Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle (PC) Review

Previously in Runaway: A Road Adventure: Brian Basco and Gina Timmins run… away with lots of dough in their pockets, and decide to rest their pretty faces on a beautiful tropical paradise. Gina's sexy body lies under the sun, and Brian, the ultimate wise guy, is narrating how they got there. Next game and scene: The lovebirds board a plane with an appearance as discouraging as their pilot's age. A few minutes later, Brian forces the love of his life to jump from the plane; she opens her parachute… and then gets shot with an anaesthetic dart, coming straight from the dense jungle underneath.

This means that Brian must - once again - find and save her from whoever hides on this mysterious island, but it also means that the player is now left alone with one of the worst video game protagonists ever. Brian, initially a dork with an annoying smarty-pants attitude, an irritating voice, and general lack of charisma (and humour), has transformed into a surfing dude, complete with a six-pack, a soul patch, and a mandatory sleeveless orange T-shirt. The thing is, he is actually even less likable and funny than his previous geeky self - especially in those instances where, instead of trying to save Gina, he is having "fun" with Lokelani, the naughty barwoman who collects men in her spare time.

Brian's behaviour aside, what else does this sandy world have to offer? Well, those that enjoyed the original might love Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle, because it takes everything from the first title and multiplies it by ten, which translates to even more quirky characters, and an even crazier plot. The problem? Nothing is well-implemented. The characters have a lot more to say than those in Road Adventure, yet most of it is boring, and not as funny as it's supposed to be. Furthermore, the storyline's venture into a far more absurd direction fails on many levels, and gives the feeling that it is all over the place.

The Dream of the Turtle is nothing more than another run-of-the-mill point-and-click adventure, featuring little-to-no innovations. Is that a bad thing? Well, once again it all boils down to the actual implementation. The first one, for instance, was simple, yet quite flawed. Why? First of all, most puzzles had solutions that were as wacky as the inhabitants of its world, and not in a good, Monkey Island-like way. Secondly, it required an irritating amount of pixel-hunting, and, finally, lots and lots of backtracking - a problem that plagued all Runway titles.

Unfortunately, the sequel has made things even worse, both in terms of illogical puzzle solutions, and hard to find hotspots. The worst thing, however, is once again the way it handles the actual process of problem-solving. Brian still doesn't use or take items unless he needs to, something that in practice means that if he wants, for example, to create a slingshot out of two items, he must first find something on a high place that he could hit it with it. What makes this even worse is the fact that now Brian must try something many times and fail before actually being able to do something else, making the whole thing feel more like a chore than an entertaining mind-bender.

The funny thing is that, although it tries to be "bigger, louder, better" from the original in every possible way, this actually fails and ends up feeling inferior, even though the first one was also far from a great title. A Road Adventure had a better overall structure, a stronger sense of purpose, more memorable scenes and characters, and better gameplay, despite having pretty much the same flaws. This sequel exists solely because its creators felt that they just had to create one, but forgot to make it good.