Speedrunners Review

<p>Speed-running has become a largely popular past-time in recent years&period; With Awesome Games Done Quick and other speed-running events happening every year&comma; hundreds of thousands of people find themselves enthralled by the prospect of someone beating a game faster than anyone else&period; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;doubledutchgames&period;com&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">DoubleDutch Games<&sol;a> has managed to capture this magic in a game called <em>SpeedRunners<&sol;em>&comma; where superheroes compete with one another over who can get to the scene of a crime the fastest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;105954" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-105954" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-105954" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;05&sol;03175818&sol;Speedrunners-Gameplay&period;png" alt&equals;"&lpar;Speedrunners&comma; tinyBuild&rpar;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"562" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-105954" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Speedrunners&comma;<&sol;em> tinyBuild&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Before I dive too deep into the review&comma; I would like to point out something that I found particularly interesting&colon; while I did not get involved in the multiplayer and co-op modes of <em>Speedrunners<&sol;em>&comma; I was poking through the options menu and discovered that <em>Speedrunners<&sol;em> has Twitch Integration for Twitch&period;TV live-streamers&period; Streamers can host matches that they aren’t participating in &lpar;which is perfect for commentating&rpar; as well as allowing viewers to bet on who will win a multiplayer match in real-time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Speedrunners<&sol;em> is a game that is reminiscent of a 2D side-scrolling Mario Kart mixed with platforming elements&period; Each player &lpar;or the player and their AI counterparts&rpar; is put in the role of a superhero&comma; who can jump&comma; grapple onto ceilings&comma; and slide under gaps&period; The competitors also have access to power-ups such as crates &lpar;which slow players down like a banana peel in <em>Mario Kart<&sol;em>&rpar; and rockets&comma; which can do damage to the competitor they hit causing them to fall behind in the race&period; The object of most matches is to be the last one standing&comma; by outrunning the other players and causing them to go past the boundaries of the screen &lpar;in a sort of <em>Super Smash Bros<&sol;em>&period; Style knockout&period;&rpar; Matches can consist of multiple rounds like in other racing games&comma; and the person who wins the most rounds wins the overall match&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;105952" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-105952" style&equals;"width&colon; 1298px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-105952" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;05&sol;03175851&sol;Speedrunners-Level-Editor&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Speedrunners&comma; tinyBuild&rpar;" width&equals;"1298" height&equals;"736" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-105952" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Speedrunners&comma; tinyBuild&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Speedrunners<&sol;em> also has Steam Workshop support and a full level editor so players can not only create levels to use with friends&comma; but also play with other user-created levels in order to race in new scenery for a bigger challenge&period; In addition to the Level Editor&comma; there is also a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Trails” editor&comma; which allows you to create trails for your heroes that will flow behind them when they reach a certain speed&period; These options provide customization for you and your friends so that the chaotic insanity can be enjoyed with endless levels and content&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Aside from the Multiplayer elements and the Workshop support&comma; <em>Speedrunners <&sol;em>has a full Single Player campaign with difficulties ranging from Easy to Unfair &lpar;which surpasses even hard mode&period;&rpar; In the Story mode&comma; the player takes on the role of SpeedRunner&comma; who aims to become the fastest superhero&comma; competing against other heroes and outrunning the most perilous of dangers&period; The more races and player wins&comma; the higher their experience and progression system will grow&comma; leading the player to unlock new weapons such as land-mines&comma; new characters&comma; and other levels&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;105953" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-105953" style&equals;"width&colon; 1298px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-105953" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;05&sol;03175835&sol;Speedrunners-Story-Mode&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Speedrunners&comma; tinyBuild&rpar;" width&equals;"1298" height&equals;"736" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-105953" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Speedrunners<&sol;em>&comma; tinyBuild&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The interesting part about the weapons in <em>Speedrunners<&sol;em>&comma; is that many of them have interactions with one another&period; For example&comma; if a homing missile is following you and you have a crate you can drop&semi; doing so will cause the missile to hit the crate&comma; preventing you from being slowed&period; The Story Campaign becomes more difficult and sophisticated as you go along&comma; adding things such as spikes to impede the player’s progress&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While <em>Speedrunners<&sol;em> might seem simple enough at first&comma; it quickly can become complex&comma; and that isn’t even bringing the cutthroat nature of real players into the mix&period; Playing through the single player campaign would likely be a good start for new players&comma; rather than tossing them into the deep end of a multiplayer match&period; That being said&comma; I think that <em>Speedrunners<&sol;em> is a game better suited for a game night with friends than a solo playthrough&comma; as part of the fun is letting your friends think they are winning only to use your speed boost or weapon at just the right time to turn the tables&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The controls for <em>Speedrunners<&sol;em> are tight and responsive&comma; and the only problem that I really have with <em>Speedrunners<&sol;em> &lpar;aside from the repetitive music&rpar; is that in order to really succeed in the game you would have to learn the levels backwards and forwards&period; Even a beginner player can defeat an expert one if the expert player doesn’t know the lay of the land&period; I find that <em>Speedrunners<&sol;em> is a bit unbalanced in that way&comma; but I also think that it would be a fun and addictive party game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They say that <em>Mario Kart<&sol;em> can ruin friendships&comma; but honestly I think <em>Speedrunners<&sol;em> might gain the title of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Most Frustrating Party Game” if given the opportunity&period; While it isn’t too great as solo game&comma; it seems like it would be a fantastic multiplayer adventure for friends and family&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong><em>A PC Code for Speedrunners was provided by tinyBuild for the purpose of this Review<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;