RunDaLine - featuring the most athletic skunk on earth Review
PROS
- Unique take on the running genre.
- It's fun to see the landscape morph with your finger.
CONS
- Single small looping track of music wears out its welcome quickly.
- Game takes too long to get challenging.
VERDICT
A unique take on the runner genre that could have used a little more polish.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
Why would a skunk need to run away from anything? If anything, cartoons have taught us that everyone runs away from skunks, especially cats who walk under wet paint. Ah well, in Rundaline, you control the running skunk Pancho. He needs to make it to the finish line, collecting all the coins he can, while avoiding all the obstacles that will stop him in his tracks.
Now in most runners you tap the screen to jump. Rundaline is a little different. In this game, you control the terrain itself. There's a coin high in the air or below the surface? Drag your finger up or down and the ground moves there along with Pancho. Each level has a coin requirement to progress. This can be easily obtained through the use of clouds that double your coin score. You have to jump through these clouds which is done by flicking the ground up high and then taking it out from under Pancho's feet, which will cause him to leap up. As the levels progress, the obstacles come more frequently, faster, and with nastier consequences. The problem lays in that it takes forever for any challenge to present itself, and by the time it does, you've pretty much seen all the game has to offer, that and the in game tutorials seem to hinder the flow of play more than they help inform the player on what is happening.
Presentation wise, the visuals are pretty standard, but at least everything is easily identifiable. The music track is quite catchy but it's such a short loop, that it wears out its welcome all too soon. There are fifty levels to run through. This is plenty of content, but it is odd that such a unique take on the running genre went with a level system instead of the endless mode most runners have as standard.
Rundaline is a new take on the running genre executed well. Moving the terrain to avoid obstacles and watching the ground morph is a lot of fun. If more care was taken with the presentation and the difficulty curve, this could have been a fantastic title.