Starling’s addicted to Bit.Trip presents Runner 2 Future Legend of Rhythm Alien!
Name of game: Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2 Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
Developer: Gaijin Games
Rating: T (for crude humor) I’d personally let much younger kiddos play it because it’s not offended me in any way and this has to be a game that’s good for their hand/eye coordination. Yay, brain food for the young and old!
Platform: PS3 (We got it on our Play Station Plus) and available on many other platforms. You can click on this picture to take you to the official site:
This is a very, very, very, addictive single player game with lots of replay value! It’s just as addictive as Tetris, but without actually being anything like Tetris. It’s a free running game where you try to jump, dodge, attack, slide, etc…and collect piles of gold setting and floating around throughout each level. It’s a rhythm game inspired by the Bit.Trip series originally released on Nintendo platforms. Imagine those moving screen sky levels on Super Mario 3…the ones that will keep moving without you and you die…but without all the things that make people say, “I hate these moving sky levels!” There aren’t constant drop offs, no time limit, and the controls are super responsive.
It’s challenging without annoyance because the controls are responsive and smooth so that the character moves predictably. (Which is really, really needed for this game!) This means that if you fall off a cliff or bonk your head on a rock you don’t feel like throwing the controller because it’s not your fault he didn’t jump when you pushed the button, rather you can laugh because you shoulda remembered that from the first run! (And then you try the level again because you CAN’T FORCE YOURSELF TO STOP!) You don’t have to collect all the bricks to progress to the next level, you only have to make it through alive. This offers a nice variety of challenge levels for the player. If you want it more simplistic, then just get through the level alive. If you want a harder challenge then try not to miss any of the bricks throughout the level.
The replay value comes in here: You can replay any of the levels you’ve finished and keep attempting to collect all the bricks for a perfect score! If you do you can unlock extra levels, so there is incentive to do so rather than just assuming we’re all perfectionists! (But I am…so I’d probably play them over again anyway.) Even after getting a perfect score on the levels, then you can play them again after you beat the newly unlocked levels to collect things along your path that weren’t available the first time you played through! Once you finally unlock a key vault, for example, you can go back and collect treasure chests that were locked before, and these will unlock new costumes for your characters. (You also unlock lots of new friends/characters to play as you go along!) Another thing that keeps me freshly entertained with each level is how they introduce new moves to dodge/attack different obstacles as the levels increase. This effectively keeps the game from being repetitive because there is something new dotted throughout each little world. Also, all the different characters respond the same way to the controls, so if you want to switch up characters for variety you don’t have to relearn the controls for a new character, you can just enjoy the new pal and any number of the unlocked outfits for each character. (There is a lot of fun stuff to unlock. I know I said that already, but it’s worth mentioning again.)
The creative, lovely, and artsy backgrounds sure do a great job of giving a fresh, new feel to each level as well! I think my favorite part, however, is how the music caters to your game play! There is way more than a few bleeps and honks thrown in there for noise filler! The music and how it works with the game is creatively and intricately planned out! The songs are bouncy alone, but as you jump, kick, and collect bricks they are positioned to where you just so happen to create music of your own to flow with the beat! It’s a lighthearted game, and not frightening or shadowy at all. The animations are crisp and pretty large. It’s easy to see when a bad guy is coming up or when you need to hop around and collect the golden bricks. That is important when you’re forced to go/think so fast. If all the colors were blending or the bad guys/objectives were blending together, you’d be jumping up right into a monster thinking it was gold! There is no such problem here. The characters, background, and platform are all great for the intense interaction that the game demands.
Overall I’d say it’s fun, pleasing to look at, has a killer awesome soundtrack, responsive controls, and is super addictive with plenty of replay value. I give this five out of five hearts! Starling approves!!!!
Five out of Five Hearts!!!
