Experience a breathtaking journey full of dangers and secrets in 'Runaway: A Road Adventure'. Join young Brian and his mysterious companion Gina on their escape from the mafia and solve tricky puzzles to complete the adventure. But be careful: not everything is as it seems, and the real enemies may be closer than you think. Are you ready for the ultimate road trip adventure?
Embark on an adventure with Runaway – A Road Adventure
Can Brian and Gina escape from the mobsters who are chasing them? The Spanish Pendulo Studios revived the point & click genre with Runaway: A Road Adventure. Lots of crazy puzzle fun awaits you. The adventurous point & click adventure Runaway: A Road Adventure from the Spanish Pendulo studios is their great success.
The start of a trilogy
It all starts with 'Runaway: A Road Adventure', the first part that the Pendulo Studios Published in 2002. You accompany Brian and Gina on their escape from the mafia, solving tricky puzzles and discovering dark secrets. Use the keyboard and mouse to control the characters through the action-packed story. The game is available in German, English and French.
But that is only the beginning! The second part appeared in 2006: Runaway 2: The Dream of the Turtle. Here the adventure continues and you meet new characters and places. This game also offers tricky puzzles and exciting action.
The grand finale of the trilogy is 'Runaway: A Twist of Fate', which the studio released in 2009. In the third part you help Brian prove his innocence and clear his name of a murder charge. But that's easier said than done, because there are many obstacles to overcome and dark machinations to uncover.
On the run in Runaway
Runaway: A Road Adventure starts as a flashback. Brian Basco is from the East Coast of the USA. He is a stuffy New York student and the hero of this story. Nothing comes of his doctoral thesis for the time being. He reports on crazy events that happened to him. At the beginning he is on his way to Berkeley to start his studies.
Shortly before he leaves for UC Berkeley, Brian wants to drop off a book at the library. However, he doesn't even make it out of town before the lovely Gina runs in front of his hood in the evening. For Brian, it's the beginning of a lot of trouble caused by the lady with her pouty lips and bust size. He takes her to the hospital and is drawn into an adventurous story by her. Everything is connected to a mysterious crucifix that Gina's father gave her before the mafia murdered him.
Although the story is told by Brian, you can still expect a regular change of perspective. You switch between Brian and Gina. The story itself is conveyed to you by Brian as a flashback. After Brian takes her to the hospital and she asks him for help, you take control of Brian.
Approached by the student
Gina tells him that she was a singer in a nightclub. She watched as Mafiosi murdered her father in the back room during an interrogation. Before he left her an antique cross, which the Sandretti brothers are after. However, she narrowly escaped them and ran in front of Brian's car, so it's no wonder that the mafiosi then want the witness out of the way as quickly as possible. Persecuted, Brian and Gina expect an encounter with aliens and eccentric transvestites.
Hidden clues
Apart from that, the story uses multiple-choice dialogues, through which you communicate with the other characters in the game to gather information and clues. As the story progresses, new locations will be unlocked. For the puzzles you have to pull out all the stops. You can also progress with mathematics, combinatorics and acoustic theory. For the solutions you need imagination and creativity.
The graphics stand out with their 2D representation in combination with 3D scenes. You see the 3D scenes mainly in the cutscenes, for example when Brian drives through New York. You can expect the side perspective when examining the backgrounds. Your ways forward or backward are restricted according to the illustration. Visually, the game only collects plus points. Runaway: A Road Adventure presents itself with strikingly good and detailed 2D graphics. The backgrounds appear like in a comic. For example, the developers used the cel shading technique and around 100 drawn backgrounds to display the figures.
Hand drawn
One of the standout features of this game is the hand-drawn backgrounds, which immerse the player in a detailed and colorful world full of mystery and adventure. The characters in Runaway: A Road Adventure are made up of sprites and act in front of hand-drawn backdrops. Brian or Gina, you move from location to location with the mouse or initiate the actions of your character with the mouse so that he can interact with the environment. Brian finds objects, uses them with the environment or combines them with other objects.
The backgrounds of “Runaway” were designed by artist José Luis Vaello. A team of illustrators and colorists carefully hand-drew them. Everyone Background is unique and serves to support the game's story and capture the mood of each scene. Runaway's hand-drawn backgrounds give the game a distinct aesthetic that differs from today's 3D renderings. The images are filled with lovely details and subtle textures that help immerse you in the game's world.
The backgrounds also help advance the plot of Runaway by giving you clues to important items or characters you meet later in the game. They serve to enhance the mood and atmosphere of any scene, from the dusty streets of New York City to the picturesque landscapes of Arizona.
The backgrounds are soft and have real-time light and shadow effects. You examine the individual locations from a side perspective or the 2D drawn backgrounds. The backgrounds in the game are detailed in comic style.
The uniqueness of the characters
Brian and Gina encounter up to 30 bizarre characters. Transvestites, the strange Joshua and the hacker Sushi meet the two in the desert. The artist Saturn and the hippie Rutger also meet Brian and Gina in Douglasville. Not to mention Mama Dorita, who has an afterlife antenna.
In Runaway: A Road Adventure You'll meet different characters, each unique in their own way and contributing to the game's plot. The main character of the game is Brian Basco, an American student who gets into trouble during his trip to Europe and is sent on a dangerous journey. You play as Brian and help him solve various puzzles and challenges to solve the mystery of the mysterious crucifix. The three transvestites that Brian meets in the desert are the ladies Mariola, Lula and Carla. They are stranded in the desert with their tour bus. Here it is important to ask for help so that Gina can be saved.
There are also other characters that Brian meets on his journey, including villains who make his life miserable. It is important that you interact with all characters in the game to find clues and solutions and to advance the storyline. Above all, the mafiosi are among the villains who are after Gina.
Lots of bizarre characters fit into the wacky story. The traveling transvestites with flat tires in the desert, for example, or Joshua, who is looking for contact with aliens on the planet Trantor, are just a few weird characters that Brian meets. Runaway are puzzled by tricky puzzles: Will you finally manage to come into contact with aliens? What happens if you mix pain pills and alcohol? Could you possibly crack a bank vault with a flying statue?
Where is it going in Runaway?
Among the places you visit are the Natural History Museum in Chicago, Douglasville, the western town or the transvestite bus that Brian runs into in the desert. An abandoned Indian sanctuary holds many a secret and the desert is calling to you.
The puzzles lead through a museum, an old mine, an old Indian sanctuary and a dry desert. Landscapes in the game are atmospheric and beautiful in their design. A first-class synchronization draws the player under its spell. Various speakers breathe life into the bizarre characters. Great music accompanies you from the beginning and thus creates a mood while playing. The game's theme song is Runaway by the band Liquor.
You can also use math to create the right fuel mixture. Without combinatorics, you won't get the color code you need to help Joshua. With acoustics, the security door is under attack.
Some head nuts
The solutions to the puzzles are not always easy, but they are logical. At first they are relatively easy. Above each chapter there is a central puzzle to crack. The way there, however, leads through many small linear puzzles. In order to be able to collect some items, you must first solve other puzzles. Otherwise, the hero doesn't "need" them yet and eventually refuses to pick them up. You can skip dialogues you have already heard with a mouse click. To crack the puzzles you need your imagination spiced with some creativity. Towards the end, some puzzles lose their logical basis.
In Runaway: A Road Adventure The classic mouse control awaits you. The mouse cursor changes appearance at important points. You can choose between several options, such as “Speak” or “View”. Items in the inventory can be combined using drag & drop. For creating save states or calling up menus, e.g. B. to end the game, you use the keyboard.
The game music
Runaway: A Road Adventure's music and soundtrack are an important part of the atmosphere and feel of this point-and-click adventure.
The music in the game was written and produced by composer Juan Miguel Martin and sound designer Manuel Mariño. The soundtrack consists of a mix of jazzy and orchestral sounds that perfectly match the storyline and mood of the game. They composed the music specifically for each scene and situation in the game, and it helps enhance the atmosphere and emotional content of the game.
Besides the music, the sound effect is also very important to bring the world of Runaway to life. The sound effects in the game are very detailed and perfectly capture the sounds of the environment and your actions. For example, you can hear car tires squeaking on gravel roads, clocks ticking or lock mechanisms clicking.
The synchronization of the characters in the game is remarkable. The dialogues are well written and voiced by professional actors who bring the characters to life in the game. The voices perfectly match the characters' personalities and dialogue, helping to tell the story of the game. Overall, the sound and music of Runaway: A Road Adventure is an important part of the gameplay and helps to fully immerse you in the game's world.
Conclusion
Runaway: A Road Adventure offers a lot of logical puzzle fun as a modern point & click adventure. It shows the creativity of Pendulo Studios to a large extent. The high quality graphics are very nice and the puzzles will challenge any point and click player. Weird, very well synchronized characters, in combination with the atmospheric music, pull the player into a gripping story. In conclusion, anyone who loves point & click games can say "Runaway - A Road Adventure“Definitely something.
Additional information
This section provides additional information about games. Runaway: A Road Adventure was released in Spain on July 06, 2001. Publisher, Focus Home Interactive released the game for iOS and Windows, followed by the German release in November 2002.
It was released in Italy on May 26, 2003, in America on August 28, 2003, and in Poland on October 24, 2003. It was later released abroad by DTP Entertainment the game. It was released on CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and as a download. The developers of the game were Ramón Hermáez, Rafael Latiegui and Felipe Gómez Pinilla.
Game synchronization
Christian Stark took over the dubbing from Brian Basco. Gina Timmins is also spoken by Jennifer Böttcher. Stephanie Kindermann, on the other hand, speaks Sushi Douglas. Sascha Draeger gives “Saturn” his voice. Meanwhile, Beate Hasenau speaks to Mama Dorita.
Runaway editions
Runaway - Special Edition
Runaway: A Road Adventure Special Edition was released in 2004. It is an expanded version of the game. It was released on DVD and accordingly contains video sequences in higher resolution as well as bonus material. Game graphics and bonus material are identical in terms of quality. Included are outtakes from voice recordings and also a 25-minute making of the game.
Accordingly, there are impressions of the work processes of the Pendulo Studios. The texts of the documentary are also spoken by the dubbing voice of Brian Basco: Christian Stark. There is also the game soundtrack and nine wallpapers for the PC. The gameplay has remained the same.
The game appeared later in the US than in Europe.
Here you come to Pendulo Studios website
Runaway lyrics
Originally posted on 2017-09-30 15:48:00.
