Line #87 VideoGame/UrbanRunner


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/urban_runner_9523.jpg]]
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3	''Urban Runner: Lost in Town'' is a French computer game developed by Coktel Vision and produced by Creator/{{Sierra}} in 1996. The game is a movie adventure spanning four [=CD-ROMs=] controlled by a mouse, divided into Clue and Actions turns. The player character is Max Gardener (voiced by Brandon Massey), an American journalist in Paris, covering a story about a drug dealer shielded by an influential politician. To get the drug lord talking, the player offers him photographs, but when the player arrives, he is dead, and the player is framed for the murder.
4
5	''Urban Runner'' was not too popular at the time due to high graphics and monitor resolution requirements - 640x480 resolution, 256 colors at minimum and 32-bit colors recommended; there are very few reviews that have been released about the game.
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7	Despite the serious premise, the game invokes a deliberate B-movie feel, and the story gradually becomes sillier as it goes on.
8	----
9	!!This VideoGame contains examples of:
10	* EightiesHair: Max has a bad case of this, even though the game was released in the mid-'90s.
11	* AbandonedWarehouse: The first portion of the game appears to take place in one.
12	* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Max runs through one while being chased by Buffalo Bill.
13	* AdvertisedExtra: Buffalo Bill appears on the cover of the game, despite only playing a part in the opening before not appearing in the rest of the game. He doesn't even get a page in the plot recap at the end of the game.
14	* AllThereInTheManual: Apparently, the drugs Dr. Dramish and Kevork were making were supposed to create SuperSoldiers, but you wouldn't get that detail in-game.
15	* AmbitionIsEvil: Lagrange, the young and ambitious politician who is willing to make deals with the criminal underworld to get ahead in the political world.
16	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Adda uses a "pocket laser" to kill Eraser, which knocks him back against the wall. An actual laser weapon wouldn't have any meaningful kinetic force.
17	%%* BarbarianLonghair: Buffalo Bill.
18	%%* BigBad: Kevork.
19	* BondVillainStupidity: Kevork's sniper would have easily killed Max in the restaurant, if Kevork hadn't ''called the restaurant'' just to taunt Max.
20	* BumblingSidekick: Buffalo Bill is ultimately this to Marcos. He can catch up and kill Max on occasion but also makes bumbling mistakes such as not taking the opportunity to kill Max, which allows Max enough time to hatch a trap that sends Bill tumbling down the stairs like an idiot.
21	* TheCharmer: Max is certainly one, if he is to be believed.
22	* ClearMyName: Max's goal is to prove himself innocent of killing Marcos, the dead drug dealer.
23	* CompanyCrossReferences: While Adda goes snooping inside a delivery van, a poster for [[VideoGame/{{Inca}} Inca II: Wiracocha]] can be seen on the wall.
24	* CorruptPolitician: Paul Lagrange, who covers for drug dealers.
25	* DeadlyGas: Used by Kevork in an attempt to kill Max, even though after he escapes the room filled with it, he has no visible problems. Insecticide is later used by Adda to [[spoiler:kill Kevork]].
26	* {{Deuteragonist}}: Adda is one, and the player controls her at points.
27	* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Adda if you choose to let her die.]]
28	* DirtyCop: van Dalle, alledgedly.
29	* DisneyDeath: Happens if [[spoiler:you choose to let Adda survive being shot by Kevork]], even though it looks like [[spoiler:she DiesWideOpen.]]
30	* DistractedByTheSexy: Invoked by Adda to distract Inspector Van Dalle so that Freddy can look for Max's letter, not that we see the effect.
31	* TheDragon: Eraser is one to Kevork.
32	* DramaticChaseOpening: And the only chase scene in the game.
33	* DubInducedPlotHole: Several are opened up due to the dubbing over French acting, such as the lack of explanation over character actions or events.
34	* EvilIsHammy: Kevork is probably the loudest character in the game compared to the protagonists.
35	* FacialCompositeFailure: The police sketch of Max is not accurate to say the least.
36	* FantasticDrug: The capsule that the bad guys are manufacturing, which has a radioactive label for your convenience.
37	* FatBastard: Eraser, the biker thug inside Max's apartment, whom Max nicknames "Fatso" and immediately tries to kill Max.
38	* {{Frameup}}: Max is framed for killing Marcos at the beginning of the game, presumably by the BigBad. [[spoiler:Later, it turns out it was Adda who kills Marcos, making Max into a sort of UnwittingPawn.]]
39	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: When being chased by Buffalo Bill, Max is clearly spotted during several cutscenes and even shot at but the hitman is still looking for him during gameplay. A large majority of the game comes under this trope in fact.
40	* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: None of the guards at Marco's warehouse seem to notice Adda doing very suspicious things in front of them. They even don't realize that they are talking to each other on the phone via a Man in the Middle trick until they see Adda run by.
41	* GunTwirling: Buffalo Bill does this right before the very first gameplay section of the game, where Max is locked in the basement.
42	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Buffalo Bill can at point fire almost directly at Max and not hit him at one point.
43	* ImprovisedWeapon: When faced with a thug in his apartment, Max has the options of kicking a ball at his face or throwing a cuddly toy at him, as well as turning on a flashlight to blind him.
44	** Later, Adda uses a can of insecticide to kill Kevork and a "pocket laser" to kill Eraser.
45	* IntrepidReporter: Max is this...and this job is what gets him into trouble.
46	* IShallTauntYou: Max goads Buffalo Bill into the basement in order to trip him up and knock him out.
47	* {{Jerkass}}: van Dalle is probably intended to be one, not that we actually see it.
48	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Adda can be one, if the player so chooses.]]
49	* TheKillerWasLeftHanded: In a slightly odd variation of the trope, the epilogue explains that Adda killed Marcos with her left hand to avoid suspicion.
50	* LightsOffSomebodyDies: Happens to [[spoiler:Legrange at the restaurant]].
51	* MadeOfPlasticine: While it's less gory than most examples, Inspector van Dalle gets knocked out when Max ''slowly'' closes a trunk on his ''back''.
52	** When Eraser is first encountered, Max deals with him by blinding him with a nearby desk lamp and kicking a handball into his face. He's a really big dude, but this attack levels him. Shortly thereafter Max is able to wrestle the microfilm out of his hand and... he just sort of walks off as Max dives to retrieve it.
53	* MistakenForMurderer: Buffalo Bill, Tony Marcos' bodyguard, chases after Max because he believes that he killed his boss.
54	* MoonLogicPuzzle: The last puzzle will be incredibly tedious to solve if you don't know the last two digits of the code [[spoiler: that weren't given on the microfilm. The hint is Dr. Dramish drawing an X on the floor before she dies. The game just barely alludes to this.]]
55	* MrExposition: Max's narration in the dubbed version is included to explain the plot and what the characters are doing.
56	* MsFanservice: Adda. She even wears a SpyCatsuit at a few points.
57	* MultipleEndings: [[spoiler:Adda can either live or die in the ending. Not in a moralistic decision sense, the game just flat out asks you whether you want her to live or die.]]
58	* NeverTrustATitle: The name of the game would make you think it would be a LeParkour game like ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'', but there's only one chase scene in the entire game and it's a cutscene.
59	* TheNicknamer: Max refers to the thug chasing after him as "Buffalo Bill" and the other thug he encounters in his room as "Fatso" (later revealed to be called Eraser).
60	* OffScreenVillainy: van Dalle, so much so it almost crosses over into DesignatedVillain territory. All his supposed corruption is talked about vaguely by Max in the narration and we never witness it, aside from trying to put Max in the trunk of his car.
61	** [[spoiler:He does try to kill you during the end-game, however, and is seen directly helping the big bad.]]
62	* OhCrap: Max gives this face after his plan to throw the cuddly toy at Eraser doesn't work.
63	* PeekABooCorpse: At the beginning of the game, Max goes to have a talk with a drug dealer. He gets a shock when he finds out that the drug dealer is a corpse.
64	* PersonalMook: Buffalo Bill is this to Marcos, serving as his bodyguard.
65	* PixelHunt: At some part, you have to look around Dr. Dramish's backyard for his security system. The problem is that most of the picture is blurred and you only have a tiny field to focus on to find three security cameras and a magpie that you can easily confuse with the leaves surrounding them.
66	* PlotHole
67	** Pops up if you choose to have Max revisit the hotel first instead of Adda going to the post office. Max manages to knock out Inspector Van Dalle and stuff him in his trunk at the end of his sequence but once Adda's starts, Van Dalle is alright and casually talking to Freddy.
68	** D.D. is found by him lying in a pool of his own blood that we clearly see after trying to escort Adda yet he accompanies Max at the end of the game. This is handwaved by D.D. wearing a bulletproof vest but that doesn't explain the pool of blood.
69	* PoliceAreUseless: Max apparently eludes a city-wide manhunt by jumping over a fence and hiding. Inspector van Dalle is a secondary antagonist, but he's dumb enough to be easily outwitted by both Max and Adda.
70	* PrepareToDie: Said by Kevork near the ending.
71	* ProperlyParanoid: D.D. is right about Max being followed.
72	* PunkInTheTrunk: Van Dalle intends to transport Max in the back of his car. [[spoiler:Its him who ends up in the trunk.]]
73	* SecretUndergroundPassage: In the restaurant.
74	* SlashedThroat: How Tony Marcos dies.[[spoiler: Also Legrange at the restaurant]].
75	* StaircaseTumble: Buffalo Bill goes on one in the opening, resulting in him being knocked out briefly.
76	* StopOrIWillShoot: Buffalo Bill shouts this after he sees Max at the start of the game.
77	* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: After solving the first puzzle of the game to knock out the armed bodyguard ("Buffalo Bill") chasing Max, the player must search "Bill"'s unconscious body to get an item for the next puzzle. The player is not given the option to take Bill's gun (which would neutralize Bill's primary threat) or keys (which would make the next section of the game unnecessary).
78	* SunglassesAtNight: Eraser when he enters the restaurant.
79	* TakeYourTime: Averted. There's a hidden timer in pretty much any scene where it would make sense for there to be one (trapped in a room with deadly gas, a killer is pointing a gun at you), and letting it run out leads to your death(s).
80	* TheSyndicate: They are known as The Elite.
81	* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Like any decent Sierra game, there's many, many ways that Max and Adda can meet their ends.
82	* TimedMission: Occurs late in the game.
83	* UnnaturallyBlueLighting: Noticable in the alleyway where Eraser tries to run down Max.
84	* UnwittingPawn: Max is ultimately one to [[spoiler: Adda, who killed Marcos and Legrange while setting it up to look like Max did it. In the end, he forgives her for it.]]
85	* VehicularAssault: Eraser tries to run Max over at one point. You can [[TooDumbToLive run at the car]], try to jump over it, or roll under it, the latter of which is the correct option.
86	* ViolationOfCommonSense: Throwing a cuddly toy at the thug, among other things.
87	* WalkingShirtlessScene: Max's wears his borrowed clothes at the beginning of the game with the buttons undone. This is subverted when he changes his clothes at home though.
88	* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: For all we know, Buffalo Bill is still roaming the abandoned factory looking for Max, as he isn't seen again afterwards.
89	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: After Max is chased into a dead end, Buffalo Bill, for no reason, locks him in, giving him just enough time to conduct up an escape plan, instead of just walking in there and killing him at the start.
90	* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Max, who is framed for murder and has to prove his innocence, goes on to commit theft, arson, assault of a police officer, and at least two counts of murder.
91	* YouKilledMyFather: Adda's father and brother were killed by Kevork and his goons before the start of the story [[spoiler:and she manages to kill him using insecticide]].

Context VideoGame / UrbanRunner