''Felony 11-79'', known in Japan as , is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

and published by Yanoman and

ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...

for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

in 1997. It was part of a late 1990s wave of driving games which encourage the player to create chaos and destruction, being preceded by ''

Die Hard Trilogy ''Die Hard Trilogy'' is an action video game based on the first three installments of the ''Die Hard'' series of action movies. ''Die Hard Trilogy'' features three games in one, each based on a movie installment and featuring a different genre ...

'' and ''

Carmageddon ''Carmageddon'' is a vehicular combat video game released for personal computers in 1997. It was produced by Stainless Games and published by Interplay Productions and Sales Curve Interactive. It was later ported to other platforms, and spawned ...

''. A sequel to the game, called '' Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition'', was released in 2000.

Gameplay

The first game in the '' Runabout'' series was known outside Asia as ''Felony 11–79'' and was designed and produced by Kan Naito. It features three separate environments (Down Town, Sea Side, Metro City) and a test course as opposed to the later games' use of one city. Most of the player's time is spent unlocking the game's many bonus vehicles. Players can set the car's performance, including steering, front suspension, rear suspension, grip balance, acceleration and brake. Each car has a different performance rate (horsepower, torque, length, weight, fuel). Players may need to refill the tank.

Development

Though Climax were primarily developing games for the

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...

at the time, they concluded ''Runabout'' would be easier to produce on the PlayStation.

Reception

The game received above-average reviews according to the

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website

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

. In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave it a score of 30 out of 40. Critics almost unanimously commented that while the game has an enjoyable concept, the game is too lacking in longevity to be worth buying. Shawn Smith of ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'' argued that the game has plenty of replay value in the form of numerous unlockable cars, two unlockable tracks, and hidden routes, but the vast majority of reviewers (including all three of Smith's co-reviewers) pointed out that one can unlock all the tracks, play through the entire game with all the basic vehicle types, and explore all the routes in just two to five hours, and said they would rather have more tracks than the 20 unlockable cars. ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' summarized the game as "a must-rent". Some reviewers also complained at the fact that it is impossible to run over pedestrians, and '' Next Generation'' criticized that the story's ending is disappointingly brief and trite, given that Climax were known for their involved and original storylines. ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' and ''GamePro'' both praised the

surf-rock Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a Music genre, genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is in ...

soundtrack.

Notes

References

External links

* {{moby game, id=/playstation/felony-11-79 1997 video games ASCII Corporation games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation (console)-only games Racing video games Video games developed in Japan