Capsule Review: BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
A rhythm platformer like its predecessor. Your character runs automatically, you avoid obstacles and collect gold by jumping, sliding, kicking or blocking at the right time, and your actions affect the music. It expands on the original in several ways - the game is much prettier and has a bunch of characters and skins to unlock, there are more levels and many of them have branching paths, and most importantly there are now optional mid-level checkpoints. This greatly mitigates the frustration of restarting a longer level because of a single mistake near the end, while still allowing players the option of the original hardcore challenge. There are a few misfires - for example, a new post-level “bonus chance” mechanic that makes pursuing 100% completion much more tedious than it needs to be - but overall it’s a bigger and better BIT.TRIP RUNNER, and still a great way to zen out as long as your reflexes are up to it and you can groove on chiptunes.
I Stopped Playing When: I finished the game by beating every level. I still pick it up every once in a while and make a little more progress toward the Perfect Perfectionist trophy, which requires perfect playthroughs (plus success on the “bonus chance”; see the video below for more on that) on all one hundred levels on each of three difficulties.
Five Stars: Favorite. This is one of my all-time favorite games that made a significant impact on me or that I've returned to time and again.