Neon Apex: Beyond the Limit

When you think back to the great futuristic racing games from the 1990s, you probably picture F-Zero, wipEout and maybe even Extreme-G. What if I told you that there was a new game that combined all of the elements of those three games, while also tossing in a fair helping of Street Fighter and a confetti gun getting shot directly into your face. That game is Neon Apex, a stylish new racer with an anime look and gameplay that was influenced by pretty much every futuristic racing game that came before it. Does all that add up to a must-own racing game? That’s what we’re about to find out when I review Neon Apex: Beyond the Limit.

Before we dive into their new game, I first want to talk about developer Repixel8. Although it wasn’t their first game, I was first introduced to this UK-based developer back in 2018, when they released Velocity G, a fun (albeit flawed) racer inspired by F-Zero and wipEout. They followed this up with Formula Retro Racing, a fun (albeit flawed) racer inspired by Sega’s seminal Virtua Racing. In both cases, I gave these games a B-, largely enjoying their style, but feeling underwhelmed by their gameplay and depth.

Fast-forward a few years and now Repixel8 is back with a new futuristic racer inspired by the same games that brought us Velocity G. With a cool new anime art style, a wide selection of made-up vehicles and more modes than you’ll know what to do with, I went into this game hopeful and excited. Even through I haven’t loved any of their games, Repixel8 is one of those companies on the verge of cracking the code and creating something truly great. And, and first glance, Neon Apex appears to be that game.

It's the year 2124, and racing is a big deal. The world is fractured and humans are forced to battle it out against both cybernetically-enhanced racers and A.I.-driven androids in some of the most intense racing events since wipEout took us to 2097. It’s man vs. machine, as we race, fight and navigate our way through perilous tracks that take us from dystopian cities to forests to highways at the edge of the world.

What you need to know is that events are split into two types of races – ones with cars and one with motorcycles. Each division plays out pretty much the same way, where the anime character we select will buy, collect and upgrade vehicles with three different speed classes to master. They’ll earn some cash and XP with each win, though some of that money will be eaten up by repairs and maintenance, which includes restocking your nitro boosts. The player will compete in standard races (where you and seven other racers speed around a bunch of laps), as well as one-on-one races and events that have you driving from point A to point B.

What you’ll quickly notice is that most of the levels take place in a futuristic city that apparently has the world’s most complicated highway system. You’re constantly running into forks that split the highway either left or right, with only one way not blocked off. This means that some races may start out the same, but will change drastically as we explore one part of the city instead of the other.

This becomes important in the career mode, where you’ll have to complete dozens of different events in order to level up the racer and difficulty. Every time you complete an event, another one will show up, and the way they make each race feel unique is by taking us to different parts of the city. This allows you to earn enough money to buy upgrades for the 25 different vehicles, with each one allowing you to improve your engine, power, grip and strength a couple of times.

Like most futuristic racing games, it will take a few plays before the loose gameplay fully clicks. This is a game that wants you to keep one finger on the drift button, because you’re going to need it to successfully negotiate some of these nasty corners, especially with other racers and random cars in your way. This is a game that wants you to know when you scrape against the side or hit one of the many obstacles. The sparks will fill the screen and the color will get completely zapped away. Some of this is stylish, but a lot of it is really annoying.

The truth is, I had an extremely hard time getting into Neon Apex. There are a few things right up front that will blunt your progress, like how much you have to spend money on simply entering a race and repairing your vehicle. Oh sure, you earn a nice sum of money if you win, but you’ll end up burning through a lot of cash in those early bits where you’re still figuring out the gameplay and dealing with the overly-aggressive computer opponents.

The big issue early on is that the odds always feel stacked against you. The problem isn’t that you’ll sometimes get smacked into a wall by a random opponent, that kind of thing happens all the time in racing games. Instead, the problem is that you’ll be brought to a complete stop and spend several seconds trying to get back in the race, which is now completely unwinnable due to something completely outside of your control. This is the kind of racing game where a single mistake will cost you the entire race.

And did I mention that the computer cheats? I kept running into an issue where I would take the lead early on, only to have my closest rival speed ahead of me in the last stretch. Sometimes it was literally a second or two before the race was over, not giving me enough time to react. Thankfully, this became less of an issue as the career mode went on, and by the end there were some races that had me eight or nine seconds ahead of the competition. Most of the truly frustrating bits seem to be specifically reserved for the early parts of the game, when you’re still warming up to the gameplay and your limited selection of cars.

The good news is that Neon Apex is full of different modes, so if you end up hitting a wall in the career mode, you may want to try your hand in one of the other game types. For example, there’s a story mode that has you playing as Chase, who gets into life-or-death races with other cybernetically enhanced and A.I. opponents. This gives you a bunch of dialog-heavy cinemas, something that helps to fill in some of the details and does a nice bit of world building. It also allows you to visit new courses and locations, a welcome treat after racing so many events in the same old nighttime city.

Other modes include a championship mode, where you’ll race through eight stages in order to earn points and come in first. On the other hand, the arcade mode attempts to recreate the thrills of old school racing games, like Pole Position and OutRun, by giving you a set amount of time to reach each checkpoint. There’s also a time attack mode that is exactly what it sounds like, as well as a two-player mode that lets you go up against a friend. Sadly, there’s no online multiplayer, so you’ll need to own a second controller (and have a friend).

Oh, and did I mention that it’s occasionally a fighting game? I’m not talking about one-on-one races, which this game also has, but rather full-on hand-to-hand combat. I wouldn’t exactly call it a Street Fighter clone, but there’s definitely punching, kicking and combos. It’s also terrible. The moves are slow and sluggish, the special attacks are not always reliable and the computer opponent cheats. Also, it always takes place in front of the same boring background. Sure, you can chalk it up to it being a silly little bonus round, but it’s not fun and there are dozens of these identical fights.

While I certainly appreciate this game’s ambitions, there were times where I wondered if it was doing too much. I love the different modes, but does the career mode really need to be this drawn out and repetitive? The story is cool, but it’s hard to care when the game only tells us what’s going on instead of showing it. The gameplay can be fun, but it’s undermined by having almost too much style. There were times when I found the game hard to look at. I wish that instead of adding a one-on-one fighting event that isn’t any fun, they would have instead tightened up the gameplay and toned down some of the effects.

This is a game that I really wanted to like, but it never fully comes together. It’s a futuristic racing game that has good ideas and a lot of ambition, yet it can’t stop getting in its own way. Between all of the different modes and unlockables, I would say there’s enough here to give Neon Apex a tepid recommendation. This is yet another stylish racing game from Repixel8 that is fun, but ultimately falls short of expectations.