There’s no doubt that the endless runner is way past its prime. A genre that exploded back in the early-2010s, as casual, mind-numbing gaming blew up on mobile devices, it’s safe to say that gaming, as a whole, has moved on.
But of course, there’s still love for the old endless runner, if only as intrigue and interest dictate we have a look to see where the genre has managed to go in the intervening years.
If MetroLand is anything to go by though, this is a genre that has seemingly managed to stay relatively healthy, even if it does run out of ideas quickly.
In MetroLand you are dropped into a futuristic world, smashing down propaganda and attracting the attention of the authorities. From there, you’re left to run, very much like your life depends on it. Although, being a game, that is far from the truth and getting caught just allows you the chance to try and try again, grinding in-game currency for all it is worth.
The running is simple. Automatically moving forward, it’s up to you to manoeuvre left and right across three lanes, dodging obstacles, picking up currency (gold mostly) and power-ups along the way. You’ll get to jump too, occasionally double-jumping should the gods allow it, rolling under other hazards as you see fit. Making the most of those simple movement skills is all there is to MetroLand.
Shifting onwards builds score, which in turn will allow you to place on various leaderboards, attempting to prove yourself to friends and foes. However, we’ve mostly found joy in attempting to beat our own personal bests, rarely worrying about the increasingly high scores that have been posted from around the globe.
Runs end upon the demise of your gaming skills, as you forget to jump, or roll, or dodge one of the many, many traps that MetroLand has at its disposal. From there, your collar will be felt by the authorities on the chase, before they chuck you back out on the streets, free to start a new run, causing more chaos from there on out.
The endless running side of MetroLand is fine. It’s a game that is easy to control, especially if you forgo thumbstick usage for the d-pad, with various world segments all feeling bright, colourful and reasonably fresh. Granted, by run #200, you may start to tire with what is on offer, but for the most part it’s all decent enough. It runs nice and smoothly too; even when speeds ramp up, there is hardly ever a stutter.
But MetroLand is more than just about running. In fact, you’ll be shocked by just how much is thrown in here. We’d say there’s too much going on outside of the main event, with a plethora of menus, sub-menus, various currency types, collectibles and tons of different upgrades to action. We’re not saying it’s not a little addictive as you work through the Story (it’s not a Story really but does run to some 23 Chapters which will take you a good tens of hours), unlocking new tiers and ideas, but even now, having rinsed MetroLand for all 1000 Gamerscore over the course of about three hours, we’ve still found ourselves going back in to gather up new gear and unlocks. We’re not really sure why we’re doing it though.
So what is there outside of that Story running? Well *deep breath* and we’ve got Daily Challenges with Gifts, Goals and weird Drone Deliveries. That’s all in one menu, waiting for you to collect stuff on the daily.
Then there’s the Hideout, complete with Power-ups, Vaults, Missions, Bots and Workbenches. Each of these work further currency types, add-ons and upgrades. Then there’s the Shop with Flash Deals and bargains galore. The saving grace here is that MetroLand skips any real world cash to instead ply the player with more virtual currency than they could ever imagine. We guess we should be grateful that this is far from a cash-cow.
There’s also a Talents page which lets you pick from various helpful ‘talents’, which should – in theory – help your runs become longer. And then there are the characters themselves. All unlockable through grind, every single one of these is themselves upgradable across multiple ‘skill levels’, which again, in turn, helps further other aspects of the game build. They’ve all got numerous outfits too.
Writing all that down emphasises to us just how much is kicking around in the background of MetroLand. But every single little piece is, in some way, linked to the next, and then the next, and the next. And that means to find any progress, you’ll continually want to run, occasionally for PB brags, but mostly just to unlock a new tier, providing more currency gifts as it goes.
There’s a huge vicious circle going on here, and you’ll quite possibly find that its grip is tight enough that it ensures you just keep firing the game up, day after day after day. In that way, it feels much like those stupidly addictive clicker games and the only way out of the MetroLand bubble could well be to go uninstalling the game from our console, removing it from our pins and cleansing our eyes as fast as we can.
But that would come with a tinge of sadness, for MetroLand is a surprisingly accomplished endless runner. Try and push the non-action side of the game to one side, refusing to let the addiction really take hold, and you’ll enjoy the mindless score chasing that has been provided here. Just let it be known that a daily grind will always be around the corner.
You may be fine with that, but sometimes less can be more. What’s definitely true though is that MetroLand goes some way to proving that there is life in the old endless running dog yet.
MetroLand: An Endless Runner with a Futuristic Twist – https://www.thexboxhub.com/metroland-an-endless-runner-with-a-futuristic-twist/
Buy MetroLand on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/metroland/9NBFX2NX2NGQ
