Bit.Trip Runner - One Shot

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Broadcast...

"Wait...Bioshock Infinite looks different!" Yeah...technical issues have put Bioshock on hold while I install it again. The game was running like garbage, no matter what graphical settings I had it on, so I wiped it from my computer and now have to download all 17GB again. So, in the meantime, I played Bit.Trip Runner!

Commander Video, you're an asshole

I had played through half of Runner before this, and God damn, if I thought the earlier levels were hard, then those last couple of levels would've killed me. But I think that's what makes Runner an enjoyable challenge, rather than pure frustration: knowing where you went wrong. The game never gives you an impossible challenge, and the course never changes, so it possible to memorise your way through the harder levels.

I would never go as far to say that the game ever becomes easy, no matter how many times you do a level. Precise timing and pretty solid concentration is required at all times. I slipped up many times on the simplest obstacles by losing concentration...or my eyes glazing over from looking at the television for too long.

This is coma-inducng at times

The Bit.Trip games have always had an exceptional sense of style, and Runner is no different. The voxel graphics and chiptune music go hand-in-hand incredibly and the way the music ramps up throughout a level is pretty amazing with how spot-on it is, and how the smallest beat plays in time with the Commander Video's jumping or kicking makes a subtle, yet very significant difference to how you play the game, and once that clicks, it makes the game much more enjoyable.

I'll probably never feel the need to go back to Bit.Trip Runner again. I have no desire to try and collect every single piece of gold or complete all the Atari 2600-style levels, but the time I did have with it was well-worth the price of admission and an enjoyable experience, despite my constant swearing during some of the levels.

Commander Video getting his bit!

Next up...Bioshock Infinite! (Possibly...if not, it'll be Blocks That Matter!)