QCF: Sideway New York

Sideway New York is a highly stylized platformer by PlayBrains and Fuel Entertainment. The game launched as an exclusive on PSN back in October, and now PC owners can snag it from Steam for around $10.

Nox, an urban street artist and title protagonist, is sucked into a 2D world that flows across the flat surfaces of intertwining architecture. Protruding objects such as windows or pipes provide ledges and barriers. Half of the fun in Sideway is figuring out the different surfaces Nox can move to. In one stage, Nox jumps up a wall and onto the rooftop where the narrow passage leads to the other side of the buiding. The camera holds steady on the 2D playfield, but the 3D background twists and swings around in a delectably disorienting fashion. This neat effect is also employed to hide collectable items, alcoves, and alternate routes.

Graffiti monsters spring to life to stop Nox dead in his tracks. Each one dishes up a unique attack and requires a special tactic to conquer. For example, the green slugs deserve a slide punt and the spacey/aquatic/armored dudes need to be dealt consecutive drop kicks. The bosses take mutiple hits and perform a series of actions before leaving themselves vulnerable. While each of their weaknesses is hinted at, it can take several tries to master the timing and sequence order of each boss.

As Nox digs further into the game, his stock repertoire grows. New forms of offense such as the slide and drop kick are unlocked, along with complimentary actions like the double jump. A secondary action button/key triggers graffiti related instances. Faded artwork can be brightened to produce fresh platforms. Boxes can be dragged, dropped, and stacked. Tires become bouncy springs, and so-on.

Interestingly enough, Skullcandy logos dot each environment. They sponsored an earlier contest where the game artists would judge submitted artwork, and the final selection became a permanent tag featured in the game.

Urban beats comprise the soundtrack. While the songs are fitting, they are often too short to last the duration of each stage. An abrupt shift in percussion denotes the ending of one song and the start of another.

Sideway New York is a truly inventive title and really takes the 2.5D concept to heart. It starts off as a simple and familiar platformer, but blooms into an experience as the game mechanics continually evolve and the world takes on a life all it's own.