Runner3 Reviews
Runner 3 is a fun, challenging experience with a weird, charming aesthetic brought down by out-of-date graphics.
A deeply disappointing sequel that devolves from a perfectly judged mix of rhythm action and platforming to an unfairly difficult slog that's not nearly as clever as it thinks it is.
Runner 3 is the most ambitious in the series yet--and also the toughest.
Despite creating two other Runners, Choice Provisions has shown that they're not out of ideas quite yet. Bring on Runner4.
My early impressions of Runner3 were that the original purity of gameplay had been sacrificed in the push for more sophisticated visuals and quirkiness. After a few deaths brought about by perspective transitions, I was starting to feel an unwelcome sense of disappointment. Fortunately, once I got used to these new additions and the classic flow of Runner's gameplay loop got its hooks in me, this initial reticence was forgotten. At its best, Runner3 is the epitome of pure twitch gaming and, as such, is a fantastic addition to the series.
The true heart of Runner3 once again comes down to how well its gameplay suits rhythm game and platforming fans with a knack for perfecting their craft. Getting a Perfect or a Perfect+ on a level involves learning the patterns for its various obstacles — and this is particularly true for the game's three different knight variants — but players truly driven toward perfect runs will have to use their ears to get a feel for when to execute different maneuvers. Every jump to a gold pile or slide beneath a box feels deliberately synced with the music, and finding the groove introduces sometimes-subtle, sometimes-obvious musical cues that help keep the player on track.
Runner3 is a weird, funny game with lots of secrets. And some questionable new features and design choices.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Runner3 will tell you the truth about your gaming skills. Despite of its look that could make you think its a game made for kids, you will need all your reflexes and you will have to be hundred percent focused if you want to have a slight chance of getting to the goal.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Runner3 is reminiscent of the hard as nails games of old, and wants you to play the game over, but it will cause you to lose your temper
Runner3 is an old idea with a fresh coat of paint, but that idea still brings a lot of fun to the table.
Runner3 is a fun – if flawed – continuation of the Bit.Trip Runner series. While its stages are beautiful and the whimsical nature of it all is charming, the heavy difficulty spikes make you really work for any sense of enjoyment.
As a fan of other rhythm games on Switch such as Thumper and Voez, Runner3 definitely takes the cake as one of the best that the console has to offer. Choice Provisions has done something special with Runner3; it's a game that might make you want to scream internally over and over again, but at the same time, will make you smile from ear to ear while jamming out when you finally overcome those pesky obstacles.
Don't be fooled by its mask of whimsy, Runner3 is a brutally difficult game that pushes its simplistic mechanics to their breaking point. While a little rough around the edges, it's a title deserving of commendation for standing at the front of the pack in a world saturated with games of its kind.
Although its absurdist comedy would certainly allow for it, the game never actually throws a kitchen sink at players.
Runner3 is wonderfully creative and funny, relying on a style of play that belies the challenge at its heart. A few moments of unbalanced control or obstacle design can frustrate, but this will pass when Commander Video finally nails a sequence of movements and makes you feel like a fast-fingered expert.
This isn't my preferred genre of game, but I had plenty of fun playing Runner3 and am confident it will provide a sufficient challenge to fans of the BIT.TRIP franchise and genre.
Ultimately, if the difficulty doesn't bother you, there's a lot of fun to be had with Runner3.
Runner3 adeptly balances pleasure and pain
Runner3 is a game that, in many ways, has taken one step forward while taking two back. One of its biggest alterations was an area that needed none, difficulty. Many of its newer additions have left me feeling rather indifferent. Still, I commend Choice Provisions for not resting on their laurels. Runner3 is still entertaining with its brand of frustrating (at times discouraging) fun. It'll keep me playing to improve my stats and unlock more goodies. Still, I do recommend playing the prior games first, if you haven't already. Get a feel for them, and you might be tempted to grab the cool physical edition from Nicalis with neat extras.