Speedrunner HD is one of those games where the title says pretty much everything you need to know about it. You play a character who has to run fast. There’s quite a bit more to being a good platformer than running fast however, and the team at Doubledutch Games made some interesting decisions when crafting their momentum filled platformer.

Gameplay

Speedrunner is about almost as pure a platformer as you can get. There are no “power-ups,” collectables are at a minimum, and the only tool you have besides jumping is a grappling hook. It’s all about running fast, avoiding pointy things and pit falls, hitting the occasional boost panel, and reaching the goal before time runs out.

The controls are somewhat interesting, in that they are very momentum based. Speedrunner starts out at a fair clip, and by running over straight ground or down hills you can pick up speed. You’ll need it if you want to clear some of the obstacles in your way, like rows of spikes on the ground, or boxes that slow you down to regular speed. Its also wise to utilize the panels and hallways of gusting air that speed you up as well as any available chance to use your grappling hook swing ability to gain some speed. Interestingly, jumping is probably what slows you down the most, as you lose momentum over time in the air. I won’t say the controls are bad, but I felt a little strange constantly losing my momentum from jumping, or from reaching a point in the stage where I had to wall jump, which ends up resetting your velocity as well.

The design of the story mode levels worked well enough. It starts you out simply and introduces new concepts to you over time. You’re also scored on each stage by how fast you complete it, and beating a certain time gives you a gold medal. Lastly, you’ll find one to four winged foot items in each stage. Collecting these unlocks bonus stages to play outside the story mode. I did find it a bit odd that the idea of going out of your way to collect an item seems to directly contradict the idea of speeding through stages. But the fact is, the levels are quick and with no life counter in sight, you can afford to spend a couple runs just getting the items. In general, I found the story mode levels to be very easy. I didn’t have to make more than a few attempts to learn the layout to be able to speed through and snag a gold medal time. By contrast, it wasn’t until I started to attempt the bonus unlock stages that I actually had fun with the game. Where the story levels seem to be for a more casual audience, the bonus stages are actually a challenge. They are laid out with very specific actions in mind. The Final Challenge in particular, I found to be the best balanced for difficulty and my own enjoyment.

Speedrunner also features a local 2-4 player arena mode where you must race each other to the end, winner take all. I wish I could say I played it, but alas, I have no friends. It sounds like fun to me though, especially watching the trailer where it appears you can use your grappling hook to steal momentum from other people.

Audio/Visual

I personally think Speedrunner is one of the better looking games of the IGSU. It features a very pop vector art, comic book style that fits the theme perfectly. The art direction is very helpful to the gameplay mechanics as well.While the backgrounds are colorful and

Artist's rendering of Speedrunner jump and slide maneuver.

lush scenes, the actual play layer consists entirely of black, white and red. Anything that’s black is stage geometry, anything white is something to interact with (namely the grapple points and wall climbable areas) and anything that’s red is an obstacle that will slow you down. It all comes together quite nicely.

In addition to the direction being rather nice, the character himself is also well animated with some quality work for all his available actions. My personal favorite, though, is using the slide action while jumping to make Speedrunner have the appearance of a carefree attitude smack in the midst of all that running. Just like Sluggo from Nancy.

The audio as well fits the game. You’ll find a menu theme, a game theme, a boss theme, and a victory theme. My only problem was the fact the in game theme was used on every single level, and after a while became a tad repetitive to listen to constantly. Perhaps different in game music for each zone, changing with the boss levels, would have been nice.

Summary

Going purely by the single player game, I can’t say I would recommend Speedrunner. For my money there are two types of platformers that stand out: those that attempt to seriously innovate on the genre with interesting mechanics like VVVVVV or Braid, and those with airtight controls that choose to be a platformer and be the best, like Super Meat Boy. Speedrunner is unfortunately neither. While the graphics are superbly drawn and executed, and the game has a nice, definite aesthetic, I feel that alone isn’t enough to make up for its shortcomings in gameplay and general lack of challenging content.

Speedrunner HD is available on the Xbox Live Indie Games marketplace for 240 Microsoft Winged Feety Points.