Geometry Dash + Rocket League = NeoDash, a fun speed runner-type game equal parts challenging and fun. Mastering some of the more difficult tracks results in incredible dopamine highs. NameBrand
It was fascinating to finally find the time to sit down and play this game after watching it slowly come together a little more than a year ago in short clips on TikTok, but here it sits majestically, as a really fun game. Still being tweaked, stages are being added, and user-generated content is filling it to the brim... it's a wonderful sight to behold and it is an incredibly fun game to learn to master.
My opening stinger I stand behind, but I'll provide some more context for it here. It's like Geometry Dash in that you must complete stages in a single go without dying. There are some banger Monster Cat tracks in here, but the stages are not set to any in particular. The more you play a stage and tweak your approach the further you get to the end until almost magically, it seems the muscle memory for the stage has completed its download into your mind... and you win.
It's like Rocket League in that your vehicle is rocket-propelled, but don't go in expecting the rigidity of that system. The car booster is easily understood, but the almost drone-like hovering is where you'll need to refine your skills to become a master. The right analog stick is your best friend in controlling your vehicle's tilt and only after mastering the fine motor skills required to do this, will you be able to complete this game.
Your journey to becoming a master driver is very well paced in the two supplied stages, and then their difficult counterparts. After you've completed those, there are a few event stages. After that, it's on to the community user-generated stages. It's UGC. There are some of the worst-designed stuff, to surprisingly great-designed stages, to ridiculously hard, 7th-level of-hell type stuff. Even if you never get good enough to have the patience to complete some of the more difficult things that the sandbox of NeoDash offers you, there is so much user-generated content that you'll be set with stuff to help you have some fun with it all.
But of course, I recommend you try. Go for the fastest time among your friends. Get stuck on a stage for two hours. Maybe four hours even. Go mad. Forget what time it is. The beauty of NeoDash is you can tune the entire world out while you focus on that one stupid jump that seems impossible... and then you get it. Maybe you finally make it through that last hole in hole in the wall and you're getting smashed by those dumb pistons for literal hours. I've never tried drugs, but I'm imagining the feeling has got to be similar to the moments following your hard-earned victories... After playing for four hours you finally beat the level that takes under a minute to complete and it's like... man... I am the greatest person of all time to ever live and life is worth it. Who knew?
Overall NeoDash scratched an itch that I forgot I had in that weird speedrunning genre, and the "gotta-go-fast" genre. It's incredibly well designed, with great stage progression in the campaign and seemingly endless levels made by the community. If anything I've said in this review has been slightly interesting I highly recommend you pick it up and give it a shot.
It was fascinating to finally find the time to sit down and play this game after watching it slowly come together a little more than a year ago in short clips on TikTok, but here it sits majestically, as a really fun game. Still being tweaked, stages are being added, and user-generated content is filling it to the brim... it's a wonderful sight to behold and it is an incredibly fun game to learn to master.
My opening stinger I stand behind, but I'll provide some more context for it here. It's like Geometry Dash in that you must complete stages in a single go without dying. There are some banger Monster Cat tracks in here, but the stages are not set to any in particular. The more you play a stage and tweak your approach the further you get to the end until almost magically, it seems the muscle memory for the stage has completed its download into your mind... and you win.
It's like Rocket League in that your vehicle is rocket-propelled, but don't go in expecting the rigidity of that system. The car booster is easily understood, but the almost drone-like hovering is where you'll need to refine your skills to become a master. The right analog stick is your best friend in controlling your vehicle's tilt and only after mastering the fine motor skills required to do this, will you be able to complete this game.
Your journey to becoming a master driver is very well paced in the two supplied stages, and then their difficult counterparts. After you've completed those, there are a few event stages. After that, it's on to the community user-generated stages. It's UGC. There are some of the worst-designed stuff, to surprisingly great-designed stages, to ridiculously hard, 7th-level of-hell type stuff. Even if you never get good enough to have the patience to complete some of the more difficult things that the sandbox of NeoDash offers you, there is so much user-generated content that you'll be set with stuff to help you have some fun with it all.
But of course, I recommend you try. Go for the fastest time among your friends. Get stuck on a stage for two hours. Maybe four hours even. Go mad. Forget what time it is. The beauty of NeoDash is you can tune the entire world out while you focus on that one stupid jump that seems impossible... and then you get it. Maybe you finally make it through that last hole in hole in the wall and you're getting smashed by those dumb pistons for literal hours. I've never tried drugs, but I'm imagining the feeling has got to be similar to the moments following your hard-earned victories... After playing for four hours you finally beat the level that takes under a minute to complete and it's like... man... I am the greatest person of all time to ever live and life is worth it. Who knew?
Overall NeoDash scratched an itch that I forgot I had in that weird speedrunning genre, and the "gotta-go-fast" genre. It's incredibly well designed, with great stage progression in the campaign and seemingly endless levels made by the community. If anything I've said in this review has been slightly interesting I highly recommend you pick it up and give it a shot.