Prison City feels a lot like a game you would find on a list of underrated or ‘hidden gems’ of the NES-era of gaming. Or Shatterhand. It feels a lot like Shatterhand – which just so happens to be one of the most underrated-est, hidden-gem-iest games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Inspired by the best NES action platformers, Prison City is a side-scrolling action game set in a dystopian world full of explosions, super tight platforming mechanics, and plenty of 8-Bit attitude. And as a HUGE fan of all things pixel, I was super excited to see Prison City’s demo pop-up as a part of the Steam Next Fest demo-palooza.
Prison City casts you in the role of Hal Bruzer, a former cop who’s tasked to raid the city’s security zones and take down the Techno-Terrorists who have seized power from the Chief. The story is delivered with very Metal Gear Solid Codec visuals – complete with the green tint and all – and feels very appropriate for a game like this. Hal even sports an Eye Patch/Solid-Eye type accessory which is so Big Boss…or Solid Snake. But instead of being all sneaky-devious-like and infiltrating these danger zones, Hal prefers to jump right into the action and use his trusty glaive to tear his enemies to pieces.
Gameplay is fast, furious, and fun. Utilizing a glowy glaive, Hal can quickly rip hordes of enemies apart. There is a funky mechanic where you can control the direction of your glaive if you hold down the ‘Attack’ Button, causing the glaive to arch over Hal’s head. Ducking and attacking also causes the glaive to angle downwards, allowing you to strike enemies that are otherwise out of Hal’s reach. There is also platforming GALORE as Hal can climb chain-link fences in the background and scale tall structures by gripping onto an open notch. You can even slide through tight crevasses for extra maneuverability. All together it makes for a very satisfying, throwback of an experience that legitimately feels like it was torn from the NES catalog.
The demo offers two levels to choose from a total of eight which will be available in the final game. Stage selection looks like something out of a classic Mega Man game. As expected, each stage culminates to a grandiose boss battle with a mechanical monstrosity that will really put your platforming skills to the test.
The only real complaint I have is that you don’t automatically latch onto a ledge or a notch; you have to press the ‘Jump’ Button to catch an edge. It’s an unnecessary bit of presion that an already precise platformer does not need. Here’s hoping that mechanic is reworked before the final release. Other than that, Prison City is an absolute banger, gameplay wise. What doesn’t need work – and is actually perfect – are Prison City’s visual and sound design.
Visually, Prison City is a pixel-phile’s dream come true. It’s got multiple layers of sweet parallax scrolling. Its colors are INTENSE and pop off the screen. And the soundtrack straight-up ‘slaps’, as someone much, much younger than me would say. It reminded me an awful lot of the TMNT beat-em-ups on the NES, which really works for an action game like this.
From what I experienced, Prison City is easily shaping to be a must-have game. If you are a fan of retro titles, look no further. But don’t take my word for it – go play the demo and see for yourself!
