Redrunner

By: Derek Yu

On: October 5th, 2007

Redrunner is the sequel to Greenrunner, a C64 homebrew by Aleksi Eeben. Both games are based on Jeff Minter’s Gridrunner series of games (which are apparently getting an Xbox 360 update). And Blade Runner is a great dystopian science fiction movie starring Harrison Ford. Got that?

Redrunner has roots in the classic arcade game Centipede, so it shares many of the same elements, although Redrunner’s gameplay is much more free form. In this game the entire playfield is open to you, and your opponents, the “bugs,” are similarly free to roam the entire screen.

What’s neat about the game is that each of the game’s 100 (!) levels has a unique theme. One level, for example, may go in slow motion, whereas in another level an ever-expanding slime may steadily consume the screen.

Unfortunately, I found it difficult to appreciate the concept, mostly due to the fact that, because of the jittery pace of the game and your ship’s ability to fire in the four cardinal directions at once, the easiest way to beat many of the levels is by sitting still and holding down the fire button. Gameplay videos by the author himself seem to verify that this is a reasonable tactic.

I do dig the overall aesthetic, especially the voice of the announcer, who sounds like Sinistar crossed with the guy who goes “Test your might!” in the Mortal Kombat song. This game’s not for me, though.

Redrunner requires a C64 or a C64 emulator like Vice to run.

(Source: dessgeega blog)