Review: Neo Cab

Goutham Jayaraman

Ravencrow Game Review #14

 

Neo Cab

https://store.steampowered.com/app/794540/Neo_Cab/

Genre	Visual Novel
Platform	PC
Developer	Chance Agency
Publisher	Fellow Traveller
Playtime	5 hours
Date Completed	13/4/2021
Date Reviewed	22/5/2021
Overall Grade	A+

 

Neo Cab is a visual novel game where you get to play as a cab drive, ferrying passengers around and having surprisingly deep conversations with them that would never actually happen in real life.

The catch though is that you are one of the last remaining human drivers in a dystopian world dominated by autonomous vehicles that aim to replace the need for traditional cabbies.

The story follows Lina, a strong-willed woman who moves to the city of Los Ojos to search for a missing friend who she has some history with.

The gameplay is fairly simple and I personally found it rather relaxing to sit through. All you have to do is select a passenger to pick up, have a conversation with them (which involves making choices), rinse and repeat. You also have to deal with basic maintenance, namely refueling your car and body.

What I liked

-          How the story touched on relevant mature topics revolving around AI leading to lack of employment opportunities. This is a very real problem which will surface in the next couple of decades.

-          How relaxing the game was to play. The music helped with this

-          The interesting characters and conversations I could have with them

What I disliked                                                                   

-          Being locked out of certain choices and being forced to say things I didn’t want to say.

-          Never being able to meet my daily money goal

-          The fairly bland story

-          Running into money problems easily and being unable to sleep at the preferred location

-          Savy

-          Having to panic about potentially not getting a five start review

Gameplay 16/20	+ Cool and relaxing gameplay + Engaging conversations and monologues + Choosing the customers you wanted to serve + Having plenty of choices when talking to people - Some frustration in being locked out of certain choices
Game Design 13/20	+ Intricate conversation design = Seemed like there were some investigative elements tacked on in the sense that you could talk to certain characters to find out more about the case at hand. However, eventually the game just progresses on regardless of whatever investigation you do. - Too little money being received from rides. Was hardly able to make enough to keep going and never able to reach the daily quota - The Feelgrid was not the best idea. There should have been an option to simply remove it at will. Restricting player choice for reasons out of their control is never helpful. (It is never clear how a choice would impact the Feelgrid). I mean, yes, it’s unique and interesting in its own way but letting the player choose whether to use it or not won’t detract from the experience. - Too much emphasis placed on the reviews. You subconsciously couldn’t say certain things because you knew it would affect your rating. Again, restricting player choice.
Graphics 22/20	+ Absolutely gorgeous graphics + Certain special effects and elements really conveyed the feel of a technologically advanced society + Character faces are detailed and readily show emotion + Sleek and modern UI + Good use of camera angles to create cinematic moments
Audio 20/20	+ Soothing soundtrack perfectly suited to the gameplay - Lack of voice acting, but not needed since full attention span can easily be given to the text.
Story 15/20	= Story revolves around Savy going missing and trying to figure out what happened. It also follows some anti-AI events that happen in the city. + Choices do impact the story and can affect the ending + Some deep interactions with other characters can influence the story + Story touches on real issues that will affect society in the near future and does a fantastic job of it. This includes how tough survival can be, how AI will replace jobs and how grossly important reviews are. These things did negatively impact the gameplay experience, but benefit the story. - I think overall, the story itself is largely basic and forgettable. It doesn’t always make sense and fails to create any actual feelings of anxiety (friend disappeared, after all). - Would have liked to see more meaningful interactions with CAPRA - Bit too short
Lore 18/20	+ Memorable and highly relatable characters + Characters largely have interesting backstories + Plenty of information about the in game world can be gleamed throughout the journey - Personally didn’t like Savy and maybe one or two other characters. Her design just had some weak points to it and she doesn’t make much of an impact until the very end despite the story being centered on her.
Value 15/20	- Short play time + Good replay value. Should be able to play again at least once. = Somewhat unique experience, but there are similar games out there that do a better job (Night Call).
Overall Grade 16/20	A+
Score	84

 

Neo Cab is overall a nice little game worth experiencing, and despite its somewhat dull story, you can certainly appreciate how it adeptly touches on certain issues and how it excels at its character design and interactions. Honestly, a longer story would have been fantastic, especially considering how much lost potential there is in this game.

Given its weak playtime/price ratio, I would preferably wait for a sale before buying it, but it would be worth the purchase. I’d say it’s worth it to play the game a second time as well, just to try picking up different passengers and getting to go through the same soothing music whilst doing so.