Runaway: A Road Adventure

 PC
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 19
  3. Negative: 1 out of 19
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  1. Game Over Online
    82
    The score reflects more the quality of the engine rather than the gameplay, but I liked the game well enough, and there is such a dearth of other adventures out there, that it’s a game worth owning if you enjoy the genre.
  2. Gamer's Pulse
    76
    Brings the adventure much needed color and style; but in the end it succumbs to the same faults as other games before it.
  3. Adventure Gamers
    90
    There's no way around it: Runaway is an instant classic, and an absolute must-own for all adventure game fans.
  5. PC Gameworld
    87
    Filled with crazy characters from zany drag queens to menacing mafia men, the story line is definitely fun and entertaining.
  6. GameSpot
    75
    It has pretty much everything you'd want out of a solid adventure experience, like diverse settings, a good storyline, wacky characters, and lots of complex puzzles.
  7. Computer Gaming World
    40
    The bimbo of graphic adventure games: both pretty and stupid... When the puzzle solutions aren't illogical, they're horrifically repetitive. [Dec 2003, p.129]
  8. Just Adventure
    91
    I don't know if it's a classic - only time can tell if Runaway deserves a place alongside the timeless - but this is the one of the most balanced and enjoyable adventures of these last years.
  9. GameZone
    90
    In a day and age where storyline is always key, Runaway: A Road Adventure delivers a golden gameplay experience.
  10. ActionTrip
    80
    The art work is expressive, full of life and it does wonders for the in-game atmosphere, and the music is just as good.
  11. Four Fat Chicks
    50
    I don't know why we are subjected to an endless barrage of these kinds of games being fobbed off on us in some kind of misguided effort to turn back the hands of time, gaming-wise.
  12. Play Magazine
    75
    The environments are lushly vivid, featuring top-notch hand-drawn art, and the puzzles can be maddeningly complex, so if you're looking for a solid adventure title, Runaway is the way to go. [Nov 2003, p.96]
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  13. Yahoo!
    60
    A great-looking game, and can be very relaxing to play, but the illogical puzzles and sparse, uninteresting plot leave it feeling rather flat.
  14. Game Informer
    73
    Great characters, decently designed puzzles, and nifty graphics. [Nov 2003, p.175]
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  15. Armchair Empire
    85
    Runaway is the best adventure game out right now, and my early nominee of the best adventure game this year.
  16. Quandary
    80
    Runaway is a light-hearted romp with some genuinely humorous moments. My biggest disappointment was that Gina had no real role other than to look appealing and need rescuing.
  17. Gamer's Hell
    85
    If you are a fan of adventure games and only want to buy one game this year, I would certainly suggest Runaway: A Road Adventure.
  18. eToychest
    80
    On the visual front, everything about Runaway: A Road Adventure screams style. Rather than going with pre-rendered backdrops and stiff CG animated characters, Runaway instead gives us beautifully detailed cartoon landscapes populated with very animated, and believable 2D and 3D characters.
  19. PC Gamer
    51
    Some of the puzzle solutions...are frustratingly hint-free and unintuitive. [Holiday 2003, p.109]
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  20. AceGamez
    80
    Appealing, entertaining and with high production values, Runaway: A Road Adventure is a successful game that you will not be able to resist.
    All this publication's reviews

Awards & Rankings

90
#90 Best PC Game of 2003
73
#73 Most Discussed PC Game of 2003

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 96 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 61 out of 96
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 96
  3. Negative: 8 out of 96
  1. gietek
    Nov 11, 2014
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU BUY!
    I don't understand why this game has so many maxed out reviews. The storyline is most average, characters annoying and shallow, gameplay is tedious and the puzzles illogical or plain stupid.
    I love point&click games and that's why I gave it 5/10 but compared to, let's say, Syberia, it looks like a stream of bat's piss next to Niagara waterfall.
    Most appaling thing that just kicks you in the face is the lack of properly developed characters. It's just too quick - you move from foreplay straight to orgasm without any intercourse. For example: Halfway through the game the main character (I can't even remember his name) thinks his companion Gina is dead. And there is a WTF cutscene where he recalls all his memories about her. The problem is, those memories are from the last few days and not much really happened, while the cutscene blows it out of proportions trying to make it look like a great true love that will last forever in a sort of Titanic movie style. He barely knew her, there wasn't anything between them - she was actually treating him like a lawn mower while flashing her huge 'bewbs' in front of his nerdy glasses. Why did he bother in the first place?
    Also the change from a book-lusting physicist to a coolest guy in the world is so one dimensional, so obvious, so unoriginal. The first symptom (obviously) of becoming a cool guy is loosing your glasses. That's right boys and girls, glasses make you look and act like a nerd.
    One strange thing - maybe it's just me but the game tries to be sexy. It's all about nice looking bodies, muscles, etc. It's nothing wrong but totally doesn't fit this kind of game. Or maybe just this game.
    The puzzles require you to pick up everything from the map (sometimes it is just one pixel to grab a thing and you can hardly see anything worth noticing) and combining a few things in the inventory. Sometimes you have to just guess what the author wanted to do (basketball and the dancing tranny), sometimes you have to cringe in your chair as you make bullets out of lipsticks...
    Eh...
    Buy this game if you must.    … Full Review »
  2. akarnokd
    Feb 21, 2014
    7
    It was interesting to play it so long time after release. It is a fun point-and-click game but with the recent "advancements" from the sceneIt was interesting to play it so long time after release. It is a fun point-and-click game but with the recent "advancements" from the scene such as hotspot-highlight. I missed a lot of objects due to the lack of this feature and had to revert to a walkthrough. It doesn't run in windowed mode nor could I change the resolution (my monitor doesn't like 1024x768).… Full Review »
  3. AndreusMaximus
    Jan 27, 2014
    2
    Most of the game time was spent in either (a) watching my toon take incredibly long walks across the screen or (b) watching incredibly longMost of the game time was spent in either (a) watching my toon take incredibly long walks across the screen or (b) watching incredibly long and uninteresting cut-scene sequences which could not be bypassed...

    This game motivated me to create an account and write a review. Which is saying something. I have never been so annoyed with a game. I don't think I laughed once, so if humor was intended it missed widely. The dialogue was about three times as much as necessary.    … Full Review »
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