PixlBit

In this beat 'em up, you get to break out of camp and take the fight to the enemy

Beat 'em ups were common fare on the NES in the late 80s and early 90s. Double Dragon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made the beat 'em up genre a formidable type of game. Perhaps a lesser known beat 'em up which you've never heard about was P.O.W: Prisoners of War, developed and published by SNK and released on NES in 1989. Like most beat 'em ups of the time, it was an arcade port.

The game starts with the protagonist (or protagonists if you're playing two player) lighting a fuse and blowing up his cell to escape POW camp. The buttons are simple: the B button has you punch, the A button has you kick, and A and B together performs a jump kick (which is good, since you can't jump). You can also do a backhand hit by pressing in the direction behind you and the B button at the same time.

Enemies vary; some will attack with their fists, others will come at you with knives, and some with machine guns. If an enemy drops a weapon (knife, gun, or grenade), you can pick it up and use it. When you grab a knife, the B button will have you throw it (you can't jab with it). The machine gun is far better! The A button will have you shoot (you have limited ammo), and the B button allows you to hit with it. Shooting an enemy with the machine gun kills him instantly (as it should), but this also works the other way around: if you get shot by a gun (or a grenade), you die instantly. You have a lifebar of eight hits before you're KO'd.

The machine gun is wonderful, but it very rare in the game. Sometimes enemies with guns will walk by on the screen, and if you hit them, they'll die instantly without leaving the gun behind. Without the gun, this game is tough! Some enemies take a long time to kill. Knifers are the worst because not only do they take forever to kill, but they also jump at you and roll at you and move around sporadically. Good luck fighting three knifers at once!

POW has good variety in its levels, with scenery changing in each level, but the game quickly becomes repetitive. In all the levels you'll fight a couple knifers, then inch ahead to fight more knifers, then move along to fight more knifers! And those knifers are a pain! Each level has rooms you can enter where you'll fight two or three enemies and get a reward for beating them (extra strength or life). There are also tiny cutscenes (if you can call them that) between levels, where the hero states what's going on: "Succeeded in escaping from POW camp" or "managed to escape and are now infiltrating the enemy's camp."

Bosses are mostly big dudes with guns, but I found the first boss to be the most creative. Enemies jump out of a helicopter, some of which drop grenades; you need to pick up those grenades and chuck 'em at the helicopter until it blows up. You'll do the same thing later in the game to a tank, but that one's a lot harder. Other bosses were just big dudes with guns (except a pro wrestler you fight in an elevator; strange, right?).

You get only three lives to start with and no continues, but if you have a Game Over, you can select "Continue" on the title screen and start at the beginning of the level you died on. The problem is, the game has only five levels, and they're very long. Making it past all those knifers and grenades on just three lives is pretty tough.

The cutscene before level 5 has the protagonist (named Bart) call HQ to get picked up. If you actually succeed in beating the game, Bart is seen with a girl (his wife? girlfriend?) and the word "Congraturation" greets you. Yeah, this is back in the day when they didn't care about getting the spelling right. But if you beat this game, you deserve a good Congraturation!

Final Verdict--3 Stars: It's Okay

POW is not a bad game. You escape from POW camp, battle through a waterfront, a deadly forest, and infiltrate the enemy's camp. The problem is that the levels are too long and the fighting is too repetitive (those knifers!). If you really enjoy oldschool beat 'em ups, you might like this one, but it's not as good as a Double Dragon or TMNT. But I must admit, the premise of the game is a whole lot more exciting than rescuing your girlfriend!

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.