Ah, S.T.U.N. Runner. You remember. The big, red,
motorcycle-looking thing that graced every arcade and every Showbiz
Pizza in the US. It was a good game in the arcades...it was a fast,
flashy racer. And games only lasted a few minutes. The prototypical
arcade game. The Lynx is a *perfect* port, and that's the problem.
What works in the arcade, doesn't work in a personal, portable
system. If we're paying twenty bucks for a game, we want depth. We
want replayability. *Sigh* S.T.U.N. Runner has neither. It's the
supermodel without a personality. It's all flash and no substance.
GRAPHICS: Unbelievable. It's arcade perfect, if you can
believe that. There's little to no difference between what you'd see
in the arcade, and what shows up on the Lynx. The scaling and
zooming are amazing. Everything is painted in vibrant colors that
jump out of the screen. *****
SOUND: Again, arcade perfect. Right down to the
announcer's "Welcome, S.T.U.N. Runner...". There's no
background music, but there wasn't any in the arcade either. A good
thing too...since the sound effect fly fast and furious. Background
music would have only been clutter. ****1/2
CONTROL: Simple. The acceleration of your "pod"
is computer controlled. So all you have to worry about is steering
left or right, and shoot down obstacles with your lasers. ****
OPTIONS: None. Just like the arcade. Yay. *
REPLAY: Again, just like the arcade...there is *none*.
There's absolutely no reason to play this game once you've seen the
first four or five levels (which takes about three minutes). It's an
arcade game to the bitter end. *
S.T.U.N. Runner is the greatest game you've ever played. For the
first five minutes. It was designed for the arcades, you play once
or twice, it blows you away, and then you move on. But on the Lynx
there's nowhere to go. What they should have done was take the
fabulous arcade port they had, and loaded it with options,
power-ups, and for god-sakes a STORY. As it stands S.T.U.N. Runner
is much a do about nothing.
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