Review: Neo Cab
Neo Cab is a visual novel, in which you drive a cab, meet people, and try to solve a mystery. Neo Cab is available with Apple Arcade and also available on Steam and Nintendo Switch for $14.99.
Story
You play as Lina, who is the last human driver in the fictional town of Los Ojos. This is a visual novel, so it’s all about the story, but there will be no spoilers here.
The game opens with you moving to Los Ojos from Cactus Flats, to move in with your best friend, named Savy. Soon after you arrive she goes missing. You have to unravel the story to find out what happened to Savy.
Gameplay
The game consists of a lot of reading and choices. You’re a cab driver, so almost all of the game takes place in your car, but you are not actually controlling the car as the player. You are controlling the conversation.
You open up the in-game phone, and go to the Neo Cab app, to see who is out there requesting rides. Pick them up and start making conversation.
Your choices matter when you make conversations. You have to keep your rating high. You can see what rating the pick up requests are, but I stopped paying attention to those; I wanted to meet as many people as possible, so I didn’t care about the rating. That was until I ran into some pick ups that required you to have a five star rating to be able to pick them up.
The conversations you have with everyone are all important, so the details are tracked in your journal. You meet the same people multiple times, so it’s a good idea to check your journal, to remember important details about people to use in your conversations.
The final part of the gameplay is texting. You will get messages, and some responses you get to choose — though not all, which is kinda strange, but you do get to choose some. Picking your responses really gives you a personal feel to the story.
Feelgrid
One of the most interesting mechanics in this game is the Feelgrid. It’s a device that has you literally wearing your emotions on your sleeve: it’s a wrist band that changes colors based on how you are feeling.
Different scenarios, and different answers, affect your Feelgrid. Your emotions get in the way of some of your responses, and if you’re too mad, you can’t select certain answers. For the most part, this was a cool mechanic, but there were times where people got me mad, and I wanted to say a certain choice, but it wouldn’t let me due to my emotions.
Every Choice Matters
I played through this game multiple times, and realized that you can play the game to completion, and have a totally different experience than someone else. You can meet different people, have different conversations, and then achieve different endings.
Verdict
Neo Cab is a fun experience. Visual novels need to be well written, and have a great story, and this one does. If visual novels are not your thing, then this won’t get you into them, but if you like visual novels then this is a good one of those.
I give this one a thumbs up. Good writing, and the weight of your choices mattering, kept me entertained through multiple playthroughs.
Final Score: — 8/10 —
For more reviews, be sure to check out my thoughts on Call of Duty: Warzone and Spaceland, plus I was responsible for this month’s Retro Review, where I reminisced about Super Mario Brothers 3. As always, check us out on Twitter @TheSpinchoon and I’m @Big_Broons.
