{"id":108545,"date":"2020-02-02T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-02T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/speedrunners"},"modified":"2020-02-02T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-02T18:00:00","slug":"review-speedrunners-move-over-sonic-these-guys-have-some-serious-pace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/02\/02\/review-speedrunners-move-over-sonic-these-guys-have-some-serious-pace\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: SpeedRunners &#8211; Move Over Sonic, These Guys Have Some Serious Pace"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/speedrunners\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/speedrunners\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"SpeedRunners Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102418\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102418\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"SpeedRunners Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Ah, the classic superhero. Humble. Brave. Selfless. A beacon of hope to us mere underpowered mortals. And, as it turns out, <em>massively<\/em> competitive as well. Because in a city full of other metahumans, there\u2019s only so much justice and glory to go around. So that means any super-powered persona in the vicinity is going to have to move like The Flash to get to the scene of the crime first. It\u2019s a neat little concept, and one that makes for a very satisfying and instantly enjoyable multiplayer racing experience.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/speedrunners\"><strong>SpeedRunners<\/strong><\/a> is a 2D platforming racer started life as a free Flash game (which you can still play <a href=\"http:\/\/www.doubledutchgames.com\/speedrunner\">here<\/a>) before eventually making the jump to PC and the haven of indie excellence that was Xbox Live Arcade in years past. Developer DoubleDutch has given the game a few licks of new paint over the years, but the core premise has always been there \u2013 four players each pick a super-powered avatar and race through a variety of 2D courses that demand quick reflexes, platforming acrobatics and sneaky abuses of your talents to keep yourself one step ahead of the competition.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"SpeedRunners Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102419\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102419\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"SpeedRunners Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Each race is simple in its objective: reach the end of each of its dozen or so maps by any means necessary. Running too slow or getting caught up in various obstacles will risk you being eliminated from the race, so you\u2019re constantly having to think two steps ahead. Environments are interactive as well, offering numerous ways to slow down your fellow racers or sling yourself a few steps ahead. There are often little shortcuts to utilise, offering the opportunity to regain the lead or lose it again in a matter of seconds.<\/p>\n<p>Each of the five super-powered characters on offer possesses their own unique traits and powers, but most of the time you\u2019ll be relying on your ability to jump, slide and grapple-hook your way around each course. You can slide to avoid low-hanging spikes or enter small openings, but you can also use that momentum to tackle another player and slow them down. You can briefly stick to walls, as well \u2013 as with most twitch platformers \u2013 so for anyone who\u2019s played the likes of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/guacamelee_super_turbo_championship_edition\"><strong>Guacamelee!<\/strong><\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/super_meat_boy\"><strong>Super Meat Boy<\/strong><\/a> will feel right at home with the smoothness of SpeedRunners\u2019 racing mechanics and controls.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"SpeedRunners Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102420\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102420\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"SpeedRunners Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The game comes with a handy practice mode and tutorial (which really helps when you\u2019re trying to get used to the game\u2019s fast-paced rhythm), as well as a decent (if brief) story mode. You can compete in races solo if that\u2019s your preference, with some pretty aggressive AI on offer (especially if you play on the Hard or Unfair difficulty settings), but SpeedRunners is at its <em>absolute<\/em> best when you\u2019re playing against actual humans. There\u2019s support for online matchmaking, so if Switch forms the same kind of dedicated player base as the PC version, you\u2019ll have a steady stream of online rivals \u2013 but this is a multiplayer experience best experienced in couchplay. Flinging a missile at a friend as they\u2019re about to reach the finish line, or pulling another back with your grappling hook as you zoom past them is ten times more fun when you\u2019re sat next to the person you just sabotaged on-screen.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of how you play, SpeedRunners is all about how well you deal with pressure. You can fling weapons such as missiles and mines at your opponents as you progress through each course, and if that\u2019s not enough to contend with, the amount of space you have to utilise on-screen changes the longer a race lasts. That\u2019s right, in an almost Battle Royal-esque twist, the edges of the screen will glow red as the screen shrinks around you. Now there are fewer choices when it comes to your route, leading to a brilliant flavour of chaos as everyone desperately tries to juggle platforming with the need to win a race in a rapidly-encroaching course.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"SpeedRunners Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102417\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102417\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"SpeedRunners Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Having gone through various overhauls and updates over the years, the version that\u2019s now picking up speed on Nintendo Switch is pretty slick when played in docked mode. With that larger amount of screen real estate, it\u2019s far easier to track the small avatars on screen as they zip and flit through a course. However, we did find a few issues with performance when playing in handheld mode, mostly involving slowdown. It\u2019s not a regular issue \u2013 we played quite a few races in handheld mode both offline and in story mode where very little to no slowdown \u2013 but some races become almost impossible to play. It\u2019s an unpredictable issue, and one that makes playing in docked mode the safer bet for the time being.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re after a new addition to your social multiplayer pile, this is an easy sell. Sure, it\u2019s a little old considering its long history on myriad platforms, but it\u2019s hard to deny just how enjoyable and easy it is to pick up, even for younger Nintendo Switch owners. The support for local and online multiplayer is great, as is the ability to play through the story mode solo, but the intermittent issues with performance in handheld mode does put a few wrinkles in this hero\u2019s costume.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ah, the classic superhero. Humble. Brave. Selfless. A beacon of hope to us mere underpowered mortals. And, as it turns out, massively competitive as well. Because in a city full of other metahumans, there\u2019s only so much justice and glory to go around. So that means any super-powered persona in the vicinity is going to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}