Neopets was a phenomenon in the early 2000s, and the virtual pet game still goes strong to this day. Now looking to capitalize on nostalgia for the franchise and capture the attention of lapsed players, a minigame collection of classic Neopets diversions has been made for PS5. Officially called Neopets – Mega Mini Games Collection – The Neopian Arcade Odyssey, the compilation includes 26 classic minigames and one all-new one, plus an original story.
Celebrating 26 years of Neopets, the collection has 26 minigames ranging from classics like Kass Basher and Snowmuncher to Pyramids and Turmac Roll (which even has a 3D version you can unlock). There’s certainly some nostalgia to be had and the small creatures have a charm to them, but sadly, even the best of these minigames isn’t particularly good. It might be a fun way to share your nostalgia with your children, but adults are unlikely to get into a high score chase, as none of the minigames grabbed me or made me want to keep playing after I had gotten a score high enough to advance in the story.
The game’s story focuses on a festival in Neopia, which is an excuse to play through a bunch of minigames and hopefully top the leaderboards. Sadly, the actual story text is boring and even features misspellings of characters’ names (Abigail is written as “Abigale”). However, after you get through the slog of a story mode, you do unlock an arcade mode with all of the games available to play.
You can connect your Neopets account to the game, which is nice, and you can get some bonuses for submitting your high scores. However, this minigame collection is unable to shift out of first gear, so you’re unlikely to keep coming back to it. The only new minigame is called Starlight Symphony and is a totally fine rhythm game that is a bit too easy for there to be any real replayability.
Neopets – Mega Mini Games Collection (PS5) Review: Final Verdict
Neopets – Mega Mini Games Collection – The Neopian Arcade Odyssey is exactly as advertised, but there’s nothing beyond some quick hits of nostalgia. The new minigame falls flat, and there’s nothing here that will compel you to keep chasing high scores. At least the Platinum trophy is easy, so you can eventually delete the game after a few hours that are enjoyable, if not overly fun.
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Nostalgia galore
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Some of the games are still charming
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Most games are one-note or not fun
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Plenty of typos and a bland story
Disclosure: The publisher provided a digital copy for our Neopets – Mega Mini Games Collection – The Neopian Arcade Odyssey PS5 review. Reviewed on version 1.000.001.
