Infinity Runner Reviews
Infinity Runner manages to be mediocre in every sense of the word.
Starts off at a fundamental disadvantage merely because of its formula, but could still have maybe succeeded at being a fun little arcade title were it not for the shabby presentation, laughable storytelling and numerous poor design decisions.
An infinite runner game with a slightly different take on the genre and unlike most, a storyline. Not a mould breaker, but this budget title is different enough to make it worth checking out.
I struggle to see many people wanting to sit down to play a runner game, however. Yes, it's had far more effort that's been put into its presentation than any other example of the genre I can think of, however by its very nature this is a very limited genre, and Infinity Runner just doesn't do enough to prove its merits beyond an iPhone time waster.
Depending on your point of view, Infinity Runner could be a decent and cheap enough proposition for a quiet Sunday afternoon. Just don't expect it to last you into Sunday evening.
If you are a fan of runner titles or a trophy hunter Infinity Runner will not disappoint but otherwise you will not regret giving Infinity Runner a miss.
It's hard to get ten functioning buttons along with a pointing device emulated on a touchscreen and having it work seamlessly, while still being able to discern what's going on on a screen that's only a few inches big, and so the reign of limited interaction and low complexity games lives on.
The reason behind this score is simply because of the fake difficulty that makes Infinity Runner enter almost unplayable territory. This is sad since, at its core, it could have been on the opposite side of the spectrum and become a good, if not great, title that could have helped improve the genre.
Infinity Runner sadly joins the ranks of the heaps of titles out there which had an immense potential with a great concept and great atmosphere. It starts off well but is marred by technical problems. In addition to this, the repetitiveness of the gameplay and environmental elements take away from the overall feeling of excitement over time, which the title would have provided otherwise.
The bigger issues, which you will find in the game's presentation, can be less excused. Framerate dips and out of sync audio provide more problems than the game can chew. At the end of the day, I liked Infinity Runner enough to play through it, but that is about it.
All of the underlying wrongness of Infinity Runner can probably be traced back to Wales Interactive overstretching itself. The game was almost definitely envisioned as something more open and complete, until a lack of money or time forced the developer to squeeze its ideas into the shell of an endless runner. The rigidity of the genre ruins almost every promising aspect of the game - it defangs the antagonist, dilutes the plot to the point of irrelevance, and - most damning of all - makes the fact that the protagonist is a werewolf almost inconsequential.
Unless torturing your reflexive skills and muscle memory is a turn-on then Infinity Runner may be better left on the Steam shelf until it re-emerges onto a portable device. Either that or just run into a field of hungry cows and run like you've never run before - that's a real first-person endless runner experience.
Infinity Runner has a fun, unique concept that isn't utilized to the fullest. Dodging obstacles would be more rewarding if the difficulty ramped up alongside story mode.
Positively purgatorial
Infinity Runner is far from the worst way to pass the time, but it won't occupy you for long as it takes a mere couple of hours to complete. An arcade mode is designed to add some content, but in all honesty, the gameplay isn't strong enough that you'll want to delve into it. You won't even want to read the lore which is unlocked by obtaining collectables, again thanks to the poor grammar and asinine logic plaguing it. Infinity Runner has some good concepts and plays okay enough that you won't hate it, but it simply doesn't cohere sufficiently to enamour you of it either.
As endless runners go, Infinity Runner is a fine example, but greatly lacks polish and finesse. Repeated use of assets also leads to deja vu, and some parts of the game are just plain broken. The story too is deeply unsatisfying with its eye-rolling conclusion. But then for the price, you can't really go too far wrong. If nothing else, Infinity Runner offers a few hours of silly sci-fi entertainment. With space werewolves.
Infinity Runner boasts an attractive premise - a werewolf must escape a space station - but its thinly sliced narrative doesn't contain any satisfactory hooks and its moments of player agency rarely reach any sort of plateau. Infinity Runner's beautiful premise isn't an invitation to something greater; it's an excuse for an otherwise incidental experience.
There's the basis here for a great little game which differentiates itself from the norm, but at nearly every turn it deviates from this path and into a never ending run of mediocrity.
So Infinity Runner isn't without its issues. The graphics and presentation feel like you're playing a mobile game, yet this is a PC port. Multiplayer has been removed. Some sections don't make it clear what you're supposed to do. The story is mediocre. Yet, the basic premise of the game remains fun. Infinity Runner doesn't really do much that you haven't seen before, but indeed it's the first game of its kind on the PS4. But it kind of feels like the ship has long since sailed for any new endless runner game to make any sort of traction against the likes of Temple Run 2. At a price of $6.99/€6.99/£4.99, however, this is worth the cash if you're a major fan of the genre, because it gets the core of the gameplay correct.
Overall, Infinity Runner isn't a bad game, and it can certainly be an enjoyable experience especially if you are a fan of the genre. Those who aren't too big on the genre may be able to find some enjoyment in the title as well, as the sci-fi setting keeps things interesting. The gameplay does get repetitive and hinders the game a bit, but it's a solid, if not unsatisfying, infinite running game.