Neocron Demo

Cyberpunk is not exactly a very popular genre of video games, especially since it usually involves a lot of science fiction elements as well. In essence, the term refers to weird examples of technology that involve cyborgs and all kinds of human implants, with the most illustrious example being the exceptional Deus Ex franchise.

Neocron is an unusual combination of FPS mechanics, with MMORPG gameplay and a variety of other instruments that aim to provide you with a unique experience. Hence, although the game is played from a first-person perspective and you might confuse it with a shooter at a first glance, the mechanics behind it are actually the same as in a classic role-playing game, since everything is controlled by attributes and skills.

This can get annoying, because although you get to manually aim the weapon at the enemies and shoot, your attributes decide whether you miss or hit. Hence, even if the crosshair is on the enemy’s head, the bullets can somehow go a few meters to the left. On the other hand, there are many other things you can achieve with the said skills, which are much more exciting than the shooting examples.

Your inventory can be filled with a variety of interesting things, including many parts that can be used to craft certain items. Although they are fairly useless on their own, once you get the proper blueprints, these can become very valuable. Hence, anything from rocket launchers to armors can be crafted using the personal constructor, although your skills have a lot to do with it as well.

From a technical point of view, the graphics engine is decent, but not a lot of work went into the environments, and they can be rather disappointing in most cases. The missions are very dull and uninteresting, with simple objectives, and the usual quests that require you to go from one place to the other. The shooting sequences are not exceptional either, but you can get used to them after a while.

Neocron has a few good elements and a few not-so-good elements, which make for a very mediocre product when combined. Hence, the game can either be a hit or a miss with most people, so it’s never going to have a huge crowd following it.