Runaway: A Road Adventure

Moby ID: 5453
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

For New Yorker, Brian Basco, scientific study and having a career in Applied Physics is everything! He is as "excited as a kid in a candy store" when his application for a position at the University of Berkeley is accepted. Before setting out on the long trip from New York to California, Brian remembers one last errand to do. Little does he know that this slight detour would change his life, and his life style, forever!

Minding his own business driving along the New York streets on the way to a bookstore, he cannot avoid hitting the beautiful girl who runs out in front of his car! He does the right thing and takes her to the hospital. When she comes to, he learns that she witnessed a murder and that vicious gangsters are after her! Because Brian helped her, his life is also in danger! And so the story of Brian and Gina begins...

In this point-and-click adventure, you play Brian in 3rd person as he figures out how to avoid and escape the Mafia-like thugs chasing them. Their travels will take them to a variety of different places (a Museum, the Arizona desert etc.) during the six game chapters. Put your thinking cap on to solve situations and puzzles using objects and conversation with people they meet.

The game features drawn cartoon-like 2D and 3D graphics and cut-scenes. Its original soundtrack includes over 24 songs. Interact with almost 30 different characters with interesting, and often comical, personalities. Find and use a multitude of items that can be manipulated within the inventory window.

Spellings

  • Runaway. Дорожное приключение - Russian spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

152 People (108 developers, 44 thanks) · View all

Story & Design
Project Manager
Game Engine Developed By
Lead Programmer
Assistant Programmers
Art Director
Storyboard and Backdrop Developement
Backdrop Coloring for Chapter 1
3D Design and Backdrop Animation
3D 2D-Integration
Character Development
Character Design
Character Animation
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 77% (based on 55 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 95 ratings with 5 reviews)

If you liked the Broken Sword games, you'll love Runaway!

The Good
I couldn't wait to get Runaway, but I never thought I'd get a chance to play it. It was released first in Spanish and it took 2 years for publisher to be found for the English version. It was well worth the wait!

First of all, Runaway is good and long. It takes quite awhile to get all the way through the Six Chapters. Each scenario is different than the last, so the plot keeps you interested. The story is modern and unique with twist and turns - you really don't know how it will come out in the end. And speaking of the ending, it's great! (Be sure to watch the entire thing ... all the way through the credits and beyond. You'll be glad you did!)

The colorful graphics are as realistic as can be expected from drawings. Some of the locations are truly picturesque. The characters are rendered to depict their personalities - eccentric and quirky. The animators did a great job on coordinating the lip-sync with the speech as well as everything else that moved. Objects don't stick out like sore thumbs like in other games and look like part of the scenery or room. (More on this below.)

Overall I'd rate the sound as excellent. The music is modern and original with an upbeat pace. I enjoyed every single song and tapped my foot to quite a few of them. A subtle melody can be heard when an important objective has been accomplished. Sound effects are blended in so well that none of them seem out of place. The voice acting was also well done (in the English version). Each character's voice sounded like you'd expect it to sound. I did notice duplicate voices for several of the characters, however - Gina's especially.

I enjoyed the puzzles, which are based on interaction with inventory objects and other characters. Although none of them are particularly hard, some of them had me scratching my head - only to find out that I had missed finding the right item. The linearity of the game might bother some players, but after awhile I got used to it. So many things don't become available until Brian has done something else. The first time Brian searches a trash can, for instance, he says he doesn't see anything he can use ... UNTIL someone mentions it. Digging into the trash can a second time, after the conversation, he will find something new.

There are no action elements whatsoever .. it's pure adventure style play. I was glad there were no mazes or slider puzzles. And all of the puzzles seem necessary to the story - none of them were added needlessly. And ... you can't die!

I had absolutely no technical problems installing or playing the game, even though my Pentium II 200MMX barely meets the minimum requirements. (I did need to use the Low resolution setting, though, to smooth out the scrolling graphics.)

The Bad
Only a very few things detracted from my gaming experience. Most of them are design elements.

  • Each time you start the game, you must insert the first disc, no matter where you last saved.
  • The chosen options don't seem to "stick". In other words, if you want the volume at its loudest point, you must set it with each new start.
  • Brian walks too slowly through some of the scenes, and there is no way to make him run.
  • Finding items on the screen can be tedious because they blend in so well with their surroundings. You must use your peripheral vision to watch the words at the bottom of the screen. You should scan the cursor across the entire screen slowly and carefully, looking for changes in the text.
  • When saving a game, a new slot is picked automatically. Although you can erase saved games, it would have been nice to be able to choose to overwrite an old one. (On the plus side, there seems to be no limit to the number of games you can save.)

    **The Bottom Line**
    This is a modern tale with upbeat music and an engaging story. It's an adventure about two young people running away from danger and using whatever resources they come upon to do it. Help comes from the people they meet and things they find during their escape. What begins with a chance meeting turns into a friendship and then a romance. By the end of the game, you may find yourself actually caring what happens to Gina and Brian. Heed the "Teen" rating because of the Mafia-type violence (killing), but there is no blood or gore. There are also some "drag queen" characters and nuances to that effect. Otherwise, there is no offensive language or sexual content and everything is tactfully presented.
  • Windows · by Jeanne (75956) · 2003

    One of the responsibles of adventure gaming comeback? I hope so.

    The Good
    I spent a lot of evenings playing that game and felt that I have fallen in a time portal or something, Runaway is what the adventure game purists have been waiting for. In a time where this genre seemed lost forever, the Spanish company Pendulo Studios brought us a 2D point and click commercial adventure game reminiscent of the most classic ones. It hasn't got any arcade sequences or any timed puzzles!

    The graphics were good too, more or less updated to its time but keeping a "retro" feel.

    I first hated a bit the main character Brian, for being so perfect in his own pedantic way and a bit dumb-arse in some occasions, but by the end of the adventure I felt some empathy for that poor guy, and I think that's a good work as the main character personality makes a good progress through the story. There were some charismatic characters too, the type of characters you would like to see again in a sequel.

    The Bad
    Well, I hate having to come with bad comments for that game, but we must face that Runaway has got some things that can bother the player in some moments.

    I could say that the pixel-hunting is a pain, but that wasn't the most annoying thing I found, well people, it's like this: The plot it's predictable. In some moments of the game the plot reached such limits of silliness that I found myself hitting my forehead so hard that it could have been possible for my brains to expel out from the back of my head. I also felt that way when trying to solve some puzzles that could have some other really viable ways of being solved, but no, you must think and do things as the game designers would do.

    The Bottom Line
    The money I spent on the game was worth of it, Runaway feels like one of the old adventures from the 90s, a must buy for all adventure enthusiasts! I would finish with that line: The game has an 80% of good things and 20% of bad things. At the moment I'm writing this review there is a sequel to Runaway on the works, I hope they solve all the faults from the first game and give us an almost perfect adventure game that it's capable of reviving the adventure genre.

    Windows · by Depth Lord (934) · 2005

    Reviving the adventure Genre? Yes and No

    The Good
    Runaway appeared on the games market in a time where everybody wondered: Will the graphic adventure genre survive? It made a bold statement by winning dozens of awards in the computer gaming press for being a fun game with smooth comic graphics and good voice overs. (I can only speak for the German version here).

    The Bad
    But Runaway has a major downside and that is its pixel hunting puzzles. In every chapter of the game there are at least two puzzles that require you to find a grey item on a grey wall. You can either spend hours searching the locations with your nose glued to the screen, or refer to a walkthrough.

    The Bottom Line
    Nonetheless, the game is worth its money. It is almost a classic comic adventure with fresh characters (a physics nerd and a femme fatale). It features a relatively intriguing story and keeps you motivated with good in-game animations.
    Adventure fans should definetely give it a shot. Everyone else might want to check out the demo first.

    Windows · by Isdaron (715) · 2003

    [ View all 5 player reviews ]

    Discussion

    Subject By Date
    missing files san ti Jun 19, 2007

    Trivia

    Legend (and PR) says: Runaway wasn't planned to be released in germany, when it's publisher Dinamix got insolvent... but after many fans started petitions, mail-terror,... (tiny) german publisher DTP got the game, started the localisation and threw it into our shops. And Runaway is a Top10-Success, here! :)

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    Contributors to this Entry

    Game added by Jeanne.

    Macintosh added by Cavalary. iPhone, iPad added by Kabushi.

    Additional contributors: Felix Knoke, Klaster_1.

    Game added December 20, 2001. Last modified March 15, 2024.