JETRUNNER

I put a weekend into JETRUNNER expecting a mid-budget Neon White knock-off, and what I got was one of the most satisfying movement games to come out of the indie space in years. The core loop is simple to grasp: you are Nina White, a rookie jetrunner from New York grinding her way up the global rankings across six chapters and over 60 hand-crafted arenas. You run, you jump, you slide, you wall-run on basically any surface, and you shoot targets to open the exit gate. The early levels teach you that much in about ten minutes. Then the game starts handing you gadgets - grapple hooks, freeze rays, explosives - and suddenly every arena becomes a puzzle about which combination of tools gets you through three seconds faster. That escalating toolkit is JETRUNNER's smartest design decision, because by the time the later chapters are demanding near-perfect chains of wall-runs, boosts, and precision shots, you've already earned the muscle memory to pull it off. The movement genuinely earns its comparisons to Titanfall. Wall-running isn't limited to specific painted strips - you can latch onto almost anything, which means route-finding feels genuinely open rather than prescripted. The Trackmania comparison is just as fair: the real game starts after you clear a level the first time, because then you're hunting shortcuts, racing your ghost, and obsessing over shaving fractions of a second for a shot at the global leaderboard. Full controller support is solid, and for a game this reaction-speed-dependent, the input feel on a pad holds up well - no wheel or HOTAS required here, obviously, but gamepad players will feel right at home. A few things wobble. The shooting is functional but occasionally feels like a checklist item rather than a genuine skill test - you are mostly just hitting big glowing targets mid-flow rather than engaging in any real gunfight. Track difficulty is inconsistent, with some later levels spiking hard while others feel a little too gentle. Occasional collision issues can clip a run through no fault of your own, which stings when you're chasing a platinum medal time. The narrative campaign - voiced by a solid cast including Matthew Mercer as sardonic commentator Mick Acaster - is breezy fun, though the story wraps up before it has much to say. One quirk worth knowing: in early levels, scripted dialogue has to finish before you can proceed, which creates awkward waiting periods if you're too quick off the mark. Solo-only, no co-op, no split-screen - so if you came here hoping to set up a Saturday night four-player session, this one won't scratch that itch. What it will scratch is the itch for a precision, replayable score-attack game that respects your time. Runs are bite-sized, restarts are instant, and the leaderboard integration gives you a permanent reason to go back. At roughly 17 hours average to see everything, it's a focused experience that knows exactly what it wants to be. For casual players, completing levels without chasing stars is a perfectly valid way through. For the obsessive crowd, platinum medals and top-50 leaderboard spots will eat weekends.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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