The third installment improves greatly on the second one in including Gina and a more cohesive plot with MUCH less pixel hunting. Though the game still has irritating glitches here and there (sometimes the cursor disappears after an action and occassionally the game doesn't register your click to go somewhere) it has improved overall. I didn't have to install another program to run it properly or find workarounds. The comedy is in full swing with the charming stereotype characters, paying homage to many a beloved classic film. My favourite jokes were poking fun at adventure games and the Runaway series as a whole! I also give props to the fun addition of profiles. You make your own profile with a username, password and avatar of one of the characters. I don't know why it was added but it's cute. Another pro is the upgrade of the controls to make it a bit smoother to go between inventory, main menu and gameplay. Really the only cons I have is aside from the minor, yet still irritating glitches is what I've had overall of the series; the comedy relies on stereotypes, and not all of them are harmless. There are a characters and comments about mental health, women... just the general grating things you'd find in comedy of the 00s and earlier that wouldn't be made now. The misogyny is pretty grating, especially the way most of the women are talked about or depicted (Gina literally has the braless, constantly apparent nipples lmao.) BUT! Those last two gripes are ones I have of a lot of older games, movies and books. I still enjoyed this game IMMENSELY and found it a fun little diversion from the everyday. It's just something I think is important to add if any potential new gamers are interested in this series and browsing reviews - it's good to prepare yourself for it or avoid buying :) ALSO: I'D LIKE TO REMIND EVERYONE THAT BRIAN CHEATED ON GINA IN RUNAWAY 2 AND IT WAS NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN AND I'M STILL ANGRY. Thank you.
I'm a huge adventure game buff and I played the first two Runaway installments years ago and loved them. It's still as enjoyable and charming as ever BUT... what I notice now is the typical early 00s sexism in a few of the women (Tomb Raider\Dead or Alive Syndrome) and bringing back Joshua, the Long Duk Dong/Kobayashi racist stereotype. I can overlook it somewhat but it does make me cringe. There are a few other things here and there such as a few insults used, peculiar impersonations but if you've seen a 90s or 00s teen comedy, you've heard and seen all of it. Keep this in mind if you are thinking of buying it as not everyone tolerates it well! +Fun story, quirky characters, good voice acting +Little Devil, the sidekick lemur +It keeps the hammy charm of the first game +Great music reminiscient of 00s boybands and The Cranberries -I had to download a third-party program to get the game's cutscenes to work properly -The animations locked movement so you had to wait for a certain animation to finish for the dialogue or walking to continue which was frustrating. -I had the same issue in the first game where I had to resort to pixel hunting to the lack of brightness or contrast in the background. Is a game ever too hard? Maybe not, but this game was too frustrating! Overall I would give it 3ish stars BUT... [SPOILER] This game is kicked back to 2 stars for this: Brian Basco, shown to be a good and likeable hero who you can connect with, whose entire goal was to locate his missing girlfriend (who may be dead) decides to cheat with the local bartender (who the developers made to look as suggestive as Gina) and he gets no repurcussions for this. He even has a little moment where he had an angel and devil help make his decision to cheat on Gina, because she would never know. Yeah.... what the heck?! [END SPOILER]
