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The game starts out...well, a game ago. Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle is the second in a series of Runaway games, continuing the story of Brian and Gina. However, just because you missed the first game doesn't mean you can't play the second; the two games are very independent, and the stories don't tangle up much. OK, I lied a bit, the characters are a bit tangled already, but they are a mess anyways! So, you start out with your girl, Gina, on a vacation in Hawaii, and that crazy girl wants to go off to see some waterfalls on one of the islands. After getting a hot glimpse of some cartoon side boob (Woo!), the two of you take a plane on a fateful trip that you won't forget. After an apparent medical problem with the old pilot, you force Gina to use the only parachute, while you all so heroically attempt to survive the crash landing. The game begins, and you must save both yourself, and find Gina, sounds simple doesn't it?

The game interface is pretty easy to learn; the default action is to look at something in detail, or get a description. Right clicking will change your cursor to a use function, and will attempt to use the object if you know how to. Often words end up (or are supposed to end up) being clues in the description of an item, without looking at an item in detail your character can not “figure out” a connection between that and something else, if one exists. As with most adventure games, there are times when you will use one item on another in an obvious way, and things work out. Sometimes you will need to get your character to understand that is what you want to do. For the most part, the system of looking at items, and coming to a series of logical conclusions about the nature of them is pretty well done. As you play, this tends to help you feel a little more into the game, as you can sort of imagine the thought process as it occurs with the character, as weird and convoluted as it might at times. As you put two and two together, you can hear, and see your character doing the exact same thing, which is a very different, yet fun experience.

As you proceed through Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle, you may notice there is a very neat... er, different? sense of humor in the game. In fact, it is pretty rare that I'm almost falling out of my chair laughing at things, but that is exactly what happened on more than one occasion while playing. The comedic breaks are everywhere; just when you least expect it you get hit with a groaner, or a few good puns. At one point the use of the term freedom fries (from a game designed in France) sent me into uncontrollable laughter. And how often do you get to dress a man in a bear suit and witness as he is gettin a whole lot of polar bear lovin'? In addition to the whacky story and methods of your hero, you have to put up with his completely outrageous friends, which make the story swerve right along with them; Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle just keeps you with, at the very least, a smile on your face the entire game.

Now I'm a sucker for a good story; also creative and unique worlds take me in, and entertain me for hours and hours on end. Something about "breaking the mold" games just makes me want to play them more and more, so I was just having a great time while playing Runaway. However, there are a few issues that I have to get off my chest. Like I mentioned, there is a rather nice, but at times overly annoying feature of Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle. Nice is that you need things to make logical sense to your character, you need to discover how to do something properly instead of just mashing things together (which seems to work in most adventure games). On the other hand, the logic in the game is rarely backwards compatible, and at times so very very annoying. An example is something like this: I have been given a list of things to find, one is a toothpick. Looking around I see none, or nothing related or similar to a toothpick; but I have firewood and I see an axe. So attempting to pick up the axe gets me a blurb about it being useless. Exhausting all other options I find out I need to use the wood on the axe to get it to work, does that make much sense? It isn't how I think for sure. Stuff like this can take up 30 minutes of hair pulling frustrating, luckily, the game's humor puts a smile right back on your face.

While I'm in the complaints department (ya, I'm always here, they have a little place for me), I'll throw another one out. While the first one was a bit of annoyance, this one is pretty major, and probably the thing that will ruin the game, if anything does. I'm going to attempt to sum it up as a completely ridiculous series of "logic" with no hints or clues on how to complete them. As with most adventure games along your journey on you acquire items that you will be able to use in the future somehow. One example here is that a scientist will give you a notebook you need if you can provide him with an idea on how to make people eat slower. Simple enough, right? I've pretty much figured out a large series of events after this step, but all I need is to get an idea for this guy. You know what you want so it should be easy. Running around the ship you are on, nobody or nothing looks close to what you need. Now apparently... and see if you can follow this; you need to use a pair of jugs of wine on your stateroom hallway (huh?! You never have access to that room so that never even clicks in), which will drink them. After drinking two jugs of wine (as if that wasn't a logical thing to do anyways), you need to tie them together with plastic tie straps, which forms and hourglass shape (it really doesn't, but whatever), and ... grab a bag of sand and fill that to create an hourglass! Now, use more tie straps and secure it to a spear from a statue, which is apparently a fork, but just doesn't look like a fork. And now you have a timed fork.. simple right? I don't know if its me, or what.. but I saw zero clues about how to do this. There were no hints you needed to make a watch-fork (as its called), and after an hour of messing around, I had to give up and cheat a little. Maybe if I would have examined each item over and over in the right order things would have clued into the character, but I'm doubting it. If this was a one time occurrence, it wouldn't be so bad, but it seems this happens once in every one of the six chapters that are in the game. Since the game was made originally in French, there could be some subtle wording clues that were dropped in a translation. As it stands now, you're going to need some help or be extremely thorough in everything you do. I'm just not a fan just attempting to mash every piece you have, every way just to get something to work. I do realize that the "humor" element in the game often occurs in and after these extremely.. bizarre puzzles, but it really does push the limits.

Like I said in the beginning, Runaway isn't like other adventure games I've played before, and why? Well, mostly it is the style of the art. You are playing in a cartoon, with a very nice, yet different artistic style, and some good animation. The whole game is in animation and pretty seamlessly designed (which can make finding some items a bit tough), often a cut scene will occur as well. From the areas, to the characters, to the cut scenes, the art in Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle is just amazingly well done. Being able to play in the same style and appearance of the cut scenes really helps the immersion, and brings another level to the game. The game music is incredible, having a few different songs in the cut scenes playing with the right beat and with a little edge to it. On the down side is the voice acting, most of the time the main character simply doesn't sound like he knows where he is. There is rarely any direct emotion in the voice, and it feels like the actor was given zero context, just a sheet of paper with lines to read off. For example, a few seconds after he is nearly killed, his voice will return to normal, like nothing happened. On the plus side it isn't game breaking, but if the game was played in a more serious tone, it may have been.

Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle is a great game. If you require killing and gore, it might not be for you, but.. cartoon side boob....really, does it get any better? Yes, I'm a sad individual... I always think adventure games have three parts; art, story, and puzzles. Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle definitely aces the first two, despite the extremely difficult, or just nonsense in some of the puzzles that exist, it is still a solid game. Even with those puzzles, I can't wait for the story to continue, as much as I get annoyed by some of the characters and puzzles, there is something strangely addictive about laughter!