Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle Review

To the best of my knowledge, people expect a lot from video games these days and that has put a lot of pressure on developers. There are so many things to consider with each new project: creating the appropriate setting, coming up with a decent story and, of course, having solid production value. But even if all requisites are met, it takes a lot to get people's attention. Players now expect a rich experience, one that lasts longer, looks better, sounds better and makes them want to play the game repeatedly. Of course, it's a bit hard to incorporate all that in a point-and-click adventure game. So, usually we're treated to adventure games with modest production value, thanks to which they may go by unnoticed. The original Runaway, for example, is one of those games. However, we always encourage efforts to reinvigorate traditional PC gaming - provided it's done creatively and with style. That's why we were impatient to try out Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle.

I have yet to figure out how these things work.

I love waitresses.

The sequel to Runaway sees the return of chief characters Brian and Gina and takes players deep into a strange Hawaiian island, where new adventures and mysteries await. After surviving an unfortunate plane crash (I was gonna edit this, but instead I ask the question: which plane crash *isn't* unfortunate?! - Ed), Brian finds himself right in the middle of a dense jungle. As a true gentlemen, Brian convinces Gina to bail out before the plane hits the ground (actually, he just put a parachute on her back and pushed her hastily out of the plane). Emerging alive and well from the plane wreckage, Brian sets out to locate Gina. The road ahead won't be easy.

Though for the most part Runaway features stationary backdrops, its high-quality cartoon-like animation looks very good and makes the whole experience worthwhile. Granted, there are a few clumsily handled facial animations, which come into view in certain dialogue sequences. Inadequately, although they look excellent, a majority of the characters was voiced a bit sloppily. Don't misunderstand though. The characters will make you giggle often enough, but the problem is that the lousy acting and occasionally misused English catch-phrases might ruin the experience. This syndrome was one of the main weaknesses in the original and, sadly, it made its way to the sequel as well. Pendulo Studios, the Spain-based development team, seriously needs to consider hiring better writers and actors for future projects.

I've spent quite a lot of time going through the game's colorful 2D locations and its many puzzles and I must say it was fun. It also does a splendid job of avoiding the aggravation pixel-hunting to acquire important items. (That's a huge step up then from the original, which was horrible in that regard. - Ed) For example, Brian sometimes uses helpful objects, saving you from the agony of searching the entire screen for something you might need. It's nothing revolutionary, but it speeds things up, making the gameplay more fluent. I must point out, however, that the game is definitely not without faults. For instance, a most annoying glitch is present in the dialogue system. Namely, after exhausting a topic when talking to a particular character, you may have to ask the same questions again in order to get to a new sub-tree in the dialogue. In other words, it's easy to get stuck on account of that problem and it happened to me often enough.

Another big minus is the game's appalling soundtrack. Be sure to cover your ears before each tune begins, unless you're dying to listen to a rather inept god-awful combination of the worst pop-style boy-band flavored songs ever included in a video game.

Looks strangely familiar.

You better get used to this face.

Even though there's a noticeable simplicity about it that's likely to appeal to younger audiences rather than mature gamers, Runaway still has a range of intelligent puzzles and problems waiting to be solved. Okay, you won't be burning any brain cells or anything, but you'll surely experience enough challenges, a great deal of which appear logical and quite amusing most of the time. The game's neatly organized interface and inventory system makes it easy for players to manage all the useful items they pick up. Technically, aside from a few aforementioned mishaps, this game runs smoothly and without any hindrances. In essence, it is an enjoyable adventure game with enough characters to chat with, numerous mysteries to solve and a considerably lengthy experience altogether.

Unfortunately, certain negative aspects have degraded my overall opinion of the game to some extent. Things would've been better if the developers invested more time into perfecting the dialogue and characterization. For that matter, the story just feels oversimplified at some points during the game. Additionally, it's easy to make out a strong influence from old LucasArts adventure games. But alas, Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle never really lives up to the likes of long-established adventure franchises from LucasArts.

Quite simply, they don't make 'em like they used to.