To call Ring Runner:Flight of the Sages an indie title is to infer a certain level of polish, a certain level of production values, and a certain amount of content, usually for an affordable price that appeals to the consumer that is more budget focused. I hesitate to call indie devs Triple B Titles’ Ring Runner an indie game because while it sports an attractive price point, it delivers so much more game than many of its contemporaries, and what is offered is a pretty decent experience for your buck. So what is Ring Runner? Simply put, it is a top down shooter that is set in the desolation wonderland known as space. Now while it is an oversimplification, Ring Runner also sets for itself apart, in no small part due to the very ambitious amount of game packaged within its boundaries, and with a few exceptions, it executes on what it sets out to do pretty damn well.
Holding back isn’t what I would call Triple B Titles’ strong suit. There are a bevy/plethora/myriad of modes to choose from, hell, this game has space zombies in it! Ring Runner couples the numerous modes with the infinite feel and look of space, and makes it look damn pretty in doing so. Everything from the distant planets shining in the background, to the muffled afterburner engines, to the implementation of a physics engine that pretty much simulates how space trash would interact with other objects. Havok physics? Pfft! That is so 2000. The variety of weapons, and the colorful palette that they draw from, gives it a cartoon like look, that contrasts nicely with the darker areas of the areas.
The game controls fine with mouse and keyboard, but is best experienced on a gamepad, it just feels better, and it is nice on the customization side of things, allowing you to modify your control preferences to your heart’s content. Speaking of custom options, Ring Runner has enough fooling around with the ships at your disposal to make your head hurt. It is almost overwhelming the amounts of ways that you can create a ship, it’s enough for everyone who writes Star Trek’s technical manual stand up and take notice. The ship designs are varied and vast. Later on you gain the ability to mess around with several classes of ships, with several ships available per class. Needless to say whatever your play style, your appetite will be whetted several times over.
So are there any complaints with something like Ring Runner? If there was one big overall complaint, it is that some of the game’s enormity lends itself better in some spots than it does others, and as a result, there are a couple of design decisions that are seemingly ignored, or not given the attention that it may have needed. For an example, the story takes place, and is told with you in your ship at pretty much all times. My connection with the characters and what was going on during the more important moments in the game’s story losing some of its impact. And while the customization options are quite impressive in scope, some help for the more, shall we say, “layman minded” (including yours truly) of us would have gone a long way in terms of helping understand why a certain ship with a certain loadout would be more effective than others in certain situations. I also did find myself sometimes losing track of my ship, especially when the-you-know- what really hit the fan and things got more hectic.
Considering this is the first step up to the plate, Triple B Titles has a real hit on their hands. The game is very well made for what it is, and takes a space shooter genre, and takes it into some pretty interesting directions. For the positive reasons above (and despite the complaints), it is a game that is easy to recommend for anyone who wants an inexpensive, yet highly polished space shooter experience on their PC.
