''Platform Panic'' is a

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and Android. It was developed and published by British studio Nitrome and was released on December 17, 2014. The goal is to navigate throughout the levels, avoiding the various enemies and spikes. The game is inspired by platform games from the

fourth generation of video game consoles In the history of video games, the fourth generation of game consoles, more commonly referred to as the 16-bit era, began on October 30, 1987, with the Japanese release of NEC Home Electronics' PC Engine (known as the TurboGrafx-16 in North Amer ...

. The game received generally positive reviews and reactions from critics.

Development

indie game An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

, ''Platform Panic'' was published by the developer Nitrome. Its release date was December 17, 2014. The game was created for both the

and Android operating systems. On January 28, 2015, the game received a major update. The update added character upgrades and special abilities for each one of them. Prior to this update, characters were merely cosmetic and had no effect on gameplay.

Gameplay

Each game in ''Platform Panic'' begins with a robot dropping the player's chosen character into the level. Once the game starts, the player's task is to avoid the enemies and other obstacles, whilst leaping from platform to platform. Coins can also be collected during gameplay, and these can be used to purchase new characters, and to upgrade existing ones. The character is controlled by using simple touch screen controls; the player never stops moving, and the only way to change its path is by swiping up on the screen to make it jump. In every playthrough of the game, there are multiple rooms which can be explored. Every room is randomly generator, and objects are placed all over the screen. In order to move from room to room, the player simply has to exit their current room through one of the doors one each side of every room. The player receives a point for each time they exit a room and enter another one. The goal of the game is to visit as many rooms as possible, whilst collecting coins, meaning that there is no end and each playthrough is continued until the player is killed. The overall feel, as well as the graphics and music in the game have been described as "retro" and "nostalgic". The game includes skins inspired by a number of characters from other games, especially retro ones. Some of the skins available for purchase using coins are references to classic icons such as

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...

and

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...

. The game was described by Andrew Buffa from Modojo as something that "looks like it was straight from the SNES era".

Reception

''Platform Panic'' generally received positive reception from critics, with a

Metascore Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc D ...

of 87. The game was praised for its limited use of in-app purchases, with critics agreeing that the full game was still enjoyable without having to pay money. Gamezebo gave the game four and a half stars for its feel and mechanics, but was disappointed with the lack of additional game modes. A review by Carter Dotson from

TouchArcade ''TouchArcade'' is a mobile video game website that launched in 2008. Arnold Kim of ''MacRumors'' worked on the site and its editor-in-chief was Eli Hodapp from 2009 to 2019. ''TouchArcade'' has been recognized as one of the best mobile game ...

stated that the controls were excellent and easy to use, but criticized the game for its leaderboard, and the fact that getting onto it would most likely require in app purchases. Modojo generally praised the game for its simplicity and retro style, but was annoyed that the player is forced to move constantly, making the game overly difficult at times.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.nitrome.com/games/platformpanic/ 2014 video games Platform games Action video games IOS games Android (operating system) games Nitrome games Video games developed in the United Kingdom