Breakout your puka shells and flip flops because CDV is taking you on a little adventure. Runaway: Dream of the Turtle departs from the company’s real-time strategy fare with a fresh take on the adventure genre. Packed with adult themes, colorful visuals, and classic adventure gameplay, Runaway: Dream of the Turtle should be a worthy sequel to the original released way back in 2001. Having played a near-final version of the game, we’re eager to see some tuning to the game’s difficulty and dialogue before it hits stores in March.
Runaway: Dream of the Turtle directly follows after the events of the original game with Brian Basco and Gina Timmins taking a well deserved Hawaiian vacation. On the morning of their first day in Hawaii, the couple hops out of bed for a trip to nearby Mala Island. When the elderly pilot navigating the plane passes out, Gina jumps out of the airplane with the only parachute and Brian toughs it out by crashing with the plane. Brian avoids serious injury, but he still has to deal with the issue of being separated from Gina. In the search for his girlfriend, Brian uncovers a secret military installation running an excavation effort into a hidden temple. In order to save Gina and return home, Brian will have to figure out the motives behind the operation and halt it.
Playing as Brian, you’ll work your way to saving Gina by observing your surroundings, toying with items, and speaking to a myriad of characters. Like most adventure games, Runaway: Dream of the Turtle consists of puzzles, which are solved by collecting objects and using them to interact with environments in the game. For example, a puzzle in the middle of the game requires Brian to figure out a password. Getting the password is as simple as asking someone for it; unfortunately, that person just happens to have eaten a few toxic berries and is sick. Luckily, raw salmon in the form of sushi will cure his ailment. Of course, you then must find the necessary tools to prepare the sushi and then someone qualified to make it. The game is filled with complex puzzles like this one, which can be quite difficult.
Supposedly the game features over a hundred different locations, although it seems more reasonable to assume that this refers to the number of static gameplay screens. There will be a nice mix of locales from the tropical jungle setting of Mala Island to the frozen tundra of Alaska. You can expect some familiar faces to populate these locations, such as Brian’s millionaire pal Sushi, as well as new characters in the ensemble of non-player characters. Runaway: Dream of the Turtle will differentiate itself from other adventure games with its wacky cast and loads of dialogue. Much of the dialogue is pretty humorous, but there are occasions when comments seem awkward or out of place. Adding to that, some work needs to be done to synchronize the voice work with the visuals.
Needing no work is the presentation, which continues the bright cel-shaded style of the original game. Boasting a maximum resolution of 1280x1024—unheard of for an adventure game—Runaway: Dream of the Turtle could become one of the best-looking titles in the genre. Even if you might have trouble working through some of the difficult puzzles, at least you’ll have something pretty to look at while you’re stumped. Set for release in March, Runaway: Dream of the Turtle may not be pretty enough to keep you inside during spring break, but it should end up being a fun little escapade.
