Talesrunner: The Casual Game for the Hardcore Player

TalesRunner…The casual game for hardcore players. Combine fast paced game play with awesome and cartoonish graphics and you’ve got yourself an exciting game with a large fan base.

The game is meant for casual game play although its surprisingly addictive. Winning races awards you with experience which improves your “level” or “status” (It’s basically an icon next to your name that represents your prowess).

The great thing about this game is that the level is not necessarily proportional to skill. People with lower levels can easily beat higher people if they can race well. Level only indicates how long the person has played or how many races (roughly) he has won. It has no impact on performance whatsoever. A big advantage of this is that this sidesteps the usual bullying of new players by “pros”. Something common in many MMORPGs.

Character customization is excessive and the game is still under development. Huge updates have been planned for the future including new characters and many new maps (For example the ones currently in the Korean Version of TR but not released in the English version)

The game is FREE to play but it has a Cash Shop where special items can be purchased for real money, ranging from Stat Boosting Clothing to Scarves and even Pets. Along with the fast paced race maps, there is also the Park. The Park is basically one of the biggest 3D chat rooms out there. It has places to hang out, mini games and even a mini piano to fool around with.

There is a wide variety of game modes ranging from single to team play, item or speed races, relays and even 30 player survival races. The characters are different, each having its own pros and cons yet still balanced. Players can chose the characters that best suit their playing style.

The current number of Maps in the game is comparatively less to those in other versions but it is not a petty number. The maps range from Track Hurdles to Ice Age maps to Monster Invasions maps. Most maps have a Lengthwise and Horizontal playing view, meaning you can run the same race in different Camera angles.

There is also an Easy and Normal version of most maps. Some maps even have a swimming and skiing feature. Along with the map difficulties, the players can fire various items at each other (Electric Octopuses, Chickens, Speed Boosts, Booby Traps etc.)To help them win. There is also Stomping. Jumping on another player can stun them for a few valuable seconds.

MAPS:

1. Warm up (Speed) (H/L)
2. Hurdles (E/N) (H/L)
3. Super Jump (H/L)
4. Sun & Moon (1/2)
5. The Two Brothers (1/2) (H/L)
6. Snow Girl (1/2)
7. Frog Prince (H/L)
8. Jack and the Beanstalk (H/L)
9. Fury of Daddy Octopus (E/N)
10. Fury of Mommy Octopus (E/N)
11. Angry Lizard (E/N)
12. Lizard Crisis (E/N)
13. Shark Attack (E/N)
14. Monster Attack (E/N)

H=Horizontal

L=Longitudinal

E= Easy

N= Normal

Characters:

1. Charlie – Equal Stats. Well balanced. Good for beginners
2. Apollo – Very High Speed, Very Bad Acceleration Good Control. Worst for beginners.
3. DnD – High Speed, Bad Acceleration. Good for average players.
4. Ming Ming – Bad Power, Good Control. Good for Beginners
5. Lina (Cash Shop) – Very Bad Speed, Very good acceleration Bad power, Good control. Good for average players.

Note: Characters Big Bo, Rough, Maki and Ocean are yet to be released.

In the end, I would like to end by saying that Tales Runner is a very good hobby game, an awesome pastime and wonderful for hardcore gamers too. This game has the whole package. Got nothing to do? Try it out here: http://talesrunner.gpotato.com/