Is it possible to download the original release and play that offline maybe? Or is this game un-playable entirely now?
You can easily download the .apk files from any third party source and install it on your phone without much issue (assuming your carrier doesn't have it locked down. Speaking Android only since I think Apple is more a walled garden) and the game can still be played without much extra issue that the game itself doesn't pack.
Those who didn't like the game because of the ads will be pleased to know they they have all been removed. It looks like the ads broke some requirement or something, which might explain why the game was pulled from the US store. (I assume it must be back in the US now). Of course, it also means no more video revives.
I'd like to know this too. Also I can't seem to find an article or anything saying ads are removes, is that on the store page or something?
I can confirm on my end that load times are quicker, and that's pretty much it. The game has been running smoothly for that past month or so for me. Also the game notifies you when you launch it that ads were removed.
Sonic Runners is a RAM hungry game, so the performance will vary from device to device. Even two of the same devices with different apps installed (and so different amounts of RAM being used) will have different results. So the best way to check the performance is to test it on your own device. --- I don't why Sega couldn't have made the ads opt-in. Removing the video revives is a big disappointment. I'm guessing without the cash the ads bring, it wont be long before the game is dropped.
You're in an extreme minority then. For most people, particularly Android users, it was poor performance. I'm an iPhone 5S user myself, and although the game has always run absolutely fine, using the video revives has been a huge risk ever since version 2.0 came out (or maybe before? I can't remember). Basically, a great deal of the time the ads would load incorrectly and you'd be unable to continue your run. This meant that you'd either have to plummet in the leaderboards as everyone else got a free revive to extend their runs or spend extra red rings (and still miss out on the free revive). Plus if you used any rings or power-ups to enhance your score, they'd all be for nought when the game crashed.
As an iPhone 5C user, I used to face rather infrequent split second freezes that would always trip me up. At some point, the rate of occurrence increased and it's now two to three times per minute, which makes me not want to play. Still seems to be the case, sadly. I miss the soft launch days when it performed well for me.
The game closes on 27th June. I don't know why they couldn't turn it into an offline only game, rather than scrapping it all together. Typical Sega: They are on the ball when it comes to memes and teasers, but fail at the gameplay side of things. It would be nice if they could release a script of the game story, as it clears up a few things about the Sonic universe. However, I think it will be lost forever.
About to post that. I had been enjoying Sonic Runners kinda. Despite the pain to get red star rings to go onto the roulette and NOT get a character. They might as well unlock everything for the last month of the game.
I've been enjoying this game recently, but I'm neither surprised nor particularly upset to see it go. The monthly userbase is pathetic if the Facebook logins are any indication, and SEGA themselves admitted that it was a failing title. The game was buggy at times are it's performance was a real mess. Lots of modern devices couldn't handle it and even those that could were plagued by terrible loading times. It could take two to three minutes just to start up a run, which will likely last for less time than that. And good forbid you had to change up your team and needed to wait for every single icon on the screen to load. And all the work you'd pour into getting Red Star Rings that would ultimately lead to one shitty buddy that nobody would ever use. No, Runners is a cool game at it's core, but a really badly designed mobile that shows a great deal of easily avoidable mistakes that SEGA didn't take the time to fix up. I would much rather play it that either of Dash games, but at least those games do what they're supposed to do. Here's just a random list of things I think the game needed to improve... No particular order: - Red rings should be used to buy buddies and characters directly, not roulette spins. - Red rings should be more readily available/items should be cheaper. - The only roulette should be the login roulette. - Loading times are an embarrassment. - Way too many confusing menus. Cut them right down. - Inability to pick levels. Really obstructive to playing the game how you want to. - All of the normal-grade and many of the rare-grade buddies are worthless. Get rid of them. - Scoring is still unclear. It's hard to know what gets you what. What else am I missing?
How much are the game's data can be saved and recreated in an offline version? Doesn't the game run on Unity?
That's what I don't understand. They've spent all this time making this game. It would probably only take them a couple of days to create an offline version which they could sell for $2.99 (and they could probably have in app purchases as a short cut for getting the rare items). Instead, they just end it all.
It depends on how much of data is stored locally. Anyway, I'd like someone on Android who got far into the game (for example, all the story mode unlocked) to dump data and do network log during playing session (requires rooted device, even better if it's an emulator). It'll surely help for further research should they decide to shutdown the game completely. If anyone can do it (I'll try to explain how), write me in PM.