.
bup
3 years ago