Rune

by Gathering of Developers

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004OCYH
• Item Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 7, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,246 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Combine the Unreal Tournament 3-D engine with hard-nosed Viking melee combat and what do you get? Rune, an epic third-person action game from Human Head Studios. You take on the role of Ragnar, a young warrior spared from death by Odin but who must fight his own way up from the underworld to defend his village and exact revenge upon the dark Vikings who killed his father.

Set in grim, exceptionally well-designed environments ranging from ancient crypts full of undead warriors to a towering mechanical Dwarven city, Rune mixes typical first-person shooter gameplay with the rigors of close-quarter melee combat. Instead of the shotguns and rocket launchers you've mastered in other games, you will find yourself armed only with an array of swords, hammers, and axes. Combat with these weapons is very different--and very challenging, particularly in the game's latter levels and against multiple opponents.

The graphics in Rune are excellent, with an exceptional attention to detail on just about every level. The lighting is very well done and so are the sound effects used throughout the game. The music is suitably heroic, though it plays too infrequently and loops too quickly. Overall, the game does a marvelous job of setting the mood for head-smashing Viking combat. There are even some nifty gameplay twists that keep you in the proper frame of mind. When you're wounded, for example, you can drink mead, scarf down a leg of mutton, or grab and eat a lizard off any nearby wall to gain some health back. And when Ragnar is done drinking his mead, he smashes the cup on the floor. He deals with crates, barrels, and many doors in his path the same way.

While the single-player game is outstanding--and features one of the flat-out coolest game-won reward sequences ever--the multiplayer action is where you can really test your sword-fighting skills. Although the game includes 43 single- player levels and only seven multiplayer maps, Rune has proved to be quite popular online, with up to 16 players going at it in wild melee combat.

The only disappointment in Rune may be the fact that it does not offer any computer-controlled bots for solo deathmatch play. Even without the bots, Rune is easily one of the year's top games in any genre and an intense epic that no action fan should be without. --Michael Ryan

Pros:

• Intense melee action in the Unreal Tournament engine
• Epic story line set in the land of Vikings and Nordic mythology
• Excellent level design, with impressive attention to detail
• Great graphics, sound, and music

Cons:

• An occasional AI flaw will halt action on some levels
• No bots for multiplayer mode

Product Description

Prepare Yourself for RUNE...the 3DAction Game!Product InformationIn RUNE players assume the role of Ragnar the Viking mightiest warrior of abygone age. In an age when might makes right it is Ragnar who doles out justiceon the blade of his massive battle-axe. Players will explore beautiful settingsboth above and below the mountains of the far north as Ragnar fights his waythrough several stunning and unique kingdoms to an ultimate confrontation withthe Sark Amen the shadowy warrior-masters of the netherworld.RUNE is a third-person perspective game of intense action and adventuresteeped in a blend of Norse mythology and high fantasy. Players will have to usetheir brains as well as their massive brawn to survive as they explore the fully3D game world fighting off fantastic creatures from both Norse legend and thefertile minds of the Human Head staff with their array of swords axes andmagical devices.The game focuses on equal parts melee combat and exploration with levelsranging from a Viking town to the caverns of the Dwarves to a city in themountains. Players will have access to a wide array of melee weapons based bothin fact and fantasy as Ragnar delves deeper into the realms of myth and furtherfrom his old reality.RUNE includes a full single player story game as well as several speciallydesigned multi-player levels that allow players to cooperate or compete asRagnar or another Viking warrior. The multi-player game will also includespecial handicap and team modes to widen the multi-player experience.Product HighlightsRagnar is a young Viking warrior just coming of age. As his father prepareshim for the final rites of manhood the atmosphere of his village is tense asstories of recent raids on neighboring villages. These raids were particularlybrutal as the women-folk and children were slaughtered and the villages burnedto the ground. Conrack a cruel chieftain and follower of Loki is said to bethe cause of the raids and

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RUNE, November 15, 2000

By 

"mrsudz" (South Florida (Ballotsville)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rune (CD-ROM)

I loved the game, great graphics and good story line. It did have a few bugs, but what game doesn't? The level designs are some of the best I 've seen. Until you play the game and see the mirrored floor room and the stained glass floor you fall through, you cannot appreciate it. The locations go from under ground castles with running lava pits to open outside snowy streets. Very Cool. I would recommend the game very highly. Plus Human Head provided a great source of information on their web site at.... Download the demo then buy the full version you won't be disappointed.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Single Player, OK Multiplayer., November 17, 2000

By 

Gregory L Dyas - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rune (CD-ROM)

First thing: Rune isn't Quake, nor is it Unreal Tournament, though it does use the Unreal graphics engine and there are 3rd party mods coming out that allow some UT-like modes of play. People who buy this game thinking they're primarily going to be playing DM with their own Viking will get quickly bored and be sorely disappointed by the monotony of the hand-to-hand combat alone, which is fairly repetitive.

What this game does provide is an interesting sort of cinematic experience. There's melee combat like Heretic, there's puzzle solving like Tomb Raider, but Rune isn't remotely like either game because of its feel. It feels flat-out like you're a character in a movie about a young Viking ascending from Hel to Midgard to avenge your father's death. The puzzles all feel appropriate to the game and cinematic cutscenes flesh out the mood to some degree, but what drives this excellent feel is the graphics.

Human Head and GoD have done beautiful things with the Unreal engine and created underworld environments so Hellish you smell the brimstone and ice-caverns so cold your breath crystalizes in front of you. I played it to the end and please believe me when I say that the game isn't about combat, but the sense of being in a story and in a place, and as fantastic as some of these places are that's immensely entertaining.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rune is a breath of fresh air, December 19, 2000

By 

"criesofthecarrots" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rune (CD-ROM)

Having played through the entire set of single player levels included with Rune, I can only say this... "I want MORE!" Granted... the multiplayer aspect is a bit on the weak side, but it certainly has it's moments. I enjoy 1 vs 1 battles the most, and I have to admit; there's few pleasures in online gaming that can measure up to cutting off your friends head... waiting for him to respawn... then beating him mercilessly to death with his own noggin. It truly makes multiplayer Rune worthwhile 8) Not to mention hilarious...

The single player Rune is a great way to kill a day or two. Amazing graphics abound (though a bit on the dark side... I had to max out the screen brightness to see where I was going) and fully customizable controls make it a great play. Though I'm not partial to 3rd person shooters or any Tomb Raider-type games, I found this game quite an enjoyable play. And, on the most difficult setting, downright evil. More stuff to kill would be cool, but I still died plenty of times. At least I'm a chronic saver 8) A little more music would have been nice, but the music that IS there is great and sets the mood well.

I'd recommend this game to pretty much anybody that loves a good solid single player game, or anyone that enjoys deathmatch with friends. (I never fully enjoyed DM unless I knew who I was killing.) I recommend picking up a copy 8)