Runaway City 
(1995 JAST)


Synopsis:
Runaway City starts out with protagonist Hiroaki, typical 
slacker-boy. Hiroaki is a third-year student of junior college, 
currently on break from school and trying to decide on his future. 
Every day he gets up, goes downtown, and just sort of walks 
around, waiting for someone screwable to come along. And someone 
frequently does. But this waiting thing gets old fast, and 
soon Hiroaki adopts a different method: find some directionless 
woman, help her find her dream, THEN bed her. Which he does 
fairly successfully. Did I mention he has the power of good luck?

I know that makes it sound silly. For the first part of the game, 
it IS silly. There are a number of comedic scenes, including an 
encounter with the most incompetent SM queen ever and a scene 
where a woman makes love to Hiroaki while playing a video game 
(it must be seen to be believed).

But somewhere along the line it makes the change from a 
lighthearted sex romp to something very serious. Getting all 
the sex you want may seem like the pinnicle of coolness, but 
there's a decidedly dark side to it. Watching Hiroaki make 
the slow and painful transition from enjoying his luck to 
fearing it is the best part of the game.


Review:
Runaway City is among the earliest bishoujo game titles to 
be released in English, along with the likes of "Three Sisters 
Story" and "Season of the Sakura". I was quite surprised when 
I played RC. Having played "Three Sisters Story" a couple of 
years back, I expected similar graphics and game interface. 
Sure enough, the game interface is the same -- but the graphics 
are a far cry from TSS and took some getting used to. Most of 
the younger characters are depicted with irritatingly pudgy faces. 
Fortunately, the more mature women benefit from better rendition 
(but there are more younger characters than older ones). 

Plot-wise though, RC is interesting and quite original. Despite 
the fact that this is another "click and click" game, RC does 
grant you a bit more freedom. You are given several options by 
which you can approach a situation. You can also mix and match 
actions while having sex. An example would be: Use - finger, 
tongue, hands, lips, c*ck / On - mouth, neck, breasts, thighs, 
butt, p*ssy. It's a two-tiered choice instead of the usual single 
option action. Some choices let you see additional images as well. 

The sexual content is explicit, although the male organ is 
sometimes (meaning not all scenes) rendered invisibly. There's 
also some hard stuff like S&M, rape, and torture. Another thing 
I have to point out is, RC is difficult to finish correctly. 
I've lost count of the number of times I had gotten the bad ending. 
I consider myself a good gamer and so imagine my frustration 
when I just couldn't get the real ending. The crucial final moments 
give you generic choices like look, don't look, think. If you don't 
pick the choices like you're supposed to, you instantly get the bad 
ending. Now that makes for some senseless gameplay. I managed to get 
a hold of a walkthrough but to no avail... I followed the chronology 
but the damned game seems determined to give me a bad ending every 
time. It's a really stupid way to cap off a game that's already 
hovering on the edge of being average fare. Overall, I didn't really 
have much fun with this title. However, RC is being sold at a lower 
price compared to newer bishoujo game releases.