One hundred years after the world's surface was devastated, the remainder of the surviving humans live underground. Less than one percent of the population survives in this oppressive industrial dystopian world.

The world is muted in its colour pallet

This is the basis of the Castlevania side scrolling type game Antro, a rhythm-based platformer. You play as Nittch, tasked with delivering a packager to La Central. He must do this by running, jumping and parkouring across the screen. Success will spark a revolution.

Whilst the main mechanics, a side scrolling platformer, owes much to this genre, the actual game environment is made to look a lot more 3D than you would expect with detailed rooms and passages for you to traverse filled with graffiti, which Nittch can add to, and dynamic television screens, which enhances the overall atmosphere. There are also other characters moving around in the background which adds to the overall feeling of a 3D world and the cut scenes are used to break up the feeling of just being a side scroller.

The world is muted in its colour pallet but not the bass heavy audio track, which occasionally sounds serenely like Bladerunner, in its quitter moments, and full-on revolutionary defiance in is often bass heavy pounding musical track. Even when your character is not required to play with the beat of the music, the whole environment synergistically reacts.

Get past the introduction and you’re going to want to play the game with either headphones or a good sound system. At points the music and game combine as you must time your moves to the track playing. This turns your travels into a performance, matching music with movement.

Antro is a a rhythm-based platformer

Along the way there are several collectibles for you to pick up. Some of these are useful in the game, but many are used to flesh out the world of Antro.

Your progress is inhibited by many things, some in the environment, such as having to jump across chasms and jump through floors. There are also sentries and cannibalistic humans baring your way which will shoot you if detected and of course there is a big bad boss. Not to worry, the game restarts you pretty much in the same place you died rather than send you all the way back.

I’m not sure I have played a game quite like it, sure its disparate elements can be found elsewhere, but the way the game combines its music with character movement makes it a memorable experience.

8

Charles Packer