Running Shadow Review
I have never been much of a fan of endless runners - my first entry into the genre was Subway Surfers. It didn’t click with me as it wasn’t very interesting: run along the subway forever. So it was with trepidation I approached Running Shadow, which was by all accounts a very similar thing.
Sure the graphics were a lot more detailed and suited the darker tone of the game over Subway Surfers. There was a bigger plot than ‘escape the security guy’, but on first glance it wasn’t going to set my world alight.
You play as a guy who steals a Gauntlet (sometimes with a capital, sometimes without) from the bad guys, then are inducted into the Fraternity. The Fraternity are the titular Shadow, and your aim is to run through levels to collect things. Whether it be coins or items, each level has an objective and an exit.
As you run through the levels, you must avoid obstacles, traps and enemies - who can be killed by either jumping or sliding at them. Which you do is dictated by what they do; jumpers need sliding at and non-jumpers need jumping upon. These actions as well as left and right to turn corners are all done by swiping the screen. If something hits or collides with you, you lose health by varying amounts, and losing it all will result in death. Unsurprisingly.
Dying, or starting a level, requires ten energy to go on running - more can be obtained by levelling up or purchasing with gems (premium currency). Gems are used for buying new equipment, which increases your max health or allows special moves. They are also used to speed up the timer that prevents you from retrying levels for ten minutes after your last attempt. You can obtain some while playing, but the main way is through IAP.
The Fraternity are the good guys, although they consist of murderers, thieves and women who can’t dress for cold weather. You are recruited by Quick Silver, who then presents you to her boss White Eagle.
After being told about the bad guys at least three times by Quick Silver, White Eagle gives us my biggest gripe with this game. He says “So that’s what the mysterious artifact belonging to the acolytes of the Old Ones looks like. I’ve never seen it - your luck and skill are to be envied. Stealing from the Death Denier adepts, as they call themselves, is nearly impossible. For that alone, I’d accept you into the Fraternity without delay.”
That is a lot of text to ram into a single word balloon. And it never gets better. Better written or more spaced out, it’s all blocks of exposition. There’s a guy who doesn’t like you, a guy who loves you and more breasts on show than the last time I had AdBlock disabled.
The gameplay is easy and there are some differences to the genre, sure, but the writing and the incredibly long loading times (about 60 seconds from tapping to being able to select a level) take their toll. Running through levels isn’t always straightforward, literally whilst indoors: you have to swipe to turn corners or jump over inexplicable lava pits, for instance. In some levels you have to sneak up behind a specific person and murder them stealthily, and there is a player vs player mode. This has just been implemented and wasn’t fully functional during this review.
However, that isn’t really enough to make a difference. The game is more fun to play than Subway Surfers, but between levels it’s a chore of loads of poorly written text and long loading times. I like a story, but it has to be a good story, something not achieved by Gigl.
Running Shadow (Reviewed on Android)
The game is average, with an even mix of positives and negatives.
The game is fun to play, but between levels it’s a chore of poorly written text and long loading times. I like a story, but it has to be a good story, something not achieved by Gigl.
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