While Demon Turf was a good 3D platformer, I could never enjoy it as much as a lot of other platform-aficionados did. I always thought it relied too heavily on quantity-over-quality, and the levels all blended together, the only ones I really remembered being the larger-scale ones or the really annoying key-hunts later on, and the photo-hunt was a wholly unnecessary part of the game that could've not only been handled better, but detracted from the overall experience. I thought it was good, but not great. Nothing above a 7/10 experience, with plenty of room for improvement.
So I was pleasantly surprised when I played Neon Splash, as it not only has consistently-good level design, but it's a concise experience that plays to the base game's strengths and hones in on them. It may only be a mini-sequel, or the equivalent of DLC expansion, but it displays growth in the developer's abilities, and they've applied what they've learned when making Neon Splash.
Neon Splash is like a sidestory of sorts. Beebz and her friends discover a painting that teleports them into a watery 80's inspired neon world, and they have to find their way back out. It's fairly straightfoward, and Beebz' two friends are the only meaningful interactions you can have, all of which are entirely optional past the beginning and ending cutscenes.
I'll get one thing out of the way with first. I don't like the 80's aesthetic. It's one of the most overused, boring, played-out aesthetics in pop-culture today, and it's amazing how many developers and creators all have nostalgia for a time they never grew up with. I know plenty of great shows, films and groundbreaking games came out in the 80's, but even so, I can't wait for people to finally move on to the 90's and early 2000's in equal measure, hopefully without milking it for all it's worth. My distain for fake-80's-nostalgia didn't detract from my enjoyment of Neon Splash too much, and it's far from the biggest offender, but it needs to be said. Moving on.
While the talking point of "they all blend together" could technically apply to Neon Splash's levels, it wasn't an issue for me because it didn't have any annoying 100% completion tasks that involved trying to figure out which level had the subject of a required photo, or anything else that detracts from the core gameplay. Plus, it's in the name, I can give leeway for all the levels in this mini-game adhering to the same style and theme.
Only two of the four transformation abilities return; the wheel and the glide, and to be fair, they were the only ones I cared about from the base game. They're much more versatile in their use than the hookshot or timestop powers were, and unlike those, they don't bring the pace of a level to a screeching halt any time you have to use them, if you even have to at all. Much like the base game, you can chain jumps and actions together to sequence-break your way past obstacles that intend for you to use another method, which I always appreciated.
Beebz no longer has her push ability. In fact, there's no combat to speak of here. The focus is purely on the platforming, and if I'm completely honest, Neon Splash is better for it. The combat/pushing puzzles clashed so drastically with the platforming, and were so half-baked that I wondered why the developer didn't just axe it. With Neon Splash, he found the fun, which was the platforming, and leaned right into it.
One weird quirk of this game is that water now kills you. I don't know why this is, considering you could swim in the base game, but design-wise, it's obviously to prevent the player from obfuscating entire obstacle courses in a level. Even so, I think there needed to be a believable hazard or reason for the water to instakill the player now, be it poison, uncontrollable tides or just replacing the water with acid or lava. Maybe Luci and the kappa nerd had the explanation, but if so, that detail shouldn't be tucked away behind optional dialogue.
If you've bought Demon Turf any time in the past couple of years, you'll probably have got Neon Splash with it for free. The only consolation for those of us who bought it beforehand are the achievements, which I have no clue if Queen Edition players can get. Either way, however you access this game, Neon Splash is worth giving a chance, even if you didn't like the base game, or, like me, you enjoyed it but were a bit burnt-out by the end. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how The Tower plays and how Demon Tides turns out.
