Runaway, The Dream of The Turtle
- March 14, 2007
- Pendulo Studios
Get on Steam"Runaway: The Dream of The Turtle" is a vibrant adventure game that takes players across the globe with charming characters Brian and Gina. The game is filled with humor, intriguing puzzles, and stunning graphics, with over an hour of animated sequences and high-quality sound. Explore hundreds of scenic locations and enjoy cinema-quality dubbing in this delightful gaming experience.
Reviews
- Beautifully drawn backgrounds and animations enhance the visual experience.
- Some puzzles are enjoyable and provide a decent challenge, with a mix of creativity and logic.
- The game retains a quirky sense of humor that can be entertaining at times.
- The story is convoluted and often incoherent, with many random events that feel forced.
- Numerous technical issues, including crashes and lag, particularly in snowy chapters, hinder gameplay.
- Many characters are unlikable, and the main character's development is frustrating, turning him into a less sympathetic figure.
- story103 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The story across the series is widely criticized for being incoherent, convoluted, and filled with plot holes, often relying on absurd humor and random events that detract from the narrative's coherence. While some players appreciate the quirky characters and comedic elements, many find the storytelling inconsistent and unsatisfying, particularly with unresolved plotlines and a lack of direction. Overall, the narrative fails to capture the grounded charm of the first game, leading to disappointment among fans.
“The story is fun, characters from the first game are making a comeback, and there are long cutscenes that add depth to the narrative.”
“The story picks up not far from where 'The Road Adventure' left off, with Brian and Gina enjoying the cash they scored at the end of the last ordeal, spending it on an island vacation.”
“A fantastic adventure series with an excellent storyline that's a nice challenge; make sure to play all three in order for continuity.”
“The story is stupid, convoluted, and terrible.”
“The plot spends little time on the rails and is told in large parts in awkwardly paced flashbacks and exposition dumps.”
“The story is dull and just seems like a series of random events rather than a well thought out and planned story.”
- humor27 mentions
- 93 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The humor in "Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle" is a mixed bag, with some players finding it genuinely funny and filled with clever jokes, while others criticize it as crass, pretentious, and often cringe-worthy. While the game features moments of absurdity and meta-humor that may appeal to fans of the genre, many reviews highlight a reliance on outdated and offensive themes that detract from the overall experience. Ultimately, the humor may resonate with some players but leaves others feeling disappointed and unamused.
“Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle is a point-and-click adventure with a humorous story.”
“The humor got better; there are some laugh-out-loud jokes, though some of the dialogue will surely make you cringe.”
“The story is fun, and there are quite a few throwbacks to the first Runaway game which made me laugh.”
“Still not funny.”
“He's an extremely unlikable and unfunny character that I tried to click off a cliff more than a few times.”
- graphics27 mentions
- 48 % positive mentions
- 41 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The graphics of "Runaway: Dream of the Turtle" are widely praised for their vibrant, hand-drawn artwork and fluid animations, showcasing a blend of 2D and 3D elements that enhance the visual experience. While some players noted graphical glitches and performance issues, particularly in specific chapters, the overall aesthetic remains a highlight, with many considering it a significant improvement over its predecessor. Despite some dated elements, the game's stunning visuals and attention to detail contribute positively to its appeal.
“But it's very big with very nice graphics, considering that it came out in 2006 and great animation.”
“Beautiful cartoon graphics, full of mind-blowing vistas and millions of lovingly drawn details are painted in vibrant, lively colors.”
“If there’s one thing no one usually argues about in runaway games is the stunning visuals, and 'Dream of the Turtle' carries this torch with pride.”
“Also, chapter 4 has a graphical glitch that will cause a huge FPS drop on modern systems. A patch is available online, but it didn't solve it completely for me.”
“My first hour playing the game felt gratifying with its puzzles and challenges, but then when I got to the chapter with the snow, the game was painfully slow because of the falling snow effect/graphics.”
“I did not notice much of a change from the graphics of 'Runaway: A Road Adventure', so my same critiques apply.”
- gameplay13 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The gameplay is a mix of enjoyable and frustrating elements, characterized by dialogue-heavy interactions and inventory manipulation, reminiscent of classic point-and-click adventures. While the puzzles can be fun and the visuals are impressive, players may encounter issues such as long-winded dialogues, pixel hunting, and the need to wait for specific dialogues to progress, which can detract from the overall experience. Despite these drawbacks, the game offers a solid amount of playtime and maintains a unique charm within its genre.
“I like the game as it is fun and not so difficult. Once you use a walkthrough online for the first time, the gameplay time is longer. Pendulo Studios and Focus Home Interactive did a great job on the game development and publishing.”
“The gameplay gleefully continues down the road started in the first part of the series - being dialogue and inventory manipulation heavy.”
“You'll also get a good value for your money in terms of gameplay hours, and some of the puzzles are simply fun to solve.”
“The puzzles are sufferable; however, the mechanic of not being able to do things until a certain dialog has been played is frustrating.”
“Gameplay drags along the positives and the negatives of the first game: long-winded dialogs, pixel hunting objects hidden in plain sight within the beautiful hand-drawn graphics, and running back and forth in the same locations. Despite the fact that this is common in adventure games, Runaway brings in one annoyance that LucasArts and Daedalic fans are not used to.”
“Just like for the first episode, the gameplay has some differences with most point-and-click adventures: you can look in the same place and not find something the first time but find it the second, depending on what your characters know.”
- music10 mentions
- 70 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally described as pleasant and unobtrusive, with a nice soundtrack that enhances the atmosphere without being overly memorable. While some players find the themes enjoyable and fitting for the game's tone, others consider them forgettable. Overall, the music contributes positively to the experience, complementing the story and visuals effectively.
“The game is great in some regards like story and music but frustrating in others like pixel hunting and finding/using items.”
“Soundtrack is good, there aren’t any memorable themes, but it’s very enjoyable to listen in-game and it doesn’t get on your nerves even when after you spend an hour in one location trying out every possible solution.”
“The music is pleasantly unobtrusive, changing theme from chapter to chapter yet never taking over entirely.”
“The sounds and music are forgettable but okay.”
“Music is worse.”
- stability6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The stability of the game is heavily criticized, with numerous users reporting severe bugs and glitches that render it unplayable, particularly around chapter 4. Many players experienced freezing issues and significant slowdowns, often requiring workarounds to achieve even minimal functionality. Overall, the game's stability issues significantly detract from the gameplay experience.
“Unplayable, caused by a lot of bugs and glitches; I've been stuck on chapter 2.”
“I was unable to finish this one because it was so buggy that I couldn't get past chapter 4.”
“The game was also buggy; snowfall halted the game to a near standstill. I had to use a DirectDraw wrapper to get the game running at full speed.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is criticized for poor performance, particularly on modern PCs and with AMD graphics cards, leading to crashes and bugs that detract from the experience. Some players have resorted to third-party fixes like dgvoodoo, but overall, the lack of developer support for these issues has resulted in frustration and loss of progress for many users.
“Dropped on the 4th chapter because I don't want to waste my time fixing optimization bugs that the developer doesn't care to fix.”
“Since performance is spotty for AMD video cards, and I even had some crashes with my NVIDIA-based laptop that caused me to lose a good deal of progress, I cannot recommend this game.”
“Best vibes; interesting, but strange story; amazing lokelani and bad performance on modern PC (fix with dgvoodoo).”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -150 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its excellent sound effects and music, which effectively enhance immersion and reflect the environment, such as conversations in a cave or while wearing a diving suit. The quality of voice acting further contributes to creating a compelling and engaging atmosphere.
“The sound effects are of excellent quality, reflecting whether our heroes are speaking in a large cave or wearing a diving suit, which builds up the atmosphere and immersion.”
“The sounds and music, combined with great voice acting, create the perfect atmosphere.”
“The sound effects are of excellent quality, reflecting whether our heroes are speaking in the large cave or while wearing a diving suit, which builds up the atmosphere and immersion.”
“The overall atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth and detail that would make the environment engaging.”
“Despite the potential for a rich setting, the atmosphere is often overshadowed by repetitive elements that fail to draw players in.”
- character development2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviewers have criticized the game's character development, noting a lack of depth and growth, with many pointing out that the character design and environments feel outdated. Despite some improvements in graphics and animations, the overall presentation remains inconsistent, detracting from the characters' evolution.
“I think other reviewers expressed it better regarding the poor character development.”
“Aside from a slight improvement in graphics and in-game animations, the game uses the same character design, 2D environments, and a combination of 3D modeled cutscenes alongside 2D dialogue sequences among characters.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and frustrating, often requiring a guide to alleviate the annoyance and make progress more manageable.
“All these flaws compound and exacerbate each other in a way that makes the overall experience a teeth-grindingly annoying slog, even with a guide in hand (the recommended way to play the game, for your sanity's sake).”
