WarRunner Demo

Evading the police is a practice that goes all the way back when the first traffic rules were instated, because it just seems so natural to keep on driving away from trouble, especially when trouble comes with a siren and flashing lights. Racing games also feature police chases on a regular basis, especially those that take place on the street.

WarRunner is an arcade racing game in which you have to keep evading the cops for as long as you can, in order to escape from the city and be a free man. The action takes place in some kind of futuristic metropolis, featuring hover cars and the usual dark streets beneath the monstrous skyscrapers rising above them. There is no other purpose than to get away from the police, so that may be a bit disappointing for some of you.

To begin with, the camera is fixed in the dashboard view, which means that you might have trouble seeing what goes on outside, especially since there are no rearview mirrors and everything is quite dark. The game also tries to integrate a bit of realism as well, which is why the car wheels slip if you accelerate too quickly and you can easily lose control over the vehicle if you take a corner at high speed.

The traffic is definitely the most annoying part of the game, because it is almost impossible to avoid some of the cars, given the fact that they appear out of the blue in front of you. It is also difficult to see anything most of the time, while the cockpit view makes it even more stressful. You can pick up on patterns after a while and get better at it, but it just may not be worth it.

The retro graphics might capture your attention at first, however, because the game goes to great lengths to look like it was released back in the early 90s. Everything is pixelated and the engine doesn’t support more than 256 colors, but that is obviously part of the plan. However, the game comes with VR support, so it cleverly combines old looks with cutting-edge technology.

In the end, WarRunner is just a demo and it doesn’t try to be more than that, which is quite visible. As such, while the game may be moderately fun for the first few minutes, the novelty dissipates in a rush and you are left with nothing more than repetitive environments and silly gameplay.