Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages – Review (PC)

Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages – Review (PC)

A quirky space-blaster. That’s how I initially planned describe Ring Runner to anyone who asked. But then I’d quickly qualify that statement with more, because the game doesn’t follow the relatively simple point-and-click-dead archetype that typifies some space-based action games. It’s an indie space shoot ’em up with an RPG element layered into it. It’s a clever and absorbing sci-fi narrative tied to a game in which you get to blow things up, and then further customise later on exactly how you wish to blow things up. It’s the kind of space shooter that makes me appreciate the gaming medium for its achievements and progress over the years. It is an enjoyable experience – not perfection, but it is a step on the path towards it.

When I first booted up Ring Runner, I’ll be honest, I was sceptical. Recalling previous delves into the realms of sci-fi shoot ’em up left me entirely unsure as to what I should expect. So, when I navigated my way through the first part of the game and encountered a seemingly sentient brain chip happily lodged inside my cranium, informing me that wherever it was I’d woken up in was about to explode – well, you can imagine my joy. Already the game was presenting me with the kind of ambiguous narrative enigmas that are so often the foundation stones of wonderful and captivating stories. The game clearly has a great deal of depth to it in terms of the story arc, and this is because of the companion sci-fi novel which the game’s campaign is based upon. It should suffice to say that the game had and has my attention.

In Ring Runner, you play as the pilot of a ship (of which there are a variety, with each kitted out for specific scenarios allowing the player to try different styles of play – be it stealthy, tanky or just outright speedy and zippy). Piloting these ships is your charge and thus to be any good you have to be able to fly your ship with a basic level of competency. Now this isn’t always easy as each ship performs differently from one another, and getting to grips with the physics of the game could take a few minutes. The game’s solution to this is to throw you right into the thick of it. Remember that ‘exploding wherever’ I mentioned waking up in? Well you’ve got to escape from there.  Seeing as the protagonist in the game seems to have amnesia, this introductory tutorial not only feels well placed, but relevant to the story.

Luke Skywalker would be proud.
Luke Skywalker would be proud.
Escape complete: Beauty unlocked.
Escape complete: Beauty unlocked.

IF you survive the tutorial (which hopefully you do), you are quickly introduced to one of the main happenings of the game – changing ships. Customising your current ship is where the RPG aspects become most evident, but it will take you some time to get there. It is worth noting at this point that not all features of the game are unlocked immediately upon starting (for instance multiplayer is locked until you get a little way in to the single player campaign) and as a result you are required to play single player. This is a little bit annoying if you are looking to hop straight in to the multiplayer mode with some friends. This may become an issue as the development of the multiplayer (more specifically the MOBA mode) progresses and the mode gains popularity.

After some interesting dialogue between yourself and your implanted brain self, you realise that your ship is being pursued by some implacable aggressors, and that tail between your legs flight is your best option. This is ultimately a course of action doomed to failure and your beautiful ship gets blown to smithereens – from which you escape in some kind of super secret stealthed escape pod. Piloting this escape pod is obviously different to piloting your previous ship, and it is in this interlude between ships that the game introduces mechanics such as engine temperature (represented in game by the ‘Heat’ bar on the left hand side, this bar will tell you how hot the engine is, because when it gets too hot bad things can happen – i.e. death) and the variety of weapons systems and abilities available to each ship. The game also plays with some interesting concepts that are fairly intrinsic to the sci-fi genre. These being notions of time, space and general relativity, all of which the game has fun playing with.

I've seen too many movies not to get what's going on here.
I’ve seen too many movies not to get what’s going on here.
Who doesn't love messing around with the Atoms of their brain while piloting a spaceship?
Who doesn’t love messing around with the atoms of their brain while piloting a spaceship?

The HUD in the game is fairly clear and easy to understand, with what each bar and icon symbolises being covered and explained to you by your ever helpful brain chip. Your objectives in the game are clearly marked by green dots and large green crosses, but if you feel you have misunderstood or missed things then mission info and information about ‘Bonuses’ available to the player in each mission are all accessible through the game menu.

Battling it out in the Arena. Mugin got style.
Battling it out in the arena. Purple beams are mine.

The gameplay is fun, however at times it can get a little bit repetitive. The game will mix things up and have you doing things that are different from the default of space fighter games which is ‘blow up this, blow up that’, but some parts of the game can drag on and do seem unnecessarily long and drawn out. Annoyingly other parts of the game which I found to be highly enjoyable were just a little bit too short –  but the game does remedy this by making it very easy to reselect and replay missions so you can squeeze every ounce of awesome from them and go about getting every single bonus for each mission.

The way the game handles is generally great and is is unmistakeably fun to play. The customisation later on really allows for personalised play and definitely helped keep me wanting to play, wanting to test out more than just the standard ship. As far as appearance goes, visually I find the game to be appealing and distinct. It is decidedly ‘indie’ in appearance and definitely smacks of ‘space game’ when you see it. The single ship flitting or lumbering across the vast expanse of space as it sees fit is a lovely thing to behold, with beautiful accompanying artistic backdrops and appropriate, well suited music to support it.

As a gamer, Ring Runner has been a game I’ve enjoyed playing. It does, however, suffer from some things that can be found in plenty of other games. There were a few parts to the Ring Runner campaign that, when I encountered them, for some reason or another, really put me off of playing the game for a good few days, even though when I did eventually boot it back up I thoroughly enjoyed playing it.

Pros

  • Spaceships, battle cannons, technology
  • Controlling the ship and using all the different abilities is fantastically cool
  • The story of the game is interesting and enjoyable, not to mention there is a companion sci-fi novel to the game for a truly immersive experience
  • The concepts and themes in the game are well explored and well implemented
  • The game has some serious difficulty select options, so if you’re a maniac looking for a challenge to consume all your hours – this is for you.
  • The whole game file size is pretty darn tiny – only 250mb for a lot of content.
  • Did you see the above point? A LOT of content – over 30 hours of game play.

Cons

  • Some sections of the game can drag on and feel a bit repetitive
  • The main menu and method of navigating it can be quite awkward, but this does not impact game-play (and is, in fact, cool when you first use it but it gets a bit tiresome)
  • I didn’t really get any more out of multiplayer than I did single player

Rating: 4 out of 5.

You can find Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages on steam here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/258010/

OR check out the homepage from the game creators here:    http://ringrunner.net/

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