Batman Runner

Music & Sounds effects

The first impression was positive: interesting music background and crisp graphics. However, soon it becomes clear that the music sequence mercilessly repeats itself every 20 seconds, so the majority of players would probably look for mute button very soon. Luckily, when the game starts, the music theme significantly fades into the background putting solid sound effects in the foreground. Those effects help a lot in creating retro arcade gaming atmosphere.

About the gameplay

The game itself does not bring anything new. Side scrollers are games where the main characters runs from left to the right, jumps and collects points. This kind of games are quite common in the flash gaming world. Truthfully, it is quite amusing to watch Batman sprint in full speed with his head tilted back. One neat feature we must mention is a jump within a jump, i.e. so-called 'double jump', which player might find quite useful. It seems that double jumps are limited somehow and the game won't allow you to use it all the time or at least not too frequently.

Obstacles & vehiecles

As far as the obstacles are concerned, there could be more of those. Batman shouldn't step on a small red thing which is moving left and right and looks like a crab. If he does it's game over. The same goes if he jumps/falls in between the wagons. From time to time above Batman's head will appear a skateboard, bicycle or motorcycle. Not only that Batman can move faster on those vehicles but can also run those pesky crabs straight over and make some additional points. Overall, the idea that Batman changes vehicles mid game is an excellent one..

Problems & downsides

We have noticed that when Batman runs into a cluster of stars which bring points, the game freezes for a second. When there is a number of elements on the screen the game becomes a bit laggy. The decision on which vehicle Batman will use is not entirely in the hands of the gamer. It is more the question of chance, on which vehicle will Batman run into. If he runs into a bicycle he will ride a bicycle. If it is a rocket launcher he will drive it not until the fuel runs out but until he runs into the next vehicle, which is totally beyond gamer control. We see that as an enormous downside..

The biggest problem the game has is that the difficulty is going up only as the scroll of the screen speeds up. The game itself doesn't change at all, there are no new levels, no new obstacles, nothing like that. It only speeds up to the point when it starts to become uncomfortable to look at the screen. Despite the great graphics, this speed feature makes me doubt that gamer will be sitting long time in front of the screen looking at the train which is speeding up to the unbelievable speeds and making them dizzy in the process.