Lode Runner. A true classic. First released in 1983 on a flurry of systems including the Apple II series, the Commodore 64 and the Atari 8-bit family of consoles. It’s gone through multiple changes over the years, but has always kept its fast paced and addictive gameplay intact. Finally, this masterpiece of a game has been brought into the 21st century, with online multiplayer and leaderboards, HD graphics and a timeline charting the game’s development over the years. But the question still remains, is it still as good as it once was, over 25 years ago?
Let me just get something off my chest, dear reader. This game is HARD. Indeed, this is not a game to play at 4am with eyes near closed and a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos in hand. No, you have to be alert, fuelled on 12 cans of Red Bull and have an angel watching over you to get through this game. If that has put you off, please, press the back button. If you feel up to the challenge, keep on reading, there’s a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow…
If you have never played the original, Lode Runner is a thinking man’s version of Pacman. You play as a treasure collector who must navigate through a variety of levels collecting gold, whilst trying to evade the enemies that patrol the map. You can’t jump (looks like someone’s been taking lessons from Bionic Commando Rearmed*) and you have a blaster that can break through most of the platform blocks on each level.
Now that we’ve got the basics out of the way, lets delve into what is actually in the game.
The majority of the game in my play-through was spent in the single player portion of the game. Here you can go into Practice mode to hone your skills, Play Journey mode, attempt to Hang On, or just play through some Puzzle maps.
Journey mode is the game’s campaign mode, which for me was the bread and butter of the game. This mode plays out like classic Lode Runner, collect the gold, escape the bad guys, walk over to the now unlocked right side of the map, walk onto next stage. Without Journey mode, this game wouldn’t have been produced with the Lode Runner name.
Hang On is a hybrid of Left 4 Dead’s Survival mode and Journey mode. In this gametype, you much gold as you can whilst trying to evade a growing army of enemies that are hunting you down. This is one of the more fun game types, even though I was not really that good at it (kinda like me on L4D Survival Mode then I guess). It’s highly addictive, trying to beat your best score and I’d recommend you check this out once you’ve got to grips with the controls and gameplay. In this mode, the slightest mistake and you’re toast.
Puzzle mode is a mode that will get your brain going into overload. When you start on the first level, it’ll have you thinking “Bah! This is nothing”. By Level six you’ll be thinking, “hmmm, little bit more challenging” and by level 11 you’ll be saying to yourself “This is unpossible”. Sorry Ralph, but Puzzle mode just isn’t for you. In puzzle mode, you have to destroy the blocks and move to specific spaces at exactly the right time. If not, you’ll be reaching for the restart button (
) several times. It really is a trial and error game towards when it comes to the later levels.
Lode Runner also hosts many great features such as multiplayer mode, which I was unable to test drive. It turns out that after only a week after its release, it has turned into yet another Xbox Live Graveyard title, where it is Impossible to get a game, simply because nobody’s playing it. Live leaderboards still work though, and as of writing, I’m currently hovering around the 4000 mark on all the gametypes. This tells me two things, I suck at the game and that there are around 4000 people who bought this game, played it for an hour or two and then went into hiding, presumably because of Swine Flu.
And finally, there is no way this could be a Lode Runner game without a level editor. Yes sir, just like Halo 3, you too can produce your own Journey, Hang On or Puzzle maps. You can even share them in the online community. The problem is that most of the puzzle maps are unsolvable and that the other gametype maps just don’t have the same level of quality as the ones that came with the game.
So there you have it. Lode Runner is just as good as the original, if not better. It had the potential to be an amazing online game, but it looks like the word hasn’t got out that this is a good game and consequently, the multiplayer mode become redundant.
Try the demo, buy the game, give your brain and reflexes a workout.
7.5/10
*Yes, I know that you couldn’t jump in the original for either game. It’s just the fact that it’s been 25 years and you haven’t learned to jump? C’mon…
