Bit.Trip.Runner: Impressions

03/04/2010 in News

I felt kind of sad for Bit.Trip.Runner.

There was a huge hustle and bustle at the Aksys booth at PAX. A teeming crowd of geeks were crowded around their screens. All clamouring to take part in a BlazBlue tournament to win a T-Shirt or something. There was a screen with a Wii controller balanced next to it, and no one playing. I wormed my way to the front to see that it was playing Bit.Trip.Runner. I asked “Can I play this please”, and the nice PR man said “sure!” and gave me a badge.

I was a happy Lewie.

I didn’t really understand why no one wanted to play Bit.Trip.Runner, but it was their loss. It could possibly be the best of the Bit.Trip series yet. The previous three Bit.Trip games have been fairly abstract rhythm action games, with moving blocks and neo-retro graphic loveliness. Runner is essentially a platformer. The obvious comparison to make is Canabalt. Both constantly scroll from left to right, and have minimalist controls, but runner is much more like a proper game™. It uses three buttons to jump, slide and kick, which you use to get over obstacles, get under obstacles and to kick things. It has baddies and bosses and lives and things like that.

Commander Video has been the mascot and guy flying around in the background in the past, but he’s jumping to centre stage in runner, as you take direct control of him. He leaves a happy rainbow trail in his wake, and the graphics are just an explosive celebration of the beauty of pixels. The sweet sweet chiptune music that the series is famous for is back, although I couldn’t hear it anyway near as much as I would have liked to over the PAX crowds. Anamanaguchi is doing the menu and credits theme.

There is a cameo from Meatboy, and I bet there will be lots of other similar things to look for as the world scrolls by.

If you can watch this whole trailer without cracking a smile, there’s probably something wrong with you.

Tags: PAX EAST 2010