This is another volume in the "Bit-Trip Saga" and this is my favorate of the bunch. There really isn't a whole lot to say, it's a simple concept no story really involved but with platform action games were in it for the action. But if you want to know, you simply get Captain Video from point A to point B, that's all you need to know. But what makes this game unique is in it's execution and style.
The graphics I think are great, I really love how it mixes the graphical style of the Atari 2600 as a way to pay homage to the game that inspired this game "Pitfall" which of course is homaged as bonus levels in this game. And some current 3D animation to make the background and everything in the game beautiful and lively. The worlds in this game I think are just beautiful, colorful, and surreal each of them are unique, my favorate is the third world. The control is soild, it rather basic just jump, duck, kick, or press up to spring when you run toward spring platforms; yeah pretty basic but that's all you really need.
However what makes the game are in both the gameplay and music which I think are both surpurb. You character is constantly running forward at a steady speed, what makes this unique is the fact that you can control the speed of your charcter, nor are able to push forward or backward at will, let alone stop. This is a game about acting and reacting at the right times and places while on the go. Which is part of why this game is hard, each stage is different and the difficulty gets ramped up as you get further on both stages and worlds. There are obsiticles that constantly come at you and are literally a step ahead of you. You'll probably find yourself dying a lot which will make you frustrated, I know I was. But preserverence is the key, the stages are not impossible to get though it's like with games like "Contra" or "Mega Man" it's a matter of memorization, if you practice long enough you'll know what to do the next time around. It's based on the principles of the solution being simple just not looking that way at first and if at first you don't succeed, try try again.
And the music as usual it's just surpurb, it was just great how they mixed it in with the platform action element to make the game also a rythym game. When you jump or collect gold and power ups the tune changes and you find yourself making a song. But also the rythym also helps in the memorization process, giving you musical cues which help you remember what to do next, much like with playing music while reading a lyric script.
Overall, "Bit Trip Runner" is a welcome surprise for anyone that is a fan of the platform action genre, is worth playing for both something different and to give veterans the nolstalgia feel for something old but new at the same time. This game runs the distance.