The Allure of Retro Platformers and ‘Prison City’
The charm of retro platformers lies in their ability to transport players back to the golden age of console gaming, a time when developers spun entire universes out of a limited palette of 56 colors. Yet, there’s a lingering concern that some titles may lean too heavily on nostalgia, offering little in the way of fresh experiences. This is where Prison City enters the scene, a game that initially launched with less fanfare than the colossal Baldur’s Gate 3, yet holds a treasure trove of innovation beneath its retro-inspired surface.
Game Overview
Set against the backdrop of a “futuristic” 1997 Detroit, Prison City is a platformer steeped in ’80s pop culture. Players navigate a city transformed into a sprawling prison fortress, battling Techno-Terrorists to restore order. The game’s protagonist wields a chakram as they leap and slice through neon-lit levels, embodying the era’s quintessential action hero.
The game’s design is a love letter to the past, brimming with references that will resonate with fans of the era. However, Prison City is not content with mere homage; it innovates by offering a range of customization options. Players can adjust the difficulty with extra lives or harder challenges, tweak their attacks for a “classic” experience, or apply visual filters to mimic the look of a CRT television. These features allow players to tailor their nostalgic journey to their preferences, enhancing the overall gameplay experience.
- Adjustable difficulty levels
- Customizable attack strength
- Optional CRT visual filters
Gameplay and Level Design
In Prison City, players are treated to a familiar yet refined platforming experience. The game mechanics involve a combination of sliding, jumping, and chakram-slicing actions to navigate through a series of intricately designed levels. Each stage is a vibrant playground filled with enemies, pitfalls, and power-ups, encouraging exploration and strategic movement.
The level design is non-linear, requiring players to locate keycards to unlock the boss rooms. This search introduces an additional layer of strategy as players must decide on the most efficient route to the boss while collecting valuable upgrades and items. Power-ups like damage enhancements for the chakram, health-restoring hot dogs, and screen-clearing hand grenades are scattered throughout the map, offering aid in the quest.
While the levels are compact, they are far from forgettable. Each one is crafted with unique enemies and hazards that challenge players’ platforming skills. The game pays homage to classic platformers with elements like momentum-altering wind and slippery ice levels, but it also surprises players with unexpected twists, such as a deadly snowplow chase or navigating in the dark while avoiding fiery beams.
Boss Encounters
The boss fights in Prison City are where the game truly shines, offering players a series of unique and memorable showdowns. Each boss battle is a spectacle, pitting the player’s eight-directional chakram throws against a variety of creative adversaries. From a living Jumbotron with plasma-firing heads representing Detroit’s sports teams to a Mad Max-inspired convoy chase on a motorcycle, these encounters are more than mere battles—they are inventive setpieces that stand out in the game.
One particularly notable boss is a Pong-style adversary, challenging players to a retro game of skill within the platformer’s environment. While the overall difficulty of these bosses may be a notch below the punishing standards of the ’90s games that inspired them, the encounters remain engaging and are a testament to the game’s modern underpinnings.
Graphics and Aesthetics
The visual style of Prison City is a harmonious blend of retro aesthetics and modern flair. The game’s sprite animations are lively and full of bounce, reminiscent of the classic games from which it draws inspiration. However, it’s the explosion particles that truly betray the game’s 2023 release date, offering a burst of eye candy that enhances the overall visual experience.
Beyond the expected cyberpunk themes drenched in neon, Prison City showcases a variety of settings that add depth to its world. Players will encounter environments such as a heavily fortified sports stadium and a nature preserve complete with an aquarium and robotic dolphins, reminiscent of Johnny Mnemonic’s cybernetic creatures. This aesthetic diversity ensures that the game’s visuals remain engaging throughout the player’s journey.
The game’s pixel art is not only inventive but also injects a dose of offbeat humor into the experience, softening the edges of the trope-laden machismo that often accompanies games of this genre. The precise execution of these visual elements makes Prison City stand out in a sea of retro-inspired titles, and it might just be fitting to describe the game’s style as radical.
Overall Experience of ‘Prison City’
The journey through Prison City is a brisk but satisfying one, with a full playthrough taking approximately three to four hours. This duration is modest by modern standards but is still longer than many classic NES titles. For the more experienced player, this time could be reduced significantly, offering a challenge for those looking to master the game.
After the credits roll, the game extends its replayability with a “super-players-only” extra mode. This mode introduces new objectives within the stages, providing an additional layer of challenge for those seeking to squeeze every ounce of gameplay from their experience. The concise nature of the campaign, coupled with its chaotic energy, makes Prison City an ideal candidate for the speedrunning community, where players can compete to complete the game in the fastest time possible.
In summary, Prison City offers a compact yet rich platforming experience that balances nostalgia with modern game design. Its replayability and potential for speedrunning add value beyond the initial playthrough, making it a standout title in the retro platformer genre.
Upcoming Projects
Following the success of Prison City, indie developer Programancer and publisher Retroware are setting their sights on a new venture. Their next project, titled The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest, promises to deliver another dose of 8-bit nostalgia, this time with a nod to the iconic Castlevania series. With Castlevania’s rich history and a plethora of modern imitators, it will be intriguing to see how Programancer and Retroware will once again distinguish their work in the realm of retro-inspired games.
| Product Name | Developer | Publisher | Link to Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest | Programancer | Retroware | Buy on Steam |
