The first “Avatar Running” (a shortened rendition of its full title, “Avatar Physics: Running”) was apparently a clone of a game named QWOP, a running game where even going a couple of metres is a near insurmountable challenge. Difficult for the sake of difficulty, and with nothing new over QWOP than avatar and gamepad support, I gave it a miss.
“Avatar Running 2” is none of those things. It’s a sequel in name only, as it’s an entirely different (and, I suspect most would agree, substantially superior) game.
In “Avatar Running 2” you run through an obstacle course, jumping over hazards, getting boosts (both vertically and horizontally), and racing up to four people in local, online, or system link multiplayer. It’s more Excitebike (or, my personal favourite moto racer from that era, Pit Stop 2) than it is Track And Field.
Did I mention it supports custom-made courses? It does, and it lets you create courses like this if you so choose:
It’s a cool game to mess around with for 80 Microsoft Points. Never played QWOP? Interested in a fiendishly difficult challenge? Download the original Avatar Running… if you’re a masochist, that is.
Here’s what the developer (AloneSoft) has to say about the game:
“”Avatar Running 2″ is a multiplayer action platformer that offers a multiplayer Score Attack Mode, single player Time Attack Mode, P2P Time Attack rankings, Course design support, and P2P sharing of courses. In Time Attack mode, the ghost of the fastest record is displayed.”
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