You run. You love to run. You jump. You love to jump. You wall jump. You love to wall jump. Wait . . . what? That's right. In Bit Battalion's high-speed and high-difficulty jump-and-run platformer, Mr. Runner 2, the mechanics have been smoothed out from its predecessor to match its shiny new look and sound. Gone are the chunky 8-bit graphics and accompanying bleeps. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a retro feel, but this game just feels 'right' in its upgrade. Mr. Runner looks so sleek, there's no reason why he shouldn't run quickly.

As before, the [arrow] keys move Mr. Runner around with [space] bar available instead of [up] for jumping. Bit Battalion has kindly kept his waypoints (which now change from red to green once you've hit them), and your goal is a purple dot. You have three worlds with over a dozen levels each in which to jump, slide, float through the air and die and die and die. Whether you're searching for the five chests hidden in each world or racing to the finish to unlock the next level, you're bound to have 'a few' deaths while figuring out how to get to the end. With bronze, silver, gold and platinum medals to earn for your quick trips to the finish, you're likely to replay a level once you've got the path streamlined. Because when there's platinum to earn, gold just isn't good enough.

Play Mr. Runner 2