Back in the early 80’s when PC gaming was still finding it’s place in the world, there were a slew of amazingly fun and clever games that somehow never made the transition to consoles like the NES. Some of my favorite games from this era were Jumpman and the Ultimate Wizard.

Space Runner 2 is one of these types of games. Sure it’s far from being a fantastic game, but after playing it I knew I had to shine a light on it for several reasons (which I will get into momentarily).

The graphics in this game are very plain… nothing fancy at all… but they vector-line style art is almost as much a throwback to classic pc gaming as the gameplay itself is.

There’s no sound at all in this game which really hurts the overall experience… but you can always make your own ‘BOING’ and ‘BEEW‘ noises if you’re that hard up for effects.

The gameplay is where this game shows a spark that could have burst into a bright shining star of awesomeness and pudding cups.

Like the long buried pc games of yesteryear this game presents you with the entire level in one screen, and a bunch of tiny hazards and moving…things… that move around hoping to kill your tiny little space man.

The object of most of these types of games is simple item collection, which unlocks an exit. Sound familiar? A lot of more modern games like Sling and Bumper Craft have applied this. Space Runner, however, keeps it real by presenting this with classic platformer gameplay.

The actual game engine isn’t as polished as the classic games were. The collision and motion are very basic… almost half-assed, but they aren’t so bad that they make the game unplayable.

Like all of these types of games, the real challenge and variety comes in the level design. These are simple games, so the levels need to be well constructed to be any fun, and Space Runner 2 has some pretty well laid-out levels.

So what if it’s not the best game, or made with as much skill as what we’ve come to expect, IT’S FRIKKEN FUN!

I’m just glad SOMEBODY is showing some love for a genre that is in need of a serious resurrection. Oh how I long for a great game that gives me the action of a platformer, and the casual playability of a puzzle game. Oh how I long for pudding cups….

[ Play Space Runner 2 ]