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Today, point and click adventure titles appeal to a very small group of gamers, a group who eagerly await every offering from small, focused publishers like The Adventure Company. Most gamers couldn’t care less about the genre these days. That’s quite a change from the earlier days of PC gaming, when games like Day of the Tentacle, Kings Quest, and Full Throttle were welcomed by gamers like the latest Unreal or Half-Life are snapped up today. Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle, with its great graphics, goofy storyline, and accessible puzzles is a definite throwback to those earlier days. It’s one of the best casual adventure games published in years, but it’s still not for everyone.

Island Trouble

Runaway follows the generally bad luck of a young guy named Brian, whose Hawaiian vacation with girlfriend Gina takes a turn for the worse when they make a day trip to a small, out of the way island accessible only via seaplane. When their Luftwaffe-vintage pilot kicks the bucket mid-flight and Gina takes the only parachute out the door with her, Brian survives the crash but is left stranded in the jungle with only the wreckage of the plane and your wits to help him find Gina and get them both off the island. Of course about a dozen plot twists come along for the ride, so it won’t be as simple as wandering through the woods and finding a boat.

As soon as you get into the game you’ll be greeted by some very high production values given the genre, including a somewhat cheesy theme song (complete with vocals) and music video that sets up the first plot twist even before the opening cinematic is over. However, it’s not the theme song that will make you want to play; it’s the graphics that create a surprisingly endearing gameplay experience. The characters are all animated and styled with care, as are the environments, all obviously digitally rendered but still delivering much the same sort of odd charm as the older, hand-drawn LucasArts adventure titles. 

The game actually feels a lot like that earlier style of adventure game before Myst, delivering challenges and puzzles that are less about memorizing and pulling levers as they are thinking and exploring. Yes, you’ll certainly spend plenty of time here hunting about with your mouse for things to click on and search, but rather than being presented with locked door after locked door you’ll be finding ways over slippery rocks or learning what it takes get a chainsaw fired up. There are still challenging puzzles here, but overall the game feels a lot less ornery and more accessible than much of its competition.

Beautiful People

In addition to somewhat believable puzzles, the game also has a number of oddball characters who are somewhat less believable but are all personable in their own way. Many of the puzzles involve finding ways to get these characters to talk to you or, once they do, finding the right questions to ask to get the info or assistance you need. As mentioned above the character design is quite good and you’ll never have a problem telling people apart as you move through the story. However, their personalities are awfully one-sided and caricature-like.

This impression is helped by voice acting that’s far better than we’ve seen in most adventure games of late but still leaves a good bit to be desired. Part of the problem is the dialog, full of one-liners and quips that will make you groan a lot more often than you laugh. There are a few genuinely funny moments here, though, despite the the game’s comic relief crutch, a drunken lemur, failing to create any of them.

Funny or not, the game plays very well and will keep you interested as the storyline twists and turns from obstacle to obstacle, never feeling like it exists only to feed you puzzles but still delivering plenty of opportunity for pondering. That said, there are times when the game drags on a bit as you’re left to watch Brian walk slowly from place to place, especially in the earlier parts of the game as he explores the island.

A Solid Adventure

Runaway may be a throwback to a simpler, more accessible time of adventure game, back when kings searched for their queens and spooky mansions were full of mysteries and everybody played along. However, that simple nature results in a game that hardcore modern adventure gamers may find a bit too simple and straightforward. That said, if you’re into quirky stories, environments worth exploring, memorable characters, and a gameplay experience that doesn’t feel like a jumbled bag of puzzles, this is your game.

Article by: Tim Stevens
Video produced by: Paul Bonanno