Runaway 3: A Twist of Fate

I found this to be a fantastic adventure game, and I'm usually very critical. Everything just works. The characters are likeable and well fleshed out and the story is suspenseful and sensible. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous, among the best I have seen in an adventure game. The animations are so good it almost looks like a Pixar movie. The puzzles are logical and exactly the right amount of difficult. Some might find them too easy, as they never present a huge challenge, but I found them just easy enough as not to stop the flow of the game and story for too long (something I hate in adventure games), but challenging enough to still require the player to think. I am disappointed by a lot of ridiculously praised adventure games, but with this one I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed it. It made me remember why I like that kind of game.

After the tepid beginning that was 'Runaway', and the disaster (to me anyway) that was 'Runaway 2', I was very skeptical about 'Runaway 3'. Fortunately, this game is the best of the series, and it is actually fun! First of all, unlike its predecessors, it has fair, and properly challenging, puzzles. A few still require some form of moon logic to solve, but nothing truly unreasonable. Plus, the game has a built-in hint system if you need help. On top of that, at the press of a key, the game reveals all objects or locations that you can interact with. No more pixel hunting that plagued the first two games! The best part is that you get to play as Gina, who is a more likeable character than Brian. I really enjoyed Gina's sassiness and resourcefulness. It's a shame then that we didn't get to play as her in previous games! To be fair, Brian's characterization actually improved in this game. So, along with a different voice actor, he is less annoying this time around. With amazing artwork, much improved gameplay and puzzles, and interesting story, 'Runaway 3' is a great point-and-click adventure game. You don't need to have played 'Runaway 2' to enjoy it because it (in a very meta way) even acknowledges how ludicrous the plot of the second game is. Still, kudos to Pendulo for admitting the ridiculousness of 'Runaway 2', embracing it and running with it in 'Runaway 3'. I actually want more adventures of Gina (okay, Brian as well) after this well-made game. While it's too bad that this game is the last of the series, at least the trilogy ends on a high note.

This game gets it right after the disappointing second part of the game, this time making a very entertaining and cohesive story. Even comes back to the events from the second game my guess is to explain some plot holes from the previous game and thanks to that I could even skip the second part since it was a mess of a game and I had to leave it there on Chapter 4. I think the problem with the second part it was that it didn't connect very well with the events from the first game and the story felt disjointed since it changed the tone to a more cartoony-ish game. This time the game returns to the serious tone the game had originally with some humor thrown there. Of course the game is not perfect and you may find some weak jokes or things there. My main concern about this game is the ending it may leave you with lots of questions but the game ends abruptly. Also some puzzles, while Pendulo fixed a lot of the preview issues with puzzles, there are still some wtf puzzles here and there, fortunately there is a new hints button which may help you when stuck, I myself made it through the game with the hints, but sometimes you will rely on it too more than you would want just because some puzzles are a little too complicated to get a clue without help. I also found some occasional bugs, nothing huge that rendered the game unplayable, but still are there. In my opinion this game is worth playing, not perfect, but it sure will please the genre fans.

They changed Brian's voice!!! They definitely polished the game a bit in terms of quality of life. Now you can view "most" hot spots and it runs much smoother than part 2. The story so far is interesting, but barely connects to part 2, which is a disappointment. Also, the puzzles are a bit more logical than the previous games. In any case, I'm enjoying it enough to keep going.

If you are only going to get one Runaway game get this one instead. The in-game does nice job of summarize previous 2 as part of the story. A lot of problem that plagued by previous games have been fixed with indicator system, no more pixel hunting. Woohoo. There also a help in case you get really stuck. You should press for help at least once, if you played previous 2 games. You shouldn't have to use it too often because the puzzle are much more logic than trying to be funny. They also did a very nice job with inventory objective reminder/checklist so you can quickly see what you are missing. The story is great. They finally put both main characters in the forefront and did a nice job telling the story from both perspective. Although, I was a little sad a few of supporting characters did not make an appearance. The only strange thing about this game is that it require you to create an account and password within the game itself. The portrait you get to choose for your account is oddly missing the 2 main characters. Overall this game makes me wanting more. It did feel a bit short but it has more to do with not getting stuck with pixel hunting. There is so much content within the story I wish they broke their 6 chapters limit.