3/9/2023 0 Comments Double dragon cartoon cityA broader aesthetic of nineties anime is used for cutscenes and story sections, with the character art, in particular, being a beautiful recreation of Japanese animation from that era, while the fully voiced dialogue echoes the gloomy future-noir of Blade Runner.Īs you might expect, the art style leans towards the popular cell-shaded low polygon end of things and carries it off with no little panache. In the depiction of the city and all of the various motorbikes you ride in the game, the influence of Katsuhiro Otomo’s masterpiece ‘Akira’ are front and centre. It doesn’t take an anime or sci-fi aficionado to pick up the various inspirations for Runner’s visual design and tone. With this in mind Truant Pixel have wisely included some very effective comfort options for Bike Lean and VR Vignette, each with an assignable value from 1 to 10 so you can find your own sweet spot. With drones high above you, and enemies constantly dropping behind or streaming ahead, Runner does an excellent job of wrapping its world around you in the VR space. The levels are distinguished by small changes to the palette, roadside architecture, evolution of the in-game enemies and, at the end of each, increasingly spectacular boss battles. Upgrades to all these, and to your bike itself, are also provided between each of the game’s 7 levels and help to provide a sense of progression. There’s a laser-sabre for deflecting incoming enemy fire, missiles with lock-on capabilities, magnetic grenades, and a chargeable special attack called Flux… and this is just the level one basics. Upgrades are also available for your sidearms and can be equipped individually. There’s a front-mounted cannon on your bike for which power-ups are available in the time-honoured collect-an-icon fashion. Layered onto this is a slew of other combat options. It takes some getting used to but is very satisfying when it clicks. Every time you expend a charge of ammo you have to switch hands. In the opening levels, dual wield is not possible so when one hand is taking care of the shooting, the other is controlling the bike. In an early prelude to the deceptive complexity on offer, your weapons are docked into the console of the bike when not in use and serve as steering controls. You travel along the 4-lane road automatically, with the game taking care of corners for you, but you do need to use either thumbstick to move left or right across the tarmac, and to accelerate and slow down. However much (or little) lore you choose to consume beforehand, the game proper starts when you grab a couple of guns, hop onto your motorcycle, and tear off into the perpetual night. There is some rather heavy-handed noir-ish writing, but nevertheless, I would definitely recommend giving it a look. This free interactive story is available to download on iOS, Android, and PC and although it’s not necessary to have experienced it before playing Runner, it does set up the world and characters rather well. It’s worth noting here that there is a prologue of sorts called available for Runner. On the terminal, your contact/handler “Vice” tells you that you need to escape the city, and the only way of doing so is by taking on the attack drones of the sinister Caldera Corporation head-on through the city’s main motorway network. You start Runner in the alleyway of a neon daubed future cityscape with a tarp-covered motorbike in front of you and a computer terminal to your right. I haven’t played their earlier titles, but a little research has shown that they are almost universally well-regarded, albeit in what are perhaps niche markets.īut regardless of the quality of Akash or 2MD, it’s hard to deny that it’s a bit of a leap from visual novel to American Football to arcade driving action – so let’s get stuck in and see if Truant Pixel can pull it off. Runner marks another abrupt change in direction for the three-strong team, being what they describe as an ‘Arcade Inspired VR Driving Action game’. In 2020 they took a swerve and followed this up with 2MD: VR Football, a gridiron game that received a sequel just last month and which is available on Quest as 2MD: VR Football Unleashed. The developers of ( which we’ll be referring to as simply ‘Runner’), Truant Pixel began their game development journey with an Otome-style visual novel called Akash: Path of the Five in 2019.
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