Free Running

I got the PSP version of it a while ago to pay homage to Core Design, who worked on that port. I also got the PC version on CD too, but the latter didn't work presumably due to on disk DRM that Windows 10 no longer supports. Now that it's seen a rerelease on Steam, I snagged a copy faster than David Belle in Soap shoes. It plays like a cross between Mirror's Edge and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones meets Tony Hawk's Underground 2, having a large variety of moves, such as the chimney jump (tic tac), wall climb (vertical wallrun), classic wallrunning, ledge climb moves, Sonic Adventure 2 style soap grinding and even Shadow the Hedgehog style triangle jumps (horizontal tic tacs). Besides this, there's skateboard style jump and ground tricks you do for points and raising a flow metre, which is required for getting silver and gold medals on certain goals. There's not a lot of point to tricks other than style outside those medals, but it wouldn't be a game about [i]Free running[/i] specifically if it didn't have them, as parkour and Free running are only similar, but slightly different sports. (PK is get from A to B as fast as you can and damn any obstacles, FR is the same but you are encouraged to be a showoff about it) Sebastian Foucan, founder of Free Running (His friend David Belle founded Parkour) even appears in this game as your mentor ala Tony Hawk in the aforementioned THUG games, but in the Steam version, his lines have been re-recorded and his in-game name changed to "sixte" which is honestly baffling. I don't know if Sebastian actually voices himself in the game, but I assumed so on PSP as Tony Hawk did for his games. Minor gripes are that quite a few goals can be trial and error, such as the Ground Zero i.e. The Floor is Lava ones and the trick challenges. Freighter has the worst trick challenge as no matter how high I get my score in the space provided, it's never enough to beat that goal. The second mentor challenge in Home took several tries too and wasn't that fun at first. That's based on the PSP version however, I'm yet to get there in this version to see if Frieghter's horrible trick challenge been fixed, so hang in there. It's also a shame that there's not always a lot of slides in the levels I've seen so far nor soaping rails, with Docks being the best one for soaping as it has quite a few rails and they get rather long too, which is good because grinding in this game is the counterpart to ziplines in Tomb Raider 3: one of the best obstacles but underused. I also don't like how there's no ziplines or actual ladder climbing like Mirror's Edge or Tomb Raider, but it's only a small gripe, especially as ziplining down everyday cables is more an acceptable break from reality (i.e. fun but dangerous if not impossible IRL as proved by the Mythbusters) and this game is a bit more realistic than that. It's also a bit of a faff to have to select goals in a menu rather than access them in the levels themselves via NPCs, story mode style like THUG & THUG 2, with Freestyle remaining as it is. Story is not really important in a game like this unlike THUG, but still. On top of that, the early maps at least seem pretty small, with the Mill and Docks being the best besides the training gym. (except Freighter. That one can tongue a waffle iron) Locations include the slick training gym, your character's home on a London rooftop like Mercury in Mirror's Edge, a block of flats with some neat obstacles, a watermill and small suburb with the best Ground Zero in the game, the Docks with soap grinding chances on a big crane, the terrible freighter, and a skyscraper and plaza I've yet to reach even in the PSP original. It's a shame they didn't include playparks with lots of complex jungle gyms like Hot Lava did years later though, nor Olympic style gyms as regular levels after the initial training one. What I'd like to see in an update is mod support so we can get all kinds of new levels added to make it even more fun. Examples of such mods could include recreations of the Eliminator in gladiators, Ninja Warrior (Japan) courses, the aforementioned parks, forests and parkland treetops in the countryside to climb around in like a jaguar and Olympic parkour gyms. Also the sourcecode for fans to reverse engineer the cancelled Tomb Raider 10th Anniversary Edition that Core worked on after this as a fan game ala Black Mesa, but that's another topic entirely. To conclude, I highly recommend Freerunning as it's a parkour game set in the present day and done as an actual sports game. It's not a saturated market, as most other parkour platformers are action oriented with combat and stuff, but this is purely about the sport, plus it gives actual Free running with tricks and stuff a chance to shine. I really wish Core Design and Rebellion got to make more of these as well as TR10AE (off topic game! Naughty DR!)....ahem, but yes, I really do wish there were more Core's Free Running games, as this one is an underrated gem, which gave us a little look at the actual sporting aspects of parkour and free running and I'd love to see more of it, such as more professional traceur appearances in-game, more moves and locations to visit, and maybe even a "Free Running Underground" game with a story mode, probably about an aspiring traceur with the overall goal make his or her way to and win Ninja Warrior or the Olympics or something. Despite the faults I found with Free Running above, I don't really care because it's fun as hell anyway and even the trial and error aspects are downplayed in a lot of goals like the Mill's Ground Zero, which was actually fun to discover how to hit every target without touching the ground, because restarting is usually instant or at least very quick and it meant I got to use a kid's swingset in an unintended way over and over again, with some neat hopping over dorm windows like James Bond in the second Young Bond book. Besides that, what levels the game does have are all fun to explore. Even Freighter is fine if playing in freestyle only, and I highly look forward to seeing the late game levels like Skyscraper (or is it called High Rise? Sorry, I forgot) to see what they're like. Sorry if this review rabbits on a bit, but them's the break.

Perfect release! 4K support, runs like a charm and fun as I remember. Controls were always a pain but they'll grow on you.

If you like parkour or want to learn parkour tricks this game is just perfect is based only on parkour..al you have to do is run and do tricks..considering the year of release i consider it a very good game..very realistic ..you can choose a character you like and change his/her clothes..i consider worthy for the parkour fun you will have without harm yourself. have fun !!

why has no one told me they put this game on steam in 2019 as someone interested in this niche sport i don't have too many games to indulge in but at least this exists pc port isn't the greatest, supports high resolution but controls are pretty bad without a gamepad and it's capped at 30 FPS. i think it's based on the ps2 version which is what i played a lot back in the day. can feel a bit clunky for today's standards, but getting the hang of it and chaining smooth movement is satisfying and the game doesn't demand much from you to have fun

[i][b]*I originally played this on PS2 and PC before it was released on Steam for ~15 hours*[/b][/i] Free Running is a difficult game to recommend, but I still say I would recommend it, but with a one major caveat. I would not recommend this game if you don't have a controller, cause honestly, the PC controls are pretty abysmal and just not intuitive enough to enjoy the game with. A controller is just needed to enjoy this game. Putting that aside, Free Running is a pretty solid game for what it is, it's what you'd expect from a game called [i]Free Running[/i], the gameplay is just parkour, there's nothing else to it really, the story is non-existent and honestly there's no need for one, so no harm done there. The gameplay is pretty good, maybe learning the controls can take some time, but once you nail it, you'll be pulling tricks off like it's nothing, and it's actually pretty fun to pull off some of these tricks, of which there are a lot of them to learn. One part of this game that i've always loved is the soundtrack, the soundtrack in this game is amazing, it fits the game's aesthetic perfectly. There is not one track in this game that ruins it, hell when I was younger i'd just leave the game on the menu and just listen to the music cause why not. Graphically it's nothing special, it's a game that was originally developed for the PS2 and PSP way back in 2007 that just happened to get ported to PC and Wii a few years later. So don't expect anything amazing, honestly it's just ok for the time. A major issue with this game though, and one that makes it very easy for me to say to not buy it is the games level design issues, whilst some levels have an okay design, some of them are dreadful, especially some of the later levels, the worst offender easily being "Freighter" level. A lot of the time you'll be lost trying to get to where you need to get, and it can drive you insane, especially if you're trying to get a 100% Gold completion run of the game. Also, customisation in this game, whilst good in terms of variety, it's actually something that is tied to stats... like you'll actually be at a disadvantage with certain clothes. Finally, the camera in this game is also very annoying, it's a mix of fixed camera angles, and you controlling the camera, and due to this, the camera can sometimes move into a fix location whilst you're running in a certain direction and all of a sudden you're going the wrong way, you get used to this after a while, but getting used to it shouldn't be something you'd have to do, that's just bad camera work on behalf of the developers there. The Steam version has a few differences to the original PC version, some for better, some for worse. For instance the Steam version now supports 4K and has customisable controls (makes playing on K+M much more bearable), But also i'm pretty sure a few tracks have been removed (I could be mistaken), and sadly online multiplayer support has been removed due to servers being closed. Overall though, if you have nostalgia for this game, i'd say pick it up as it can pretty fun. But if you don't, then it's a bit of a harder recommendation, as it's a good game, but it's a game of it's time, and nowadays some issues such as the controls, or the annoying level design in some levels make it's really hard to recommend. But saying that it's also a pretty good timewaster if you're bored I guess. Video Review (Released in 2018) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPwCH7HpE1w [b][u]TL;DR -[/u][/b] [u]Pros:[/u] + Gameplay is fun once you learn the controls, and pulling off tricks is cool. + Steam re-release makes the game playable on modern machines with 4K support and customisable controls. + Amazing soundtrack. [u]Meh:[/u] ~ Graphically it's fine, it was originally a PS2/PSP release, so it's nothing brilliant, even for it's time (2007). [u]Cons:[/u] - K+M controls are terrible. - Some of the level design sucks, especially on the latter levels. - You'll be fighting against the camera a lot of the time.

GAINER!!!

It's worth playing this game because of the experience, but the reuploaded version of this game is kinda eh, there aren't any videos, and some songs are missing, same with outfits. The game no longer has the OG Traceurs like Sebastien Foucan instead they are named, voiced differently as well as they models look different. And one thing that's been bugging me the most is the steam badge names. Tracer? You mean Traceur?!

Let's make this one short. It playes and feels like the Wii version back in 2010. The graphics have recieved minor improvements, for example there is Full-HD and 4K support. Controlls are easy to learn and you can learn new parkour moves with almost every new buttonpress. Don't let the time recorded on my steam account fool you! I loved the Wii version of the game which i could only as long as i had the money to buy a new nunchuck every time i broke one when i got angry losing a race against a boss. Yes the game does have bosses. You have to race them in every location (if i remember correct) and you get new stuff for your flat in which you can costumise your charackter. The most fun i had was in the Test Dummy Mode. You can probably guess what i am going to talk about. It is a mode where you play as a test dummy in a location full of explosives and pickups that can increase your abilities and it's sooo much fun! I loved to play it in multiplayer against my sister or a friend! :D That friends are now gone and such is the multiplayer >:( Yes you can still have fun with it. But it becomes very boring very quick. I think that the biggest problem of the game is that it is not up to date. It looks like a Wii (even PSP games look better) and it does not have much variety in the content. Let me explain it a bit different, you have seen 80 percent of the content in the tutorial where you just learn how to move and how to do some SICK AF AW DV PE RE moves. The only thing you get from playing the game after the tutorial are new moves and more challanges (races, parkour crawl and a few more), but that's it. Sadly. The fun fades quick and it get's very repetetiv at some point. The game is cheap. Got it for around 2,49€ and without the sale... im not sure if i would've bought it (5 bucks arent much for a working person i know but still...) and it really isn't worth more. If you want to play the game, get it when it is on sale, watch a video of it or try a different version from somewhere else (Xbox and PS Emulators are in a state in which you can play games like this without any issues). -DaveStyle out

Free Running is one of the first games I made screenshots for on Steam, though as a non-steam game, back in 2011, 8 years later the game is finally available on Steam officially! Previously besides PSP, it was only available in Germany and maybe 2 more countries, as physical disks, just very limited access in general, I still managed to get it, had tons of fun with it, even played with my friend over LAN. This one feels like it's basically the same game, the only difference it may have over the original is probably higher resolutions, maybe refresh rate bumped to 120, though I might be misremembering and both were available then as well. Not that it needed any major improvements, the biggest ones would be mouse movement, and maybe a bit better detection when jumping in a direction of a pole. There aren't any beatiful graphical aspects, it's kinda gloomy and dreary looks of Britain, which in my opinion fits the setting very much, it's supposed to be some mundane locations were you are painting beatiful sights with your ridiculous moves. The colorful tracers behind your palms help with that. The animations are pretty good, though they're not all that smooth in terms of frames. All in all it's a very PSP/PS2 looking title, it definitely shows its age. Music is f**king great, I even uploaded some of the tracks on my old YT channel long long ago, along with Home (OFF OC) and Tiny & Big tracks, since they were not available anywhere then, before YT seemingly nuked it, as I can't find any traces of it. Despite that, there are fresh uploads of full soundtrack so everyone can give it a listen. Sound is very minimal, and honestly just plain bad, none of the sounds strike me with exceptional quality, music usually drowns most of them, besides checkpoint and style point sounds, which is not really that bad of a thing, it pumps you up and fuels the flow. Story is nothing, you just challenge some free runners and your mentor, with dialogues between you and them. Gameplay is where it's at, I was into parkouring in games for incredibly long, Mirror's Edge is one of my favorites, and this one was pleasant but wonky experience on PSP. However once I got on PC and tweaked the controls, it became a truly great thing to play. As opposed to ME, instead of just running fast, you want to style on those fools around, you constantly do tricks, wall run ones, vault ones, and just spinning jumps all over the ground, as if it's some street ballet. If someone is into that kind of stuff, more so than just skating stunts in the more popular game series, I encourage to give it a try, especially since it's not that expensive, and might even get some discounts. I would suggest change controls like this: Movement to WASD Sprint n roll - Shift Jump - Space Bumpers - left and right arrow Action - up arrow Turn around - down arrow Once you get the hang of it, there is no room for smacking incorrect buttons ny mistake, tricks should flow in like crazy. That said I'm still kinda sad there isn't maybe a sequel with proper camera movement, and good controls out of the box. Of course you can still plug in some controllers, I have some lying around so I could test it, but the remapping is enough, especially since I still had some muscle memory of it from those 10 years back when I played it first time around. EDIT: I just did gold medals on all challenges, basically finished the game 100% (I have no idea how to get last 4 clothes, I couldn't find any guide). I have to say that the input detection around poles and obstacles is infuriating in certain missions, though I briefly mention this issue in the review. There were many times later on where I begged for camera control, the fact that it's tied to movement is so imprecise and janky at times. A lot of the things are in a simple 2 directional layout, but when it's that one odd jump where the angle isn't straight, that's the pain right there. My only advice is to clench them cheeks and push through, the game overall is still great imo.

It's not free...