Playing Neuro: The Lost Last Game of 2006 (is weird)

[@iron6672]

"I'M NOT A TERRORIST.... I THINK"

[@EricToTheScionti]

Use that in a court of law. Lol

[@admiraltonydawning3847]

QUIT WINNING!

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

"Officer, we must act swiftly. The plan is to minimize the collateral (damage, sic), but without getting overly-sentimental." This is the most Russian thing I've ever heard in English.

[@greybayles7955]

"Officer, we mahst ect sweeeffly."

[@YouSoSpice]

Sounds like fan translation of Jojo part 7

[@dannylamb456]

Acceptable casualties: 100%

[@Vechyaslaugh]

Andryouha, u nas troop, vozmozhno kriminal, po konyam!

[@DACopperhead2]

Imagine having a conversation while a man stares at you, blankly, pointing a gun at you, while the gun screams. I wouldn't bring it up.

[@haydrionslaughter3747]

Especially since that's a perfect opportunity for a one liner. "So, uh, why is your gun screaming?" "Because of this." *BLAM!*

[@TheManCalledDrHorse]

It knows what it's been made to do

[@layton1362]

"A character being an idiot isn't bad writing. Bad writing is mishandling that fact." Ok, I really like this point of view. It kinda goes in line with the idea that a cliche isn't something bad, it just depends on how you use it. And all of that from a one hour and forty minutes essay about such a weird game. That's pretty much why I love your channel.

[@Superschokokeks]

Mystery of the droods handled the fact that halligan is kinda fucked up more or less well. The world reacts to his incredible insane acts like giving a homeless guy strong alcohol and steal his change to use a payphone. "have you tried working?"

[@thattwitalex]

@@Superschokokeks The skeletonized body of Dr Melanie Turner was found days after this conversation

[@vrapbrap]

Exactly. I honestly wish main characters in games were allowed to be stupid and incompetent even. As long as it's handled appropriately. Best case scenario, it ends up making the character relatable and interesting.

[@icecold1805]

@@thattwitalex WOMEN LIKE WINNERS, HALLIGAN

[@SuperLlama42]

Kind of like the Monkey Island games. Guybrush is simultaneously a very clever person who can get out of bad situations and a goofy dumbass who easily bumbles INTO those situations in the first place.

[@Nachy]

When you fixed the softlock by standing in place of the NPC that would interrupt Warden-Avatar really cemented how amazing this game is

[@Puerco-Potter]

It can be spin into something good to put on the cover: "you have to think out of the box to progress"

[@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842]

@@Puerco-Potter Out of the box, under the box, behind the box and into the mouth of madness.

[@pubgeventpassgiveaway1997]

U

[@pubgeventpassgiveaway1997]

Fuck I feel asleep with my phone on KZbin again *sigh*

[@Never_heart]

You quote his Mars review, you must become one with the jank

[@Raw774]

“You’ve heard of a battle of wits, but this is a battle of dimwits.” They should put that on the cover... uh, box... website? I don’t know what this game has.

[@logicaloverdrive8197]

This game was lost media, so I don't imagine it has anything but the game itself.

[@Annausagi2]

Just slap it across the screen during the entire game.

[@gonb5434]

box word of mouth, before your friend goes "hey bro check out this game i pirated" he is legally obligated to drop the catchphrase

[@EternalEdgeLord]

@@gonb5434 advanced marketing tactic

[@kasocool2812]

Homeless man sat on a street corner handing it out burnt onto CDs with "neuro" wrote on the front in a marker pen, in those cheap paper cd sleeves that ended up ripping 90% of the time

[@torylva]

I am so happy Civvie mentioned you, because as soon as I saw his Neuro video I thought "Oh god, not again!"

[@zeroG131]

I think a lot of what you said regarding Neuro's narrative is mostly intentional, for one reason only: That speech James gives to the player. It acknowledges...everything you said really. He's aware of how pointless his actions were. He's aware of how actively shitty they are. He describes himself as a pretty awful avenging angel. The game doesn't just succeed at making James an idiot in a rather intentional way within the narrative, it does something really unique. On some level, he knows he has faults and maybe even flat out is aware he's an "idiot". But he'll never use that word to describe himself outside of his immediate actions (such as messing up everything with Ramone) because he's a fucking person. He's made all these mistakes, been through all this dumb crap cause he jumped to conclusions and let his emotions get the better of him, but he's still here. He has to keep moving forward and above all else, find some purpose in it. What that exact "purpose" was I don't know, but that newfound confidence is clear evidence of it. Because that's just what people do, especially when they really fuck up but are allowed to "still be apart of things." They have to be remorseful but know they can't just go back. They know they were wrong but they can't just grovel. It makes James as a character in this story, among other details (like being able to easily dismantle that cult leader's ideology despite his clear naivete) weirdly REALLY convincing as a genuine human being.

[@MinerJo1001]

Very well said!

[@tawdryhepburn4686]

Great analysis.

[@timothymclean]

If only this game didn't have flaws in so many other areas. Like the dialogue, and the smaller plot beats, and the little details, and the gameplay, and the technical stability. But it got that one thing right, and that's really cool.

[@b3nl555]

Honestly, James makes me feel better about myself but in a good way.

[@thornfalk]

"IM NOT A TERRORIST .... I THINK" That line had me actually laughing

[@theblackpantslegion]

How you find such unique madness is beyond me. This is glorious in its strangeness.

[@Intestine_Ballin-ism]

*HAIL CARGONIA*

[@weirdferretthing]

Get back to your vacation you whiskey-drenched maniac

[@Nothingtoit57]

Holy shit Black Pants! Sick

[@WTFisTingispingis]

PRAISE Z0RG!

[@alexanderstanfield5845]

Holy shit. Mandalore, XPG, shammy and now Tex? tehsnakerer must be a youtubers youtuber

[@ThatDudesDude]

If Neuro ever gets a cult following they should go on a date with the EYE Divine Cybermancy fanclub for the weirdest dinner ever percieved by human eyes.

[@boneiy]

psi warriors are a unique breed all around, it'd seem.

[@TargetedPersona]

YOU GAIN BROUZOUF

[@Calvin_Coolage]

A mask of James's face would be a moron party mask, come to think of it.

[@f4u5tus]

Just a bunch of broken legs on one side of the table

[@GundamSneed]

My legs are okay

[@CCFi99]

Its not just the fact that you review jank, its the amazing depths you go to do it. No "Hey look how janky the game is LOL", you explore it, it examine it, put it in context and yet never forget the clunkiness of it all. You should hang out with those jank developers, I have a feeling you will like each other.

[@FreaKill666]

Funny thing about this game's insane amount of lore: It's actually a sequel to Homeplanet - a 2003 space-sim from the same developer, though that game takes place in 369 (you play as a Troyden cadet-pilot during the mentioned exile and fight for clan's survival while trying to find a new home, hence the name of the game) so I guess Neuro is technically a prequel. In fact the whole "pre-history" from the manual is actually introductory text-crawl from Homeplanet almost word for word except for the last added paragraph. The story of development of these games is a fun one too: they originally started working on Neuro back in 2001 (maybe earlier? Articles about Neuro being worked on prior to Homeplanet mention 2002, but archive of dev's site has an announcement of Homeplanet development in November 2001 with no mention of Neuro at that time), but at some point it turned out that one of their developers Oleg Petrov made a space-sim engine, so they decided to make that first.

[@thestealthplatypus5861]

Did they makea sequel that was a 2d platformer?

[@DigitalFulcrum]

Not gonna lie Homeplanet looks pretty thrilling. It's a high speed space dogfighting game with Newtonian physics. You'd zoom in with guns while fighting the enemy and making high speed turns

[@Audioworm]

I hope Snakerer covers this one.

[@DukeoftheAges]

that homeplanet game sounds like a rip off of homeworld. Name and storywise.

[@spaccc.]

@@DukeoftheAges the gameplay is definitely different

[@badger6728]

gotta say, the segment twenty minutes or so in where you reflect on player characters we've encountered in previous episodes of Playing made this episode feel really special.

[@V_y-r_e]

Agreed

[@gyletotherescue9781]

Seeing Saul Myers again brings me so much joy

[@smugalice6206]

@@gyletotherescue9781 same but for Jake Conway

[@sean8102]

So happy to see all the people discovering Tehsnaker thanks to Civvie's latest video (at the moment) on this game.

[@oldstoffire]

I love how the English WRITING is honestly really good, and the voice ACTING is really good too, but the actual actors are just guessing at how to pronounce anything. This game is so fucking cool.

[@unexpected2475]

Indeed, I wonder how it would sound if the actors had a better command of English. It's quite interesting.

[@TheStonedZone]

I have to say, the pronunciation guessing isn't that bad either. I've played games with much, much worse pronunciation, and with much thicker accents.

[@voxrex3932]

Fun fact (not actually fun): the voice of Craig is actually the voice of Sergey Chikhachev, one of the people behind the cult classic Russian TV show called "От винта" (ot vinta) which was basically a shitty short Mystery Science Theater but about video games and in 90s Russia. He also voices the Bloody Baron in the Witcher 3. Also fun how these shooters (this one, Xenus games and other abominations) were portrayed by Russian game journos as some sort of Halo/Half-life killers

[@sinsoftheswamp8346]

Ah the bloody barren

[@khaorix2667]

@@sinsoftheswamp8346 That was his wife, no?

[@bobhonkhonk9843]

Xenus was being drooled over by Igromania, I still remember the article describing it as the next coming of Christ. And then I played it lol.

[@voxrex3932]

@@bobhonkhonk9843 yeah, same, but it was LKI for me mostly

[@ZukoPrince]

Тебе прям настолько не нравится «От винта»?

[@DBZking119]

see that's is what I love about you when playing jank like this you take it seriously and give a full rundown of the game theirs something so captivating getting an insightful view of jank

[@Exigentable]

Agreed, I've seen the Oaxaca and White Gold trilogy of videos probably 4 times each by now, highly compelling niche Snake found.

[@WendiGonerLH]

the only reference to an “O’dwyer” firearm that I found is the “Metal Storm” weapon prototype, which for the uninitiated is a concept for an electrically-fired multi-barrel weapon platform, the main characteristic of which being an unfathomably high fire rate. Each of the barrels is loaded with multiple caseless rounds, stacked end to end within the bore. Each one is ignited electronically, starting with the furthest forward in each barrel, and depending on the programming of the firing computer, can allow for something like 1,000,000 rounds per minute, due to a lack of mechanical moving parts, instead functioning more like a modernized take on 18th century volley guns than a true machinegun. The reason I believe in a connection, is that O’dwyer is the name of the man who came up with the prototype in the first place, and given that handgun variants of the guns were conceptualized, something in the vein of a shotgun would be totally viable

[@lemon1954]

Metal Storm developed a shotgun using superposed loads in the late 2000s, after this game was developed. It was called the Multi-shot Accessory Underbarrel Launcher, and had practically semi-automatic operation despite not technically being semi-automatic. From game footage and descriptions of the MAUL, the similarity is uncanny. Just thought that was an interesting coincidence. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAUL_(shotgun)

[@Corrupted]

Holy shit, the constant beeping from the gun is absolute gold ahahaha

[@Jay-ln1co]

"The humanity has always YARRRned for the stARRRs." Shiver me timbers.

[@DrDestructo]

I can't comment on the actual in-game writing because I'm experiencing it through a jank translation, but it definitely does seem like it was written by someone clever who had a thesis statement and considered themes. That comes through strong despite everything else. Also, big ups to the voice actors- most of them are probably reading phonetically, but are still managing to actually vocalize the intent of what they're saying, and that's tough to do.

[@thatdude3938]

\\\\most of them are probably reading phonetically,\\\\ Definitely not

[@planescaped]

The writing to me struck me as someone with a lot of passion and drive for what they were writing, but very little experience/technical skill.

[@xantishayde-walker4593]

@That Dude I get what you're saying but some of those words were nowhere *near* the actual pronunciation. I can't remember the actual word, I think it was facilitate or something like that. I think it was a line from Craig. He butchered it, completely. I had to listen to that 3 times while looking at the word to figure out what in the hell that was. That's pretty bad because I'm pretty good with pronunciation and also pretty good at figuring out what people mean when they don't know what in the hell they're saying. That was on another level.

[@MFSTAS]

neurojank

[@Tehsnakerer]

Really fucking good

[@joelbeck3804]

neurojank 2077

[@MalkHead]

Neuro Hunter is another russian game in this genre

[@pinao9928]

@@joelbeck3804 lmao the funny thing is, im from the future and depending on the platform this game can be miles more playable than cyberpunk

[@booradley6832]

fun fact to correlate with your commentary: The "energy rifle" would be better off named as an energy musket. Since it fires a projectile made of energy, there is no need for the barrel to be grooved in a spiraling manner so it would not actually be "rifled" at all. Yes, that's the one part of this game I find disagreeable. The rest of it checks out, 100% golden certified GOTYEY.

[@CruelestChris]

Thing is you can have a rifled musket. Energy shotgun, maybe?

[@booradley6832]

@@CruelestChris Sure you can. Springfield model 1861 was a rifled musket that the US civil war was fought with more than any other weapon. In the futuristic context A rifled energy musket would be possible if either the material required centrifugal force for whatever reason or if it fired a solid cased projectile that carried the energy charge that does the actual damage in it, and so stabilizing that projectile for as long as possible would make rifling a good option (though fin stabilization would probably be better because it causes the projectile to spin itself instead of relying on the gun barrel rifling which wears out over time.) A good example of a carrier charge would be canister shot of Napoleonic Era artillery, which the main "projectile" is actually just a delivery mechanism for the balls contained within to spread out in a shotgun like effect, but the canister prevents them from becoming too dispersed too quickly. Nothing in the game indicated it was anything more than a blob thrower, but I could be wrong there too. Science fiction, science fiction rabble rabble ergo stuff that doesnt exist, etc. You cant prove i'm wrong lol.

[@CruelestChris]

@@booradley6832 I said you can, not you can't.

[@weirdferretthing]

Not gonna lie, your voice puts me to sleep, but in a good way. Since you usually aren't talking over gameplay footage, since you mute it or reduce it to negligible in editing, you let me focus on your voice, the information you're conveying, so goddamn well that I just immediately begin to relax and start to nap. Watching your reviews once gives me some great perspective and ideas to think on. But then I end up watching your reviews 30+ times (your Brigand: Oaxaca and Xenus series reviews in particular) because you help me fall asleep comfortably.

[@Superschokokeks]

I don't want to know how much space Tehsnakerer in my subconscious has for all the time I fell asleep and had autoplay on. This channel is pretty much part of my life now. Would it be gone, a part of me would be gone. I know how this sounds, but if you listen so much conscious or unconscious to that it has an impact to you

[@HermanHiltsman]

I have deliberately fallen asleep with his Hunt Down the Freeman review on so many times.

[@MisterYura]

glad I'm not the only one doing this lol

[@sean8102]

Same here. Laying in bed about to fall asleep to this Playlist now. Again.

[@ExValeFor]

I'll be honest, I rewatch this review every few months. It's one of those few pieces of media that takes you on a ride every, single, damn, time. An absurdist documentary that reliably shows you a different side of game analysis, game design and game writing. Even with the YIIK review being what it is, I think this is your masterpiece. Neuro is the quintessential Tehsnakerer experience, and by the gods, I love it to death. Both the game, and the review, and your content by extension. At this rate, I'm not even sure why I enjoy this one so much - enough to rewatch it so reliably, while I find it kind of prohibitive to waste time rewatching movies or TV series. Not to say you've peaked with this video, but entirely too many little dominoes fell into just the right place for this to be what it is. It's more than a review. It's... perfect.

[@LumosX]

*Linguistics (skip to the second paragraph if you're a boor):* The discrepancy between "Basil" and "Vassily" is obviously caused by the translation. The name Vasil is identical to Basil, Basil simply being the romanisation. At one point the Greek "beta" (β) changed into "vita", effectively replacing their "b" with a "v". This is why Latinised forms of names derived from Greek are presented with "B" but are used by the Slavs with "V"s, and most likely why the Cyrillic letter "В" is a V instead of the Latin B. Basil/Васил _(Vasil),_ Byzantium/Византия _(Vizantiya),_ basileus/василевс _(vasilevs),_ etc. I'm by no means an expert though, and if anyone's familiar with the reasons for this phonetic shift, please do share them. (NB: I have absolutely no idea where that "Ivan" on the game over screen comes from, though... We can chalk that one up to the jankiness of the whole thing.) *The actual comment I wanted to make:* There's an expression in Bulgarian: _"the broad Slavic soul"._ It's used to jokingly refer to the natural propensity of, presumably, all Slavic peoples, but _especially_ the Russians, to philosophise at length when given the opportunity. It is my belief that this inclination towards philosophical discourse -- or at least something along those lines -- has been a major factor in the formation of this rather particular, enthralling breed of Russian jank games that are so prone to embed themselves in one's (sub)consciousness, the effects of their bastardised English translations notwithstanding. And perhaps exactly because of this notion, I choose to wholeheartedly believe your interpretation of this game's plot. Maybe you're full of shite indeed, but maybe you aren't. Maybe this is what it was intended to be all along: a character study of a dim-witted man, coupled with the subtle underlying theme that some things in this universe might just be bigger than a single man. Oh, and one more thing. Remember this, dear friends from around the world: not all Slavic people speak English with a terrible, thick accent; nor are all of us unable to form long and complex sentences in English. This comment ought to be proof enough for my latter claim, and you'll have to trust me about the former. And I almost forgot: Keep up the good work, snake-man. Your videos on long-forgotten FPS games are nothing short of brilliant.

[@thespanishinquisition4078]

I do have an alternate theory. You see, this game is a prequel to another game madr by the same devs called Homeplanet in which you play as a Troyden pilot during the search for a new homeplanet after the fall of their clan during this game. What made me think of my theory is that combined with one fact: even tho homeplanet came first, the devs mentioned that actually they planned this game first, but because one of them got the space sim engine up and running before they finished this game's they just decided to focus on homeplanet then revisit this game. Seeing as how the first and last levels are almost entirely cut off from the rest or the game, and knowing that fact, I would argue it is likely that the reason the fall of the troydens was even included at all in the game is just to connect both games narratively. And there's therefore no real philosophical meaning behind that. So the whole part about the universe moving without you was unintended. That said, I do wholeheartedly agree that this game has to be a character study of an utter tosser, and I kinda love that they went there. I think it's the first character study I see that fully embraces it's subject's idiocy. But it really is just the story of a moron that manages to repeatedly and vehemently fuck up his pal's attempts at disarming a drug ring, the troyden's stuff is just a tacked on reference.

[@GhostHax0r]

As far as I understand, you pretty much hit it on the head.to further prove his claim, I've met many east europeans, and even a Swede, who have had such amazing english that I was genuinely surprised that English was not their first language, or even their second.

[@krullachief669]

Cheeky breeky iv damke

[@gabby3036]

13:51 Having watched this video WAY too many times, this has to be my favorite quote - and if we're being honest, the fact the Russian VA still managed to (mostly) sell the English-language joke really takes it up a notch.

[@pseudogiant6504]

Here are a few janky game recommendations, some of them are similar to Neuro, love your videos: 1- Operation Matriarchy 2- Gore Ultimate Soldier 3- Day of the Zombie & Land of the Dead 4- Hellforces 5- You Are Empty 6- Revolution 7- Alpha Prime

[@V_y-r_e]

I believe you meant Republic: The Revolution

[@pseudogiant6504]

@@V_y-r_e Nope, simply Revolution, an old FPS.

[@DStecks]

Oh my god I remember when You Are Empty had legit pre-release hype.

[@Crowley9]

I'll just save that list to check out myself...

[@jcl3005]

@@pseudogiant6504 God I remember that, a weird janky half life clone published by Activision

[@fragmentofself]

I legitimately applauded when Craig busted out Jedi powers on the attack ship at the end. Best thing ever! Excellent job on the review/essay btw. I love your videos. I'm glad I stumbled across these.

[@FokkerTISM]

I discovered Neuro back in 2011 or 2012 through Marphimitius Blackimus' channel. I was on Vista at the time and ended up downgrading to XP just to play it. I completed the Russian version (with Keith Duffy's English subtitle pack) in early 2017 and then found out about the Taiwanese release from Widescreen Gaming Forum (some English screenshots were posted to the entry about the game). In late 2017, I was directed to a source where I could have a Taiwanese person buy the game for me off an auction site there (sadly, it didn't have the cover art, just the disc and manual). It arrived in February 2018 and I promptly ripped the disc and uploaded it to Mega. The link was then copied from LegendsWorld (where I originally posted it) to Duffy's blog by another person, spreading from there. The Taiwanese version was actually released sometime in 2008 by Miracle Express (according to the modified dates on the disc).

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Craig fills so many tropes of the buddy that switches sides because they are secretly working for the bad guys. But then he reveals it was all part of a plan and nobody told the protag because they knew he'd screw it up.

[@ProtoManiac2283]

The 2 billion users that exist in this platform right now are missing out on the wonderful hidden gem that is your channel

[@thesidneychan]

Came back here after Civvie's video. This is by far still the best coverage of this hidden jank.

[@davyberson90]

I'm half expecting James to say "let's go bowling!"

[@KurtKobalt]

It's amazing to me how Russians make some of the weirdest, yet interesting games I've seen. You might want to check another weird russian game, Hard Truck Apocalypse. Also, love your videos!

[@MrSomebodyStrange]

Don't forget Vangers!

[@quantras2673]

@@MrSomebodyStrange also pathologic.

[@LazyBuddyBan]

If he ever manages to launch and play thought that piece of code-crap game. If you heard about Stalker randomly not working and getting fixed, Its like that but on steroids. My game just started constantly crashing after 2 hours, no clean reinstall of the game or drivers ever fixed it, no solutions online on both languages.

[@MyCool4you]

Been a fan of yours for a while, thanks for helping out civvie! Big fan of both of you

[@countesschewi2399]

I do really love how in depth your analysis of how every element of this game works together is. It really speaks to how much of an art form games can be, and how even work with no apparent meaning on the surface can be read to be as deep as classic literature. Also I love that voice acting.

[@unfa00]

The voice acting is a statement about the implied earth history. US has conquered Russia and the EU, so half of the world now speaks English, albeit with their own eastern accents, and the only other force that still resists is China and Korea. Have you seen any Asians in this game?

[@TheHowlingMan]

Lmao. When you creatively solved that uh, 'problem,' I couldnt help but be excited too. I literally fistpumped as you said you did the same. You really conveyed the energy of triumph over jank here, fantastic vid

[@joelsalyer5544]

Hey man glad to see your still doing okay. I know your a smaller channel but God damn I really enjoy your long form videos. Hope life is treating you well. Cheers from seattle USA

[@Tehsnakerer]

Doing alright, thank you

[@bobloblaw418]

I am having the worst week and its been really hitting me hard in the sleep area. Your upload made me smile, cos I can have a nice 2 hour relax later and get away from some of this stuff. Love your content Snakerererererer

[@EggBastion]

Sleep lite. Hang tight. Don't let the jankbugs bite!

[@bobloblaw418]

@@EggBastion holy shit i found the kind people on the internet. what in vape nation

[@rodneysmith873]

Your reading of Neuro echoes a lot of themes with MGS2. I am unironically convinced that Neuro is a post-modern masterpiece on the level of Hideo Kojima. Thank you.... Snake >:)

[@alexbenavidez4500]

You questioning whether James has the mental capacity to even consent was my favourite thing. "I'm not a terrorist...I think" is such a beautifully self-aware line from a shooter protagonist as well.

[@chungusbooper]

I love the voice acting in this game. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud a few times over the course of this video. It's genuinely endearing.

[@countphil1]

Civvie and you are great video makers glad to see you get more attention.

[@hollowmajin5146]

Thanks Civvie for the recommendation

[@bigmclargehuge8219]

I don't have the Constitution, Endurance, or Intelligence to play through.. experiences, like this. I appreciate the fact that I can vicariously enjoy things like this in a genuine way through your content. You make stories that I would never have been able to experience into this epics that let me live in an idealised version of these worlds. If I had to guess, I'd say your analysis of the story of games like this is closer to the idea the creators had than the game itself is. Anyway, thanks for the wonderful content. This was a journey, and I enjoyed every step of the way.

[@valence_drive]

This is... honestly way more awesome than I would've ever expected. Jank everywhere, as you stated, but the ideas on the narrative and the role of the protagonist are super fresh and unique. I wouldn't play this myself, but I'm happy I got to know it existed.

[@Silver_Warden]

I remember seeing this game featured in one of the local gaming magazines back in the day - they gave it something like a 5/10 stating that there was not much to see in it and the only fun parts were the physics engine and the powers you got to play with. They also mentioned the fact that nearly every room was full of chairs to the point of total absurdity - possibly because the developers really wanted to showcase their physics engine. However, Neuro got completely erased from my mind up until today. Listening to the "English" voice acting hurts so bad it becomes good after a while. At times, I have no idea what the characters are supposed to be saying and I have to rely on subtitles to understand them even remotely, and I usually have no issues getting through the thickest of accents. It's like they had no real actors available and had to force some foreign versions of Google Translate's speech system to read out the English lines phonetically. Amazing! Even though these videos take quite some time to come out, the end result is always totally worth it. An hour and nearly fourty minutes - it's like watching a feature film. Loved every second of it, and can't wait for the next one!

[@Superschokokeks]

"hey, this isn't yakuza 4" 20 Minutes in. really? James would realize this after a day or so. He even would write a comment a la "good work with Yakuza 4. As always!"

[@planescaped]

"Un-BE-leafable! This is a prohibited substance!" "I'm just sitting here eating and sleeping and watching myself ve-villed in evening news!" "Craig Pur-sooded the ko-null" This game is up there with Chosen Well of Souls for goodbad dialog. James in particular is one of the most hilarious bad performances I have ever seen. Also your breakdown was great. Painting the game as well written despite its appearances and presentation. It really does all work, and made better because it very likely was unintentional on the game makers part. XD

[@audiosurfarchive]

I see you everywhere on every respected vidya essayist I love. Snek, Grim, Warlockracy and Noah Caldwell Gervais. If I'm mistaken, I apologize, but you have immaculate taste.

[@lollolrk]

"We're going to get some B O O Z E" I can't hold it at that point. I lose it every time.

[@PosthumanHeresy]

Every single voice actor in this game sounds like they were hired via a casting call at the Black Lodge.

[@shimapanknight1754]

Just got your channel recommended recently and stumbled across this review. I know I'm kinda late for the party, but I still want to clarify some things about this game. First of all, this game was intended to be released around 2003 as a espionage-stealth game in Sci-Fi setting, probably something very similar to Metal Gear series. But because they had some really serious issues with development of game engine, Revolt Games decided to pause development of Neuro and focus instead on second game they had in development - Homeplanet. Which was released exactly in 2003. Second, after that they remade Neuro as prequel to Homeplanet. Neuro literally ends right before Homeplanet begins. Obviously they had to change a lot to do that. Third, they had some problems with publisher. Mainly lack of financing. At same time game had big advertisement campaign in Russia. Game received average reviews, at that time 5 out of 10 was considered as "average", and vanished into oblivion. P.S: sorry for my bad English. It's my second language and without regular practice such things as grammar are easy to forget.

[@alexandernatura3960]

It's fun to see that game on KZbin in 2019 I've played it in 2008 and was really interested, by the way that game is forgotten even in Russia, despite pretty strong local advertising But real fun was then on my trip to region i was able to find original CD of this game, that cost me around 50 rubles or 0.78 USD Real nostalgia By the way, great videos Really interesting to hear opinion on some "Slavic" games from my childhood from overseas Even if most of this games was pretentious nonsense But it was experimental time And most of it was the "new hope" for our game industry Some games were great and experimental, some was shitty doom 3 or farcry clones But i really miss that time There was some mystic charm in this games

[@Tehsnakerer]

Some real weird stuff came out, it's interesting to hear, I didn't imagine this game was a breakaway hit even in Russia, otherwise it probably would have at least had some reception/cult status in the west

[@alexandernatura3960]

@@Tehsnakerer I remember back in 2005-2006 in game magazines this game was some kind of Russian FPS messiah, but after release it got some mixed reviews and become forgotten pretty fast. Actually there was many of projects like neuro, i can remember "exodus from earth" and "kreed" But Neuro stood out with his psi-powers and more or less acceptable combat But yeah, reception of this game was pretty cold More likely it's happened because of reputation of Russian FPS games There was to much trash Every FPS released that time planned to kill *name every popular western game* And not only shooters I remember Russian racing game called "Need for Russia" and it was actually advertisied like smash hit And this is really sad Neuro at least set some pleasant memories And in Russian version voices was much more calm I gotta admit in English dub it's sounds like some dum-dum theatre

[@testname4464]

Holy shit, we got ourselves a real NeuroJank OG!

[@YouSoSpice]

Rusian game desing stronk

[@derekk.2263]

Russia seems to have a really fascinating games industry. People who fawn over Japanese games are idiots, russia is where it's at.

[@cfdeers]

Found out about you through HDTF, watched the Boiling Point Series, enjoyed that, I love your work and your character. It's so rare to see someone put half as much work into game related commentary that's still interesring. that's a hard earned sub right here.

[@Keyfur91]

Yo same here! I started with his Boiling Point series too! High five, mate!

[@warriorcrab1319]

1:14:15 - "Ramone's death severed my lost side to Sorgo." The 'Severed' pronounced as if he means his sides have become more severe, all spoken in an accent that sounds like a bad iDubbz caricature. That sentence made me a little more insane.

[@nikital.6523]

Well, at that time (failed) franchise-building was actually surprisingly wide-spread in the Russian gamedev: Tarr Chronicles, Kreed and, of course, the (somewhat) legendary (in some circles) Reality 4.13 that was born from the Paradise Cracked. Hell, even on the boardgame front we had Dictator.Control coming (belly) up with such aspirations (as well as paradoxically successful Berserk). Coming to think about it, the vast majority of such projects were either full-on cyberpunk or had some components of it.

[@biscuithammer00]

I actually had to stop watching the video halfway through to try and confirm or deny if this was related to Kreed in some way.

[@nathanielharris1572]

This might be the best video you’ve made. Up there with brigand. Good work.

[@Superschokokeks]

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING OF THE LIMBOOOOOOOOOOO

[@Keyfur91]

The opening with the man on fire running face first into a wall won me over. This is why I subscribed to your channel, Tehsnakerer. This is why other videos made by other people I'm subbed to get put on holdwhen you upload. For moments like that. Keep them coming, mate!

[@CosmopolitanFools]

The script work throughout the game is unexpectedly philosophical & much like scraping away the paint over a window to see what is inside & beyond the world vision ... into a secret or unsuspected. In writing the script for "Delivery from the Pain" - immersive & using proper content relation & character definition - it is rough to be specific & stick to it. Ocheen stranaya v'yesh deela meenya (Very strange stuff for me). You are right - the phonetic slipperiness is evident. For 2009, the graphics are great. The different variations of voices are impressive, the listener being exposed to a lot of decent voice talent. NOW - look at the trash voicing for "State of Decay" with zero originality from sucky Undead abs years later & you recognize what a gem this is. Emotive, thought provoking . . . this game might just be a digitized flickering of elusive thought, recalling 'the one that got away.' THANK YOU ! Colour me 'subscribed.'

[@Mikki-Moo]

I am amazed you even know Neuro, I thought only other russians know the game. You knowing it and reviewing it makes your channel twice as likeable as it already was beforehand

[@Exigentable]

My main man Snake with another banger

[@Lemon_Inspector]

I wish KZbin had taken less than 8 years to recommend this channel to me. I didn't even realize Ross Scott's Game Dungeon was a part of a greater genre.

[@DanMcLeodNeptuneUK]

"This man is incapable of consent" LMAO I lost it!

[@centurionzen1005]

Consent culture at its finest.

[@dmas7749]

39:10 another thing i'd like to point out about the "real deed" line, kate's obviously angry at craig and clearly exaggerating...and james doesn't pick up on this at all also losing an argument with himself lol 1:08:53 rip 1:11:46 battle of dimwits, clever

[@GojiraTX]

Your ability to make me desperately want to play jank-ass jank games is astounding. I am 1000% on board with your interpretations of the plot and characters. God bless you and God bless Neuro.

[@zgSH4DOW]

That awkward silence when the henchman talks over the Warden Avatar--unintentional pure art

[@thehoodedteddy1335]

I love that the softlocks happen during conversations, and how that gives them hilarious context.

[@brandonmorel2658]

James is one of the best written manchildren in gaming.

[@BS-cc4ks]

Came here from Civie's video. I am not disappointed.

[@valuebrandmelkor5973]

The voice actor at 48:50 is the voice of Ish's mother in The Ring: The Legend of the Nibelungen. The European translation VA industry is pretty insular I guess

[@Steelers3624]

This really feels like your finest work, snake. I come back to this video 2-3 times every few months and I'm still finding new things every time.

[@SanDeygo]

I was watching the new civvie video and the horrible voice acting sounded so familiar:.. then I realized it was a game you had covered! Glad he shouted you out :)

[@HansAlRachid]

Now that's a fantastic way to end my evening, a fresh new guided tour through fascinating jank I've never even heard about! By the way, your videos on Brigand: Oaxaca and White Gold got me to buy the games, thank you for those in particular. EDIT: Ah man, that character/channel retrospective segment around the 20 minute mark was fantastic.

[@dudeistpriestman]

"That space is reserved for our objecives" I wheezed so hard it triggered an asthma attack. worth.

[@1for3Gaming]

Getting to the end of rewatching this is always a bit sad because there's still nothing else I can watch about this game, it's mark on the internet just ends here. 10/10 video for a 10/10 game that I've never played.

[@wymanrtaylor]

I return to this video. This game, and your analysis, is (are) just amazing. EDIT: seriously, I dig all your videos - like, a lot - but I watch a ton of KZbin stuff, gaming and otherwise - but this is literally in my top 5 of all time KZbin vids. It’s just great.

[@strawberrytofu4990]

I love James voice actor so much holy shit

[@Puapka]

Its really inspiring to hear you overanalyze some old glitchy game, really motivates me to make art.

[@c-puff]

Between this and the EVO video, this is officially my new favourite channel

[@torreben4379]

Although it looked like a jank but enjoyable game, your investment in it's mangled but interesting story and themes sold it for me. I've been downloading this game while watching and am excited to experience it myself. Thank you for introducing this to us.

[@GreekPrisoner]

They're like Mario and Luigi and you're playing as Luigi.

[@Robocopnik]

"Plug in more sensors, we need to record EVERYTHING!" Brilliant.

[@Fightersword]

I've begun to treat new episodes from you like a bit of a fine wine, saving them for those days where I can feel utterly relaxed while watching them.

[@petershalashaska7886]

I DESPERATELY need a “Best of James’ dialogue” video.

[@petershalashaska7886]

Screw the Best of, I want it ALL!

[@stickyrick1939]

this is probably one of your best videos yet. absolutely amazing.

[@krimtim3]

So much love for your channel. Still being one of my favorite channels on KZbin. Keep it up mate and keep these strange games coming.

[@samz8691]

The PC gaming wiki actually lists a fix for that cutscene glitch by editing the audio files.

[@taltra9922]

What is funny is that the solution is essentially the same as the one used in the video. You have to add a few seconds of silence to the audio file so the soldier waits a moment before starting to speak

[@db44-t6b]

I greatly enjoyed this video. Without you I wouldn't in my life give this game a second thought but now it will forever be a pleasant memory.

[@Ara_Arasaka]

Okay. Honestly. I have to respect the Russian people who did the voice acting. They sounded like they ACTUALLY tried, and the weird nonsense at the beginning has genuinely left me intrigued. Sadly I’m super busy with the 2022 release schedule and can’t play this; but this does look actually cool. It’s not Stellar. But some of the best sci fi games don’t need graphics to still hold up. This is what I’d call a gem. I’m in for this video. And subbed to the channel

[@Romrojal]

Unfortunately as of July 23'rd of last year Neuro can no longer be downloaded from the blog posted in the description as the links lead to a dead site.

[@samz8691]

I love how you review jank like this, these games need to not be forgotten.

[@jracob123]

After a 9 hour shift, it's just made me endlessly happy to see that you've uploaded. Seriously man, keep up the great stuff

[@ValentineGrimCC]

Oh, lovely, I'm not going to bed for another hour and a half... Thanks, Tehsnakerer, you know how to screw with my life in most enjoyable ways!

[@mrturtletail3945]

Feel like a legit fan of yours now. Watched all your old videos you mentioned in this video just recently. Keep up the quality content

[@theblekedet6467]

It's nice of them to give such a huge space for commentary in the dialogue screen!

[@Jameston]

That big brain play with bodyblocking the guard was clutch! I too find myself oddly drawn to this toodlewreck. I was sad to hear that it was going to get cut short, but then I saw the timestamp. GG snake

[@Rayuzx]

You know the rules now. Everytime you review a game based off of physic powers, you must review another one for comparison.