There’s a real tragedy here, if you think about it.
During the 1980s, video games were generally thought of as side-scrollers.
The 2D platformer was the most popular and the most prevalent genre in the industry,
and to this day, it’s still one of the most common associations with the very concept
of the video game.
The difference is their commercial popularity just isn’t the same, and that’s where
tragedy sets in.
Had it come out 25 years ago, this game would’ve been enormous.
It would’ve been played—and most importantly, purchased—by millions, and it would’ve
nabbed a spot not far from Mega Man, Contra and Mario within the hallowed halls of popular
and pivotal platformers.
That sounds like hyperbole, and maybe it is.
But I adore this game, and I can’t help but think that in a different time and in
a different industry, a lot more critics would’ve painted Sideway: New York with the same colorful
verbal aerosol.
Released this month to the PlayStation Network, Sideway: New York may not be the mainstream
smash it might’ve been.
It’s tougher to stand out in the crowd these days, especially for a video game that takes
up bytes instead of plastic.
Instead, fate has a different role for this one.
Sideway is the latest example of the platformer’s creative resurgence in the last few years,
and in many ways, it’s one of my favorites.
You play Sideway as Nox, a graffiti artist who finds himself in a bit of a predicament.
While tagging up the city, he paints over the work of another artist...an artist who
isn’t human.
This gets Nox sucked into his own sprawling urban canvas.
He becomes the graffiti, and from within that colorful world, he has to save his own.
The story sets up the game’s brilliant premise.
As a living piece of graffiti, Nox is restricted to moving on walls.
So for example, if you’re walking along one side of a building and you walk into the
corner, Nox actually bends around the building.
This moves you to the next wall...only it doesn’t have to be a wall necessarily.
And that’s where the game goes from interesting to brilliant.
Nox can move along any flat surface.
That’s mostly walls, but it can also be roofs, for example.
In fact, it can be almost anything.
And what’s even more interesting is that a surface can be actually explored in several
different ways, depending on which corner you approach it from.
What was the floor a second ago can be the ceiling, as long as you come from a different
direction.
So you pair the idea of multiple surfaces with the concept that those surfaces can actually
be played from different angles, and then you add in the theme and art style, and you
get a sense of the potential for awesome level design here.
Fortunately, the game largely delivers on that potential, as well.
Sideway is also a nice value, too.
It only costs $10 dollars, but you’re getting about a dozen levels, each of which hides
plenty of collectibles and challenges you to find them all, Yoshi’s Island-style.
There are also online leaderboards for score sharing, and to max out those scores, exploring
the game’s clever levels to the fullest is a must.
And believe me, that’s an exploration worth making.
Hyperbole aside, this is a game inspired by classics, but it’s a game that also takes
the ideas of its inspirations further.
The difficulty is satisfying, the mechanics are tight, the art is great and the experience
absolutely blew me away.
Sideway: New York is a platformer for a new era, a brash side-scroller that dares to
ask, “why limit the sides?”