
If you spend a fair amount of time in the bonus round the coloured icons will boost your power in the later levels. The hourglass icon refers to how much time you spend in the bonus rounds, In these you are given a free run to collect as many coloured icons as possible in the time given. The Magic Meter on the side of the screen represents the level of spell you can perform such as improving your speed around the grid and building bridges to connect across the sky, as well as placing mines in the path of your enemy.

Flags are not the only thing you can collect, on the grid are power-ups which are shown in three colours Blue for Agility, Green for Speed and Red for Magic. All enemies become more and more challenging as the game progresses, getting faster and more tricky to tag. The enemies are also highly detailed and feature such creatures as Krayken the Lobster Man, Kolo the Mammoth Man and Lethotep the Lizard Man etc. There are 16 planets in all and these feature fog, bubbles and ice which make it harder to move around the grid. What makes Grid Runner different from other puzzle games is the high content of gameplay and graphics which makes it like a Pac-Manof the nineties, spruced up with brilliant 3-D graphics and wonderful backdrops of the planets. The aim of the game is to collect all the needed flags before your opponent. To collect flags simply run into them and they will turn into your respective colour, but if you become 'It' (an arrow will appear above your head telling you where the other player is) your opponent can change the flag to their colour thus gaining them another flag. If you manage to grab a flag before your opponent does then they become 'It' which means they must touch you to gain control and so the roles are reversed. Grid Running requires both skill and intelligence as players travel around a maze-like grid collecting flags before their opponent. On finding a deserted vessel, Axxel decides to board the ship to find clues but soon finds out it's a trap set by the evil Empress Vorga who, in her seedy underworld of levels gives Axxel a decision of either being a Grid Runner or facing Death! Grid Running FeaturesĪn exploration team compromising of two well-known freelance explorers, Axxel and Tara, have used the Gridoneon Asteroid field to connect with earth and other planets many times before, but when ships start to go missing the area is closed and Axxel and Tara must investigate.

It combines action-packed gameplay and impressive 3-D graphics with traditional puzzle solving, resulting in a fast and furiously addictive title. Grid Runner is the new action/puzzle game from Virgin Interactive.
