[h1]Played On: [b]HTC Vive[/b][/h1]
Runaway VR is an arcade themed parkour game where the player must navigate through a randomly generated world, collect coins, and avoid dangerous obstacles as well as pitfalls. The collected coins can be used to purchase two additional levels, or a variety of upgrades that include restarting from a certain distance, increasing the value of the coins, adding time to invulnerability pick-ups, and more. Of course, the price of the upgrade goes up after every purchase, making coin collecting turn into a tedious grind after a while.
While cartoony, the three environments are pleasing to the eye. Even though the levels are generated at random, there is only a handful of premade content and it becomes apparent that it's broken into small chunks and then stitched together by the game engine. Once you've hit around the 250 meter mark, you instantly transition into the next level as well, which could be more jungle, or the desert or castle. The further you run, the faster the parkour becomes, and it can be quite difficult to keep up until you get really good.
For starters, the "standing" requirement should be completely disregarded. There is zero chance that anyone with a standing-only virtual reality set up will be able to play Runaway VR. For some reason, the game requires a lot of movement from side to side, and my 2mx2m space definitely doesn't feel big enough. This is mostly due to the lack of fine tuning in movement registration, as I could move a good 3 feet on either side and still fall through a curve in the map because the in-game character didn't move an inch. There also seems to be something wrong in registering the jumping that has to be done to avoid pitfalls and some obstacles, it's nearly a 50/50 chance of actually getting through it.
Another big problem here is the upgrade that allows you to continue from X distance; the more you upgrade it, the bigger the distance you're allowed to continue from. For example, if you run 400 meters, and you fail at 600, you have the option of starting over again once from the 400 meter mark instead of 0. Every single time I tried this option, the game put me in some weird, random, non-related location that walked me directly off a cliff. This went for every environment as well. It's extremely frustrating to have this happen, and makes one of the better upgrades completely useless.
After investigating the forums and the developer's Facebook page, it looks like Runaway VR was plunked onto Steam and then quite soon afterward it was completely forgotten about. There have been no updates, no forum responses, and no Facebook posts since late August, 2017; less than a month after the launch of Runaway VR. The developer is obviously active, as I received a key for the game in December 2017, and they've also launched another virtual reality game.
It just looks like Runaway VR was created for commercial licensing cash-grab purposes, and the developer has foregone fine tuning the game for personal users. After all, if you're playing in a VR lounge, you have no one to complain about mechanics to, and the owners probably really don't care so long as you paid your $75 entry fee. The game itself is just okay, and while it has potential, addictive properties, and fun gameplay, it's completely ruined by a lack of refinement and the fact that you need 8 feet on either side to move. It's also not worth $9.99 CAD, but perhaps half of that figure. Beware any future games from Panoramik Inc, they seem to like to drop dev support quickly... unless it involves microtransactions (Forge of the Gods).
[h1]Rating: [b]1.5/5.0[/b] - It's Bad.[/h1]
The VR Network [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33182845-The-VR-Network/]Curator[/url] | [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/thevrnetwork]Group[/url] Click for More
[b]The developer provided a free copy of this game for review, through The VR Network's Curation page.[/b]
