Hidden Gem of the Week: Runaway: A Road Adventure
It's time for another Hidden Gem from the PC gaming history. This week we're getting a closer look at a point and click adventure game Runaway: A Road Adventure.
The revival of classic point and click adventure games is a fact. Runaway: A Road Adventure, when it was released back in 2003 also revived the genre for gamers as the golden era of the point and clicks was long gone. The game made the transition into three dimensions without sacrificing the classic cartoonish "feel" and the good old point-and-click control method. Pete Davison had lots of fun while getting Brian Basco, the main character from the game, out of trouble. If you haven't tried it, now's your chance as the game is $2.00 off until Sunday, November 8 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
by Pete Davison
Pity poor Brian Basco. Not only does he have to contend with everyone mistaking him for the lovechild of George “Broken Sword” Stobbart and Hank Hill, he’s having a really bad day.
Brian’s met a hot chick. Unfortunately, his opening line was to hit her with his car, so their relationship didn’t get off to the best start. Not only that, it transpires that she is on the run from the Mafia. Apparently having something of a weakness for pretty girls with big lips, and also feeling a bit guilty for the whole “car-hitting incident” thing, Brian decides to take his chances and try and help the enigmatic Gina out of her fix. Perhaps, he thinks, he’ll even be able to get to Berkeley in time to start his studies. As these things tend to go, however, things are never that simple.
After playing Runaway for just a few minutes, it becomes very apparent that Spanish developers Péndulo Studios clearly harbor a healthy sense of nostalgia for the “good old days” of point-and-click adventures, where solutions to problems in the protagonist’s path remain just obtuse enough to be tantalizingly out of reach, yet ultimately satisfying when you do eventually realize their solutions. Yes, that rusty screw CAN be used with the doorknob to create a makeshift corkscrew with which you can punch a hole in a barrel of gunpowder in order to... You get the idea. These are traditional, old-school, item-based adventure game puzzles, and there aren’t that many obvious hints along the way.
Whether or not this is to your taste is, of course, a matter of personal preference and, to a certain extent, your own gaming history. Those of us who grew up with the adventures of Sierra and LucasArts will doubtless be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of some peculiar puzzles to wrap our brains around, while those who prefer their in-game “thinky bits” to be no more complicated than shooting switches in the right order may wish to look elsewhere. Runaway isn’t as brutal as a Sierra adventure - trying the wrong thing won’t result in Brian’s untimely demise, for example - but it’s definitely on a par with many of the early Lucas games, difficulty-wise.
Fortunately, the game itself is designed to make things as straightforward as possible. There isn’t a cumbersome verb interface with which to interact with the beautifully-drawn world and characters, just a simple intelligent cursor which can be switched between “look” and “interact” modes with a click of the right mouse button. A sentence line at the bottom of the screen actually tells you what it thinks you’re trying to do when you use one object on another, as opposed to just “Use [x] on [y]”. And little things like the fact you can double-click on an exit to move straight there without having to wait for Brian to walk there first make exploring a breeze.
There’s a lot to like about Runaway. The story is engaging and full of twists and turns, the art and animation of all the characters look great and it’s challenging enough to keep you busy for a while without being so frustrating you want to give up quickly. Plus, hey, it’s evidence that the point-and-click adventure isn’t dead. Far from it, as it happens. European developers such as Péndulo are still very keen on the genre, and in fact Runaway has already spawned a sequel, with a second to follow in the fall of this year. It looks like those of you with a penchant for combining disparate objects together in an attempt to solve problems via somewhat MacGuyveresque methods are in luck for some time yet!
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