Shine Runner – totally awesome & addictive bayou racing HD game!
by Paul Wilks
May 30, 2012 11:15 AM –
Install
Shine Runner is a gorgeous and addictive racing/trading game that drop you into a high speed fanboat deep in the bayou. You are essentially a smuggler, trading items across several small trading posts for profit. Buy in one, trade in another. The aim of the game is to race your way from location to location as fast as you can and make as much money as you can! Incredible graphics, great sound and fun gameplay make Shine Runner very special indeed.
Price: Free
Tested on: HTC One X
Content Rating: Medium Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Graphics are amazing!
- Sound compliments the game perfectly!
- Easy to play and with a variety of control options!
- Fun gameplay!
Cons
- Might seems a little short for some people.
Features:
Shine Runner is top-quality smuggling game that looks and feels like a console title. Deep in the everglades you must race and trade your way to success. There are 6 trading posts to visit: Bookie T’s, The Giggin Hole, Crazy Eddy’s, Guns N Jugs, Piggy’s and Dixie Trix. In these you can buy several items including: Crawdads, Catfish, Peter Pep, Gator tails, Snake Oil, Tobacky and Shine. You then have to take the items you buy and sell them on somewhere for profit. You have a store screen which displays the prices so you have to strategically find places where you can sell for profit.
The main action, however, takes place in the marshy waters between each location. Luckily you have a super powerful fanboat to race around in. You win money by completing each journey in a quick time, but expect all kinds of different obstacles, from police boats to alligators! The graphics really come into their own in two specific areas. Firstly the realistic water detail is just incredible and, if your device can cope with it, sends tiny splashes across your screen after a jump. Secondly, there are several small buildings on stilts coming out of the water and these are completely destructible if your boat hits them (accidentally of course). This sends shards of smashed wood across your view and, while it slows you down a little, looks superb.
Check out the video below, although I have to mention, this isn’t representative of the graphics on high end devices such as the HTC One X, where it is much better.
Watch on Mobile
Like many racing games there are different ways to control your vehicle. The default setting ‘Touch’ lets you touch either the left or right of the screen to move your fanboat, whereas ‘Tilt’ lets your accelerometer do the work. I found this second option to be far more intuitive. There is a third option if you have either a game pad or an Xperia Play device. This lets you customise which buttons perform which action. It’s really good to see such a range of options as far as controls are concerned, everyone has their preferences and these have all been catered for.
Overall the game is perfect if you have a performance phone- blistering graphics, good music and gameplay that keeps you interested outside of the racing. You essentially have so many days to countdown, ten days to make as much money as you can by both trading and collecting cash as you zoom around. I think after a while this tends to get a little stale, however, the game supports OpenFeint scoring and there are 26 achievements to unlock as you progress.
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Shine Runner – Amazing graphics and all kinds of effects
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Shine Runner – Water streaks across screen on high end devices
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Shine Runner – Splash effects on high-end devices are superb
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Shine Runner – Smash things out of the way
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Shine Runner – Police are an obstacle
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Shine Runner – Plenty of ramps to jump
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Shine Runner – Collect bags of cash as you race around
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Shine Runner – Mid-jump
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Shine Runner – Game map
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Shine Runner – Get ready
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Shine Runner – Game result
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Shine Runner – End of stage
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Shine Runner – Main menu
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Shine Runner – Buying and selling hints
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Shine Runner – Buy and sell in different trading posts
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Shine Runner – Help and options
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Shine Runner – Settings
Fun Factor:
For slapstick humour there is plenty to be amused about when you flip an alligator into the air at full speed, or landing directly on top of a police boat. Shine Runner is high octane stuff and perhaps a nice alternative to the uber serious racing games available in the Google Play Store. It’s certainly lots of fun and is enjoyable throughout.
Addictive:
To race though 10 days of trading only takes 15-20 minutes so it’s a nice game to play in short bursts. It does remember your place so you can always pick things up where you left off. Once you have completed a 10-day stint you can replay to better your previous score, in addition to continuing your OpenFeint achievements. The game is addictive as it provides slick, beautiful and short injections of fun when you need something pretty mindless but never-the-less entertaining.
Graphics:
The graphics are pretty much flawless and look incredible on high-end devices. From the splintering wood of collapsing shacks to the intricate splashes of water, it’s highly detailed, smooth and very impressive.
Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:
I found the accelerometer controls to be accurate and very responsive. There is even a setting that lets you adjust sensitivity which is a great addition for people to use their own preferences.
The sound, which you can control in the menu, consists of various banjo tunes, sound effects and all kinds of phrases uttered by policemen and other traders as you run them off the water. It’s all done incredibly well and compliments the game.
Tags:
3D,
3D Games,
Android App,
Android Apps,
Android Game,
Android Tablet Apps,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
HD Games for Android,
OpenFeint,
Racing,
Shine Runner,
Tegra 3,
Tegra Zone,
Vector Unit
Categorised in: Arcade & Action
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