In Runner, Commander Video runs on his own through the levels and it is up to you to jump him over obstacles, duck him under hazards, kick away the rubble in his path, and launch him high into the air on springboards. The key to success in this game is to listen to the music, and realize that everything you are making Commander Video do is all in time to the chiptune beats. If you miss a jump, or hit a flying saucer, not only does it stop the music, it also throws Commander Video back to the beginning of the level where you start all over again.
The visuals recall the 8-bit days of the NES, aside from the fact that everything is in 3D. Everything has a clean, crisp, and colourful look to it which makes it’s a shame that you won’t have much time to enjoy the visuals; you’ll be far too focused on navigating Commander Video through these levels to stop and smell the proverbial roses. Yet it is because of this clean visual style that makes it easier to focus on what you have to do to get through each level.
The music is easily my favourite part of this game. A healthy combo of electronica and chiptunes keep your toes tapping, and your fingers pushing buttons to the beat. As you run through the levels, you can also collect items that look suspiciously like D-pads (this game is full of game culture references), which adds more complexity to the music making it easier to get into the beat of things. You can also collect gold bricks throughout the levels, letting you play a bonus stage if you collect them all. Collecting these gold bricks adds a little more flavour to the already fantastic music, so they are worth the effort to collect them.
While originally released for the Wii as title for the systems downloadable WiiWare games, this fantastic game is also available on the PC through Steam. Having only played it on the PC I cannot say one way or another if either version is better than the other, but if you do play this game, get yourself a nice pair of headphones and turn it up...loud.
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