Runbow

Runbow may be visually colourful, but its personality is drab as can be. It’s a nine-player party game with Smash Bros.-lite controls used for racing, survival, and basic platforming modes, and most of its entertainment value comes from the “nine-player” part. The central mechanic is that the background colour constantly changes, making objects that share its hue at a given moment (most notably platforms) functionally non-existent. It’s a solid idea, and it’s brought to life in a number of surprising ways across both the multiplayer modes and the unexpectedly huge campaign. It’s just difficult to muster the enthusiasm it deserves when it’s placed alongside such mediocre platforming and bland presentation. Obviously, discipline is not going to be a high priority for any game that allows nine players on a single screen, so Runbow swings in the opposite direction and aims to facilitate as much chaos as possible. Nearly every moment is occupied by a flurry of punches and jumping mishaps, and there are a handful of inventive power-ups that can completely flip the course of a round. There’s entertainment in that, of course; it’s just not lasting. Even the insanely catchy jazz soundtrack will lose its appeal after a couple hours of constant repetition.