Bit.Trip RUNNER

By - Richard J. 
 
Take Mega-Man, remove his armour and give him Crystal Meth. The way he would see himself and the world around him; how he would be vulnerable after any attack, and the speed for which the world would seem to pass him by is exactly how I would describe Bit. Trip RUNNER. This game is one hell of a ride, but any slight pause in that ride will force you start it all over again. Trial-and-error is the name of the game in this one, and that could be considered both a good and a bad thing. For those who stay with it through the ups and downs, there's a bitter-sweet victory waiting for you. Through thick-and-thin - at the very least - Bit.Trip RUNNER will have you grooving to the beat.

Bit.Trip RUNNER has you playing as a character named Commander Video who has seemingly been stripped from an Atari 2600 game. As Commander Video, your objective is to run through various levels across three zones while keeping a constant beat with the music playing in the background. If you get attacked, run into an enemy, or stop the beat in anyway, Commander Video will be returned to the beginning of the level. There are no "lives", or "health" in this game; the only punishment is being sent back to the beginning, and that can become quite the punishment.

All of the levels in Bit. Trip RUNNER are based around trial-and-error. Every time you play a level, everything will be at the exact same place, and every action from the environment and AI will happen at the exact same time as before. This forces the player to play each level multiple times in order to master the perfect sequence of actions to complete the level. Apart from simply running through the levels, there are also collectibles spread throughout. Each level has it's own set amount of "gold" placed throughout. Your object as the player is to collect as much gold as possible before you cross the finish line. Collecting all of the gold in a level allows you to visit a retro level - which is nearly identical to what would be seen from an actual Atari 2600 game - to collect even more gold.



Throughout the levels you can also collect red, cross-like power-ups. These will transform Commander Video from hyper, to mega, super, ultra, and finally extra. The purpose of these power-ups is to make you faster and of course, increase the tempo of the music. When you reach extra however, you will also have a rainbow behind you making a trail of your every move.

There are four different actions in which you must use to advance through the game. The AI automatically guides your player forward (the only direction you can go), but it's up to the player to perform any additional actions. You will learn to jump, slide, kick, and block. Mastering these actions is essential to progressing through the game. Being able to perform the actions within a fraction of a second, without even thinking about it, is a valuable skill.

Easily the best thing about Bit. Trip RUNNER's gameplay is the trance that it will put you in. Almost the entire time I played the game, I was attentively focused at what was happening and the game enveloped me. Surprisingly, the game was very calm, relaxing, and soothing. If I hadn't set up a one-day deadline for myself, I could have easily used this game as a way to unwind after a long day. However, through my frenzied session with the game, I was able to think. Thoughts about various things - related to the game and not - were circulating through my mind. It's a bit hard to describe what I felt while playing Bit. Trip RUNNER, but I can tell you that it is something that very few games have done. In retrospect, I never imagined that a game as frustrating as Bit. Trip RUNNER could also be so relaxing.

What helps a lot in creating this feeling of immersion, is the audio in Bit. Trip RUNNER. As the key to keeping the entire game together, music is essential in how well the game impacts the player. Luckily, I can tell you that the music in Bit. Trip RUNNER is outstanding. It's all very catchy, while soft tunes that will have your head bopping, while also keeping you focused. The music just seems right for the game you are playing. I found the music to be so catchy that as I write this review, the main theme song of the first zone is playing through my head. While some may consider that annoying, I believe that it shows how well the music it does it's job, and ultimately impacted me, the player.



Another part of the glue which holds Bit. Trip RUNNER together are the graphics. As I mentioned earlier, Commander Video has a very "old Atari" look to him. Some of the enemies also take on this old-school graphical design. However, this is only for nostalgia. If you take a look at the background and the environment that you run through, you will soon realize that Bit. Trip RUNNER is one of the most graphically-appealing WiiWare titles released. Most of the background and some of the enemies take a 3D-block style graphical approach. These designs shine on the Wii and give the game a cartoon-y, yet powerful look. The worst part about the environments is that they are repeated to often throughout the zones. After the first five-or-so levels of a zone, you feel that you have seen everything and then proceeding levels become boring to look at. While these may not be the best graphics you have ever seen, it does accomplish what it has set out to do; entertain with a throwback, nostalgic-style game.

If you are a completionist, Bit. Trip RUNNER will have immense replay value for you. However, if you are the kind of person who just wants to play through the game once, it won't offer nearly as much. I cannot even fathom collecting all of the gold in each level of the game. It's a feat that would likely take weeks, possibly even months to complete. If you are up to the challenge, then this game will offer you unmatched replay value for a WiiWare title.

My biggest gripe with Bit. Trip RUNNER is it's ruthless gameplay. While some may consider this to be one of the games positives, I consider it to be the game's Achilles' heel. Personally, it took me just over six hours to complete the game. Now I might just be terrible at games, but for a game like Bit. Trip RUNNER, it shouldn't have taken that long. The problem was, I kept dying, and dying. I feel that a game like this should at least allow for one mistake during each attempt. Instead, you are forced to be perfect as you play the game, but as Hannah Montana has told us "Nobody is perfect."



If you enjoy this type of cut-throat, trial-and-error gameplay, then I highly recommend you check out Bit. Trip RUNNER. Those who aren't fans of that type of gameplay may want to be careful. Apart from the gameplay, Bit. Trip RUNNER is a fantastic game. It has great audio, graphics, and controls. If the gameplay hadn't been so relentless, I would have enjoyed Bit. Trip RUNNER a lot more than I did. Even a different difficulty selection that would allow for one or two mistakes would have been better than what is currently there. If you can look past the flaw in the gameplay, then I can't recommend Bit. Trip RUNNER enough. Bit. Trip RUNNER is easily one of the best WiiWare titles available.

PROS

- Immersive experience
- Incredible soundtrack
- Outstanding graphics
- Trail-and-error gameplay may appeal to some
- Surprisingly calming

CONS

- Environments are quite repetitive
- High difficulty and lots of frustration
- Difficulty causes it to not be as inviting to most gamers as it appears
- No difficulty selection for different skill levels

RATING: 8.0/10

*A copy of this game was provided for review by Aksys Games*