[Sotaria]

Okay. I am one of those guys who loved Runaway and was eagerly anticipating Runaway 2. I haven't yet finished Runaway 2, but am a bit disappointed. I still like it and expect to finish the game, but there seem to be a number of things which bother me.

1) The constant need to go back and talk to people you have already talked to for no apparent reason (much more pronounced than in the first). 2) More obscure puzzles than the first. Sometimes I still don't understand why I would ever have done x, y, or z. 3) Brian seems more scoundrely than in the first. 4) Gina is barely in it (but okay, you do have Lokilani). 5) The anti-military rhetoric is laid on way too thick. Some of it is okay, but some of it is just idiotic anti-military such as implying soldiers are uneducated (in fact, they all have college degrees before finishing their tours). 6) Way too much running back and forth from one place to another. 7) Well ... I better finish first.

Anyway, what is y'alls opinion? Which is better and why?

[RLacey]

I can't help but feel that a game featuring less of Gina would be a good thing...

[buddi]

I HATED it, and I like poking fun at the military. I thought Brian was a total skeeze... he's supposed to be concerned about saving Gina but he seems more interested in getting into Lokelani's pants. The puzzles were outrageous and nonsensical (don't get me started on the watch clock.) I agree there was way too much running around,

Spoiler:

especially at the end when you had to go through the whole underwater sequence about a thousand times for no real reason.

Even with suspension of disbelief, the chrarcters were completely illogical... for example,

Spoiler:

Brian refuses several times to stop and rest between multiple deep sea dives, then suddenly decides to go on bender and pass out for a few hours?

Like... wha? huh? I was sorry to see so much production go into something that was irritating and uninspired.

[Sotaria]

How could I have forgotten to list pixelhunting? I just finished the part where I was supposed to find a bag and whip in pitch black! Talk about pixel hunting!

I sincerely hope that when they do number three they will lay off the pixel hunting and running back and forth. Most of the other stuff I can live with, but these are definite no nos in adventure gaming!

[Ksandra]

I played the original Runaway in German so it's a little hard to compare. However, I can't say I was all that impressed by the sequel; the puzzles were more illogical, the plot more disjointed and there were far too many long, dull cutscenes (especially near the end). The absence of Gina, on the other hand, was a major advantage as far as I'm concerned.

As for the ending, sheesh. That game beats out even Dreamfall for the title of 'Lousiest Non-Ending Ever'. If I hadn't had advance warning of what it would be like, I'd probably have thrown my monitor through the window.

[Ninth]

I think I disliked the first one and hated the second.

Where 1 > 2 : it's not as unfunny as the second one, the puzzles are mostly better, Joshua hasn't got himself an important role yet, the music rocks, and Sushi is cool.

Where 2 > 1 : It's gorgeous, very well animated, more varied, with less pixel-hunting, and no Gina.

It looks like I should have liked 2 more than I did 1, but it tried so hard to be clever and funny, and failed by such a huge margin, that it was painful to play, which wasn't true of Runaway 1.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

I personally thought 2 was funnier than 1, but I admit that the puzzles in Runaway 2 were far more abscure than 1. Also, I don't know about everyone else, but Runaway 2 was made a bit more difficult because of R1.

I mean, I kept going back to check everything a 2nd time, because of the R1 Doctor's bag.

Where Runaway 1 was just a tad too long, Runaway 2 was too short. Obviously setting up for a 3rd, but I wish Sushi's re-caps were also made into additional levels.

The lead up to the ending was annoying as heck too, the sheer number of times where you had to

Spoiler:

go down to the boat

was sheer madness. And don't get me started on the stupidity of the last level.

Still, its an impressive game, and I liked how they again snuck in a little easter egg. Like Sushi's working e-mail address in the first game (I would have to replay the whole game to get it, so I'm not going to bother), this game has http://www.planet-trantor.com/.

I just hope they intend to do something w/ it other than just have it stuck on site maintennance mode.

SWB

[Litrick]

Originally Posted by Sotaria

How could I have forgotten to list pixelhunting? I just finished the part where I was supposed to find a bag and whip in pitch black! Talk about pixel hunting!

I sincerely hope that when they do number three they will lay off the pixel hunting and running back and forth. Most of the other stuff I can live with, but these are definite no nos in adventure gaming!

I think you may have needed to turn up the brightness the whip part should not be pitch black at all, just slightly dark (as it is in a cave). For me all of the items in that section were clearly visible.

I enjoyed both games, and couldnt really say which i liked better because i played 1 so long ago.

[Periglo]

Originally Posted by Sotaria

5) The anti-military rhetoric is laid on way too thick. Some of it is okay, but some of it is just idiotic anti-military such as implying soldiers are uneducated (in fact, they all have college degrees before finishing their tours).

This is perhaps a wild guess, but the game comes from Spain. I am Spanish, and there is a deep sentiment here against the military that goes back to Franco's time. Same goes with the Church. I think this point of view is largely outdated, but it's still common to find it. About the game: I would have loved to play a good game developed in my country, but I ended up erasing it after the first sequence. I just didn't like it. That was R1, I do not plan to try R2.