Those amazing '80s, much to our delight were the privileged witnesses of the time when the amphitheater made the kids' teams huddle around a machine, with their five heavy weapons, waiting for their turn to play. It is with that desire that Katata Games insists that we bring these Top Runs, a game without excessive trying to immerse us in the moment, where the fun and skill of the player weighs in on the graphics or technical category. Who never said "it was better times"? Were they really or was it all just a product of the desire to breathe?
Technical section
When analyzing this game we must take a basic premise: It is a game made for mobile devices and the version we already have, even though it is for the Xbox One, it does not include any significant improvements beyond our handling command and not touch controls.
As we mentioned, it is a standalone game with a pixel art scene that happens to us, even though it is pretty colorful. This is not a problem, because it is about that, repeating the genius of pure pure psycheelia based on neons and solid colors. The game looked great and even the simple controls responded satisfactorily. The two scenarios we will have are basic, 3 layers of randomly generated width, using a certain amount of resources and materials.
The sound stage is one of the strengths of the game. The results are very well matched by the mechanic and the audio track is especially prominent with specially designed themes so that we forget what age we're living in and feel moved to another, from the time when another cinema, some music and, of course, another kind of video game.
Playing
It can be at this stage where the game is very limited. Top Run is a highly customizable 2D scrolling platform. As we said before, because it is a theme made for android and does not take advantage of today's generation of consoles).
In this case we include Kevin, a typical teenager of the time (a sports jacket and his team included) who, after failing on his PC, allowed the video game he was about to run to and raid the streets of his city, turning All citizens into digital enemies. Accompanied by his dog, Buddy, Kevin has to jump into the crusade to get pixels scattered across the city and which is the cause of all the unrest.
And so we started playing. Kevin runs and, when we say he runs, that he runs without us with nothing or nothing to do except jump or descend from platforms to surround enemies, without lightning we can throw and finish. The problem is that this shot we have will make the job a lot easier if they were unlimited. So, the creators have decided (or so we understand it) to limit this figure to a loader that counts floppy disks at the top of the screen. Once sold, we must wait for it to reload before we can use it again.
Beyond that, we will have some superpowers or special forces that we will be able to collect, in the form of things, in our most complete race of identity travel. Did I say endless? Well, endless, because there is no end to the phase, because the game is limited to one of two available modes and makes a series of machines, before colliding with the enemy and having to start over. These machines are of the type, "move 40 enemies in a race" or "go more than 400 meters when using a rifle". So the content may seem to drag you down, but it has something perfect that asks you to run more often and achieve those goals suggested by the same game.
Well, what would make all this sense if we were not rewarded for our efforts? There are, of course, and variations compared to other factors. In the main menu we will have several options for sorting our accumulated dots and pixels. Among other things we can upgrade Kevin's place with furniture and decoration or put ourselves in bartop control, where we can enjoy a mini-game that uses fantasy space invaders. In addition, we can customize both our protagonist and the canine partner, covering them with costumes for the 80s illustrated characters. This way, we can convert Kevin to Doc back in the future, Indiana Jones, ghostbuster, Freddy Krueger and even Michael Jackson himself. It should be noted that each of these boots includes its own special power such as triple jumping, or extending our firing handle.
Time
The game will continue what the player wants to keep or, in other words, there is no end to the adventure. Kevin will never save the city, the extra time or the miles we travel in stages. We simply limit ourselves to completing the most difficult challenges, resulting in only starting another race to complete or new challenges. Therefore, the playback life of this article can range from a few minutes to hundreds of hours. It all depends on how much the player enjoys what the game offers.
In terms of rewards, this does not significantly extend the experience, as it is sufficient for a few hours and minimum ability to get a complete catalog. and three difficulties you have, and they do not provide enough encouragement to make them fit.
Conclusion
In short, the Xbox One version of Top Run does not let us forget that it is a game made for mobile, with more room in the world for mobile devices than in a rich and extensive catalog like the Xbox One. Microsoft is firmly committed to independent games and in this category is less established, compared to other similar court games with more depth in its expertise, news and technical fields. However, it can give us something more than a valid performance, in those times when we have a few free minutes and are lazy to choose the most complex game, especially the melancholy of the best arcade time.