Runaway: A Road Adventure

There’s been a lot of talk lately on the NZGamer boards about traditional adventure games. You know, the point and click, puzzle-solving, quirky PC games that, despite being pretty low on action, are high on personality. Games like Grim Fandango or King’s Quest. The sort of games that make you start playing games in the first place. The general consensus seems to be that “they don’t make them like they used to anymore.” Well, I’ve got good news: Runaway’s a fantastic adventure game that follows in the footsteps of those earlier genre-leaders.

The nice thing about Runaway, is that it plays a bit like a movie. The opening credits in particular remind you that you’re entering an environment where the emphasis is on immersion, and on story. It’s a nice touch too, crediting the crew at the start of the game. They also do a good job of establishing the mood of the game. It sucks you right in from the start.

The first five or so minutes of the game are actually backstory – you watch as the story unfolds, with Brian, a pretty buff nerd, narrating to you from his director’s chair. I found myself wondering for a moment if in fact I was just going to be watching an animated movie, the intro went on for so long, but never fear – the game commenced and I was up and running.

The interface is pretty straightforward, which is a plus in my books. You interact with your environment using the mouse. A right click of the mouse button toggles between ‘examine’ and ‘interact’ modes. Scroll the mouse up to the top of the screen and you’re brought to your inventory and the options menu. That’s it, easy as pie.

I wish it was the same for the puzzles though. There is some serious lateral-thinking involved in Runaway, and though I really wish I could say I didn’t cheat, at times I was glad that Gamefaqs exists. (I tell myself it’s for the good of the review. But you at home, of course, would never resort to such measures.) I’d use a couple of examples, but I really don’t want to give anything away.

So how does it look? I see I’ve written three or four times in my notes that the animation is “awesome”. Indeed it is. It’s cartoony and cute, but also has a nice cinematic element to it. Likewise the soundtrack is modern, and at times sounds a bit like the Cranberries. The voice acting is excellent, varied, and quite suitable to each of the characters.

So are there any drawbacks? That depends, I guess, on whether you’re a male or a female – or even sensitive to stereotypes in the slightest. While Brian is a pretty cool guy, even though he’s portrayed as a bit of a nerd, let’s just say Gina, his love interest, does nothing to further the traditional female role. She’s always getting knocked out, lost, trapped, held hostage – you get the picture. That wouldn’t be so bad, if she wasn’t always wearing the most ridiculous clothes, ALL THE TIME. When she has any sort of movement, it’s always the side-to-side variety, look at my assets sort of thing. And yeah, she has assets. And always wears clothes that look three sizes too small. That itself I could ignore, after all, I’m all for women wanting to look sexy and express themselves, shall we say. But I was just about ready to stop playing when, at one point, Brian looked through a crack in a door and saw Gina tied up – and got a panty shot to boot. It just seems like such a weird thing to have in a game that is in every other way, totally clever and unique. But maybe that’s just me. And the game does have an M rating.

In any case, Runaway is one of the more interesting and intelligent games that I’ve played in a long time. I’m glad it was able to be re-relased, and at $10 in the stores it is well worth a look. In fact, I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t run out and buy it now.