PlayStation 2

Portal Runner

This has to be the most average game I’ve seen. Uninspiring also comes to mind, but the developers did hold it together with decent visuals and storyline. Maybe the best thing to say is this could have been a miserable game if certain aspects didn’t carry it. Although the plot keeps it afloat, the lack of any variety will quickly wear on most gamers and, unless Sarge is your hero or platform games are your thing, I’d save this one for a rental.

Ohne die Videosequenzen hätte man aber wohl Mühe dieses Spiel mit den Armymen in Verbindung zu bringen, da diese selbst nur sehr sehr vereinzelt im Spiel selbst auftreten. Mit der attraktiven Nikki G. zu spielen macht aber wohl eindeutig mehr Spaß als mit den grünen Plastiksoldaten...

Your enjoyment of Portal Runner depends wholly on your tolerance for both straight-up, albeit slightly watered-down, 3D platform-adventure gameplay and 3DO's distinct brand of abstract patriotism. The game is sufficiently long, and it rewards dogged players with all kinds of bonuses for cleaning out entire stages. Those who find themselves in front of a TV with Portal Runner playing will likely spend a good while coursing through its colorful worlds, even if they'll be a bit ashamed to admit it. Let's hope this marks the turning over of a new leaf for 3DO.

Portal Runner är visserligen långt bättre än Army Men, men det är långt ifrån något mästerverk. Det största problemet är fortfarande den skriande bristen på originalitet. Dialogerna får mig oftast att gäspa och banorna är visserligen både ganska snygga och genomtänkta, men ändå ack så tråkiga. Portal Runner kan vara ett alternativ för den som är i desperat behov av ett lättsamt äventyr, vi andra kan vänta på fröken Crofts nästa. Men det viktiga är att 3DO är på rätt väg.

Schlüpfe in die Rolle der etwas abenteuerlustigen, energischen und grünhaarigen Tochter eines Plastikgenerals. Mit Jump´n´Run-Einlagen und kleinen Rätseln muß sie versuchen... natürlich das Böse zu besiegen und so manche Soldaten zu befreien. Witzige und bunte Welten werden sie umgeben und die kleine Heldin muß sich mit Pfeil und Bogen gegen das Übel wehren. Die Grafik ist zwar recht detailreich und mit einigen Effekten versehen, aber irgendwie nicht völlig überzeugend. Fazit: Wenn 3DO ein akzeptables Spiel kreiert hat... dann wird´s wohl dieses etwas seltsame Spielchen sein!

Portal Runner is a straight-forward platform game that appears to be geared towards a younger audience, evidenced by the bright and colourful visuals, playful environments, over-the-top voice acting and the inclusion of Leo the lion. With that said, Portal Runner suffers from an awkward control scheme, bumpy camera work and repetitive gameplay elements. While Portal Runner is certainly an improvement to the Army Men franchise, there�s not enough punch to distinguish it as anything other than a run-of-the-mill action game, for which there are better options on the market.

The way it's being positioned, Portal Runner sounds like a well-rounded game for most age groups. Unlike most of the PlayStation 2 games we've seen (with a few minor exceptions), 3DO's colorful adventure skews toward the younger audience, and looks to force the young gaming father into a position in which he has to share his new machine with the kids. Portal Runner also looks like it could appeal to young girls, which I'm sure 3DO is aiming at, too. To cap it all off, Portal Runner blends traditional game elements with colorful, high-end graphics to tell an intrigiung fairy tale that could indeed be a fun adventure for everyone.

No lie, Portal Runner didn’t turn out that good and even though it’s a great idea, so was communism at first. That didn't turn out good either. Sure Portal Runner gets a little better the further you get into the game, but think again how good it start out.

Sure, I could go on and on with a myriad of little quibbles (the poor camera, the disagreeable analog control), but the real problem with this game is that I can’t think of one original idea that it brings to the table. It’s one thing to try something new and fail, it’s another to not even be able to competently pull off a generic genre exercise.

Vikki Grimm and Leo the lion take the leads in Portal Runner, 3DO?s attempt to give its Army Men franchise a shot in the arm by yanking the action from the battlefield and hurling it full force into fantastic worlds that bend time, space, and reality. The concept of travelling through futuristic, medieval, and Jurassic worlds, however, is a hackneyed one, and with rough textures and flat prerendered backgrounds, Portal Runner looks like a late-generation PlayStation title rather than a second-generation PS2 effort.

Just the fact that the game struggles with the simplest of movements leads me to believe that the development team hadn’t played a game before. Perhaps they just don’t care? Let the box art sell it!

What Portal Runner boils down to is another failed attempt at an interesting 3D platformer. It's got some nice CGI and a few neat lighting effects here and there, but with control issues, lame multiplayer and boring level design it's pretty obvious that the curse has struck again.