Runbow Review

Runbow is one of the most highly anticipated Wii indie games in quite some time. The developer is a new one and the game it brings has the promise to be one of the best party games around. It has been compared to being the indie version of Smash Bros, while keeping the quality of the game, Nintendo fan site reviews have been stellar, but is the moderate amount of hype worth it? Is the fanfare and interest warranted?

Let me spoil this review right now, yes it is. This game is a great achievement for a new developer to be bringing out. It is totally unique in style, it has a great identity and has cemented it’s place in the indie world almost instantly as one of the best indie games on Wii U. It’s colourful, cheerful, humorous it is a ray of light that shines nicely out on its own!

It plays like any 2D platformer you have tried before; you jump around on platformers moving across the screen trying to get to a goal. It is more than that when you add more players to the affair; it becomes a race, in which you are battling with others to get to the goal first. This is the basics of the multiplayer, it can be local or online, the special thing about it is, it works with up to nine people on the same console in the same room (as long as you have the controllers!) It is a blast in multiplayer mode. You have ten races across different stages and by the end of all the races you count up the wins and get the overall winner. Let me get this straight, this is a multiplayer innovation up there with Smash Bros, Worms and even Bomberman! Picture a room full, people racing against each other fighting each other and the madness begins! This is what gaming is all about, laughs, messing with your friends and just having fun!

Put it this way, if you fall off, the screen, if you fall behind too much you die and the race lasts as long as people are running until someone wins. If everyone dies the game even taunts you all, making a trolly sarcastic comment beside a picture of a scull, like it’s telling everyone it has won! Also if you manage to get a ninth player, they control the game pad, using the screen to change the colour of the back ground. The significance of this is that some platforms you are using are certain colours, say one is a purple platform, if the background colour goes purple that no long exists, if a player is standing on it, they fall to their death, very trolly again! You can envision the laughs this sort of thing can generate, it makes me wish I was young again having more parties and staying up all night with this, I can see this one being an all nighter, it takes a long for it to get old.

The online is just as good, but you are by yourself and everyone is a stranger you are racing against. This is fine but not as good as having people in with you that’s for sure. From there the games I played could be a bit laggy from time to time, not game breakingly so though! The solo game is good as well, it becomes a lesser experience of course, there is a storyline and lots of challenges, even stuff for the completionists out there.

As mentioned it is a very colourful affair, the graphics are simple and stylised and the music is loud and brash too! This game wants you to have a good time and it is very possible for that to happen. I would recommend this as a great multiplayer game but a lesser solo experience, the developer has stated it is working on an update to make the online playing better, which will help lots.

Overall I cannot fault this game for much and I admit it deserves the hype it is getting! If you are a Wii U indie fan then I would say this is one to get right now, there is too much fun to be had with it! This gets a high recommendation and an instant buy from me!

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo Wii U code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.