I've mentioned previously that I find it hard to beat the feeling of logging into a new game. There's an uncertainty in the air, most of the time I don't really know too much about what I'm going to be playing, and I'm a sucker for suspense.

If I had to list out all of possible things that can happen in that first minute, a cinematic opening would be right at the top. So after lighting that 'new game ciggie', leaning back in my favorite chair and logging into NeoSteam for the first time, finding a beautiful cinematic waiting for me was so much more than a pleasant surprise, it was pure magic.
Having had such a pleasant first few minutes in NeoSteam, it saddens me greatly to say that before I had even finished that cigarette, I encountered several massive disappointments.

The first of which is language translation; from my experience every game seems to have their own level of translation ranging somewhere from perfect English, to Engrish. From this point forward 'NeoSteam' is now the new lowest rank on the translation ladder, Engrish would almost be pleasant compared to most of the text here, and although for many people this isn't really a big issue for someone like myself, who holds immersion in such high regard it's a huge step in the wrong direction.

After navigating my way through a fairly long text based tutorial, trying desperately to maintain sanity, I was soon faced with my next gripe, the controls. NeoSteam uses a standard point and click to move system, although they seem to have reversed the clicks from the normal standard. This isn't really a big issue, but it was annoying to get used too and combined with horrible delay lag and the games inability to plan your route (You need to manually click around all obstacles and paths) allowed for an ultimately frustrating playing experience.

To add a few more negatives to a game that had massive potential to be a fantastic, the interface and icons around town are cloggy and cramped, finding quests givers using the map provided is almost a mini-game in difficulty, matched only by actually completing the quests. One that comes to mind is the class change quest at level 10, in which finding the class change quest giver is just about the hardest challenge I've ever completed in a game. I was lucky enough to have someone lead me too him, but even then, that person seemed like the only one in the entire game willing to help another player. Suffice to say, the community was about as welcoming as the introduction and control system, on par with being poked in the face by a hot stick.

Fortunately its not all bad for NeoSteam, amongst all the rubbish there are some lovable parts to the game too. Character design and selection is very nice, with a choice of 6 different character types in total, and 4 different classes. The graphics, in their own way are really nice too. They aren’t exactly 'next gen'  but they are comfortable and fit very well with the style of the game, giving off a dull grey effect.

The grey effect works so well because NeoSteam is set in a mechanical world, full of machines and war. I couldn’t get much of the story straight, but it seems that there are two different factions, that are constantly at war. I’m not exactly sure who they are or why they are fighting, but what I did discover is that in a very WoW fashion, it is kill on sight, so be prepared for some open world PvP action!

Finally, the sound in NeoSteam is fantastic. The sound effects never seem to get too annoying, and the music playing everywhere from the title screen to the battlefield is dramatic and fitting, it’s probably my favourite part of the game altogether.

I really wish that I could go on, and tell you about life after level 30, but sadly I cannot. I know that there is a rumoured second class change, I know there are battlegrounds and large scale wars, that your pets can evolve into fantastic creatures, and that using the power of NeoSteam you can somehow create and run massive machines to help you travel or fight. But I’ll never see any of it, because the foundations of the game just aren’t solid enough for me to continue playing.



With horrible translation, a severe lack of movement detection, poor enemy AI, bad server stability, a frustrating interface and a seemingly unwilling community, NeoSteam fells like an unpolished alpha game, and with it now in open beta, its unlikely that it will be changing. For anyone that can look past these problems they may just find that there is a playable and enjoyable game on the other side, but unfortunately, I cannot and with so many other games on the F2P and Beta market right now, I just can’t justify playing one as incomplete as this.