Sideway: New York is definitely one of the more interesting side scrolling platformer games I’ve played in recent years. You play as a boy who goes by the street name of Nox. The intro
movie shows a missing person poster of a girl floating by and it can only be assumed that this must be the princess of the hood rats, though that is not made very clear up front. As with most platformers, the plot isn’t exactly clear when you first start playing, but at least you’re not playing as a couple of plumbers attempting to save a princess by eating mushrooms along the way. Instead, Nox and his fellow graffiti artists get sucked up into a vortex and sent to the world of Sideway, where they become graffiti art themselves and paint is used as a weapon. Okay, so maybe the plumbers made a little more sense. Thankfully, the plot points are extremely small and definitely not a showcase of this great game.
With most games, it is usually the eye popping graphics that grab your attention first. And while the graphics in Sideway are fantastic, it is the audio that truly stands out. You’re immediately hit with some hip-hop music that was produced by Skullcandy and Mr. Lif specifically for the game. If you are playing the game
on a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system, you’ll be in for a treat. The music is fast paced without making you feel like you’re being rushed through the level.
Then there are the graphics. Saying that they’re extremely well done does not do the game justice. The depth of the graphics is good enough that at first glance you may not be able to tell that this is a platforming side-scroller! If you have a 3D monitor or TV available, you’re likely going to get a bit of vertigo when you first start playing and jumping around buildings. The artwork for the graphics is excellent, as well, and it is easily believable that the character you play as is really graffiti art come to life.