Running Wild

by 989 STUDIOS

Product Features

• 6 wild and crazy characters, each with special racing styles and skills.
• Incredible 3D graphics speed your way at 60 frames per second.
• Race through 4 thrilling (and 2 hidden) courses, including a flaming Volcano, a snowy Arctic, and a hot and dry Desert.
• Power-ups include the ability to grow big, fly, pass through objects or turn other players' worlds to mud.
• Precision character controls provide a realistic racing feel.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000034DCB
• Item Weight: 5 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,301 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

Racing games have really become a wasteland. Lack of innovation in an already overcrowded genre is causing the games to suffer from cookie-cutter syndrome. Running Wild may be a racing game, but it really does things differently. Here, you race as bipedal animals, and you must jump over all sorts of obstacles to succeed. Think the original Crash Bandicoot's perspective with a whole lot more speed.

There are six tracks in the game, each with a vastly different theme. Also, depending on the difficulty setting, the track will be adorned with various obstacles that force you to steer a little more precisely. There are six characters to choose from, each with different attributes. The elephant is strong, the bull can turn very well, while the zebra is the all-around racer. There are also hidden boss characters in the game, which are unlocked by beating challenge mode on the hardest setting. Aside from the challenge mode, there's also a circuit mode, a time trial mode (which allows you to race against your best time), and a single-race mode.

The gameplay in Running Wild is surprisingly fun. There is a variety of speed-ups and other power-ups on the track, some of which will make you bigger, allowing you to simply stomp your competition. Others will give you weapons. But the speed power-ups are the most important, as they'll increase your top speed. If you go through a race without collecting any of them, you have no hope of winning.

The graphics in Running Wild are simple, yet effective. The characters and tracks have a very Warner Bros. look to them, and the game runs at a very high frame rate. The smooth frame rate really gives the game a nice feeling of speed. The sound and music fit in well with the cartoony feel of the game.

It's nice to see a fresh take on the racing-game genre. Running Wild manages to be a fun enough game, with enough secrets and well-disguised track variations to keep you interested. It's definitely worth a rental. --Jeff Gerstmann
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A awsome game for slow runners!, April 16, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Running Wild (Video Game)

When you buy Running Wild, you will run wild yourself! With this game you can race your friends, and win even though you're slow as a turtle, and they are as fast as a rabbit. You can choose from 6 different characters, and then change the color of their clothes! You can pick up icons on the ground and you can turn your opponents world into : mud,ice, and even make yourself twice everybody's size. You can make yourself,fly and turn yourself invisible! You can take detours or secret short cuts. It's 1 to 4 players, so beat your friends to their grave with die hard replays! Running Wild is rated E for everyone and I say 5 out of every 5 people who play it will love this electric, ready to explode fun packed game.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An old classic, January 2, 2004

By 

Tyler Walker (Pipersville, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running Wild (Video Game)

Yes, the game does indeed look quite dated when put next to new games such as Final Fantasy X-2. But, few modern games can capture the pure excitment and action that this game does. Trust me. Besides the cartoony characters, the game does hold up with older kids. It's fun unlocking new people and finding secrets. People who don't like the game probably don't play the game you're supposed to. And when it comes time to race hard Boss Characters they're probobly going to lose. Yes, the characters do sort of follow the course when you do control them. But they don't follow the best course. It takes a high level of skill to be really good at this game. It's easy to learn, but difficult to master. Like any good racing game, there are lots of little things in the map that, when used right, contribute to you success. All in all, a great game that will last for a while.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Underrated PSX Racer Ever!, April 5, 2005

By 

D. Weber "CD Nut" (Crystal Lake, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Running Wild (Video Game)

I usually don't care too much about racing games, especially since so many of them utilize the same old "go-kart" formula. I even came across a few games in particular that I absolutely despised as the result of their faulty control, lousy graphics, and the CPU opponents' relatively cheap AI. However, there's always an exception to the rule, and the exception to my rule of unpleasant racing games is Running Wild. To begin with, the premise in this lesser-known and difficult-to-find title by 989 Studios and Universal Interactive is different from most racers in that the player is not asked to drive a vehicle of any kind to the finish line, but rather take control of one of six clever-looking bipedal animal track stars and run them around one of twenty-one beautifully designed race courses--each with its own unique theme, shortcuts, and obstacles. There are plenty of impressive power-ups to collect along the way, too, like winged talismans that enable flight, ghost symbols that allow racers to pass through debris and certain barriers, weapon icons that allow competitors to shrink their opponents or have them slip on ice or trudge through mud, and--of course--the traditional turbo power-up for that extra boost of speed. Additionally, each animal has his or her own statistics that determine how he or she can reach and/or maintain top speed, how well he or she can maneuver around sharp turns, and how high or long he or she can jump past scorching pools of lava or prickly patches of thorn weeds. There are also plenty of secrets to unlock, such as increasingly tricky levels of difficulty, six disturbingly skilled "boss" racers, and the option of racing against tiny opponents whom the player can easily crush by jumping and stomping upon their tiny, slow, moving tail-ends. Finally, Running Wild everything that most other racing games are not: It has easy-to-learn controls, the most gorgeous graphics of ANY game for the original Sony PlayStation, and computer-controlled opponents who pose gamers a serious challenge without being downright invincible.

If you're getting tired of all the run-of-the-mill go-kart racers available for the PSX and are looking for something that proves to be a commendable change of pace, I strongly recommend you try Running Wild. This is one game that definitely lives up to its name!