It's by no means perfect, but Runaway is a competent offering that evokes the golden age of adventure gaming.
Players assume the role of Brian Basco, a twenty-something geek who's devoted his life to physics. That devotion pays off as he receives word from Berkeley that he is being admitted into the university's physics program. As Brian prepares to leave on his cross country journey, he quite literally runs into Gina, a beautiful woman with an incredible story involving mafia hitmen, a secret government agency and an ancient Native American artifact. Like any man in the world would, Brian decides to help the well-endowed woman in her predicament. The story is a bit uneven in terms of delivery, though the way it is grounded in reality is quite refreshing. Instead of fantastical creatures and world-enveloping conspiracies, you have a fairly simple tale of a couple on the run from the mafia, in search of answers in some fairly modest locations, like a ghost town in the desert or a museum. Sure, there's a sprinkling of supernatural elements, but for the most part you could conceivably find yourself in a similar situation, which makes the story and characters feel a bit more engrossing.
And that assistance is sorely needed, since much of the cast of characters are either terribly boring, poorly voiced or both. Brian, the main character, is about as interesting as a log. Sure it fits in with his nerdy character, but for a lead actor he's woefully unsuitable. The same goes for Gina, whose only interesting trait seems to be her curves. There are a few mildly funny or somewhat interesting characters in the story, but they seem to be the exception rather than the norm.
Thankfully the gameplay is good enough to draw your attention away from the cast. Although there is nothing truly innovative or groundbreaking to be found, everything from movement to puzzles is handled well and within established genre rules. With the left mouse button you can move Brian around (by double tapping a location you can cut out the tedious movement animations entirely, which is a great feature) and with the right you can toggle between examining and using items or talking to people. The cursor also smartly changes functions depending on what you point; for example, to enter a door you only need to point at it and click. You have the required inventory system, wherein Brian gathers all manner of various items you find in your travels. You solve many of the puzzles by combining items with one another or utilizing them at appropriate times/with an appropriate character. There are a couple slightly more complicated puzzles to be found, but they are rare. Most of the puzzles aren't too hard and follow a somewhat logical path, though there are quite a few that seem entirely too ludicrous to even think of (making bullets ouf of lipstick is a fine example), bringing your progress to a screeching halt. It can be fairly annoying to have to resort to a walkthrough only to find out that the solution was so stupid no intelligent person could even come up with it. The act of combing through each scene with pixelpoint accuracy also returns. Many of the scenes are so intricately drawn and filled with detail that it can be almost impossible to spot every item needed to further the story.
There's also a dialogue tree in Runaway, but it feels totally unnecessary, since it's only real purpose is to flesh out the characters, all of which are too boring to warrant any fleshing out in the first place. Also, Brian has an annoying tendency to decline doing anything he doesn't find necessary at just that moment. Quite a few times you may have come up with the solution to a puzzle in advance, only to have Brian drag his feet. In theory, this system helps keep the kleptomania that is so pervasive in adventure gaming at bay, but in reality it means you need to return to locations you've already searched in the hopes that you've activated a certain trigger and Brian is finally willing to grab something of use. Quite a few times I found myself stumped, only to realize the solution was to search a seemingly cleared and empty item or location for Brian to find something new and usable.
Graphically, Runaway is quite pleasing. Whilst the animations aren't up to par (particularly the three frame lip sync) and the characters aren't terribly detailed, the hand-drawn backgrounds are incredibly appealing and high-res. The creators have managed to walk that fine balance between realism and artistic expression, creating some memorable sets. The models are also cel shaded, whick makes them blend in with the scenery almost perfectly.
Unfortunately the sound isn't as good. Whilst the soundtrack is surprisingly good, with many quirky but catchy tunes, the voice actors range from merely adequate to insultingly bad. The most egregious of these is Rutger, a pot-smoking Rasta sterotype who sounds nothing at all like a genuine Jamaican, but more like an acting school dropout struggling with one of the most recognized accents in entertainment. The dialogue doesn't help either. There's nothing overtly bad about it, but it lacks finesse and humor, making many of the characters feel even more monotonous.
I suppose it seems like I've put too much emphasis on the negatives of Runaway, but it's only because what the game does well (and it does plenty) is everything you'd expect out of a good adventure game. And in a weird way, this is Runaway's greatest strength; it may falter in several key areas such as characters, dialogue and voicework, but in the end it presents an experience that is solid and enjoyable when examined by the requirements set forth by previous adventure games. That is to say it does nothing new or flashy but manages to execute the basics well enough to make it worth a look for any genre aficionado. And let's be honest, when it comes to adventure gaming these days, you can't afford to be too picky.