I don’t get why this game is so popular. Or, that is what I want to say. I’m still on the fence on whether I like it or not. It’s fun, but it’s also frustrating. It’s easily the simplest yet most difficult game I have had to play so far.

I haven’t played any of the other BIT.TRIP games, but from the little I’ve read about this particular game, they all seem to be very difficult with RUNNER being the most difficult. The environment is largely 2D. In keeping with it’s “BIT” name, the graphics are purposely pixelated yet have a modern feel. The props and background I believe are made of voxels, while the character controlled is a flat collection of black squares. The only issue I have with the bit/pixel motif is its use in the font. The font is a bit difficult to read, being made up of squares, especially if you need to look at it for a split second. This makes reading the dialogue boxes in the beginning stages that instruct you on what keys to press to perform certain maneuvers (jump, kick, spring) a bit complicated until you get used to it. Pixel-based fonts are best for tiny sizes, not the large sizes as used in the game.

The gameplay is pretty much on-rails. The character is constantly moving forward and it is up to you to jump, kick, slide under, or spring above obstacles. It’s all very simple controls, yet the fast pacing requires a combination of memory and fast twitch-response. As soon as you fail to clear an obstacle, you’re shuttled back to the very beginning of the map to try again. The downtime for this transition is less than a second, which is nice. It also makes for the just-one-more-try symptom that can turn a quick round of gaming into a much longer session than expected.

Complimenting the gameplay is the audio track, which starts off as energetic bit-music. As you pick up “power ups” the audio becomes more and more sophisticated until it sounds almost symphonic-like. This also applies to the sound effects when you pick up a gold bar (for extra points) and successfully clear an obstacle. The sound effects become an audial form of positive feedback and encouragement to keep going because it is pleasant to hear. At least, I didn’t find it irritating like it was taunting me because I sucked so much.

I was actually ready to call it quits around 1.4, that’s the 4th map in the game because I was unable to get the timing down for the staircase. Once I got past that, though, it was fairly clear sailing until 1.11 where I am now. I’m not expecting to finish this game and I don’t want to force myself to finish. I have actually made myself close the window before I got too frustrated and riled up.

That said, I did have fun playing when I wasn’t utterly failing. I accept that it’s a difficult game. It requires good reflexes and a decent memory to know what to expect next. Each attempt you run a little farther makes that goal of finishing the map closer, but you don’t always get farther in each attempt. Sometimes you keep failing on a simple jump. Sometimes you keep failing on different things. But when you finally finish that level, unless you’re a bit crazy, you don’t really want to play it again. That’s how I feel, anyway.

If I would recommend this to others, I would say only to the serious gamer. It’s a bit too frustrating for the casual gamer given how much time has to be invested to learn the maps for successful completion. Still, it is nice to see challenging games still being made as opposed to the