Review Fix Exclusive: Interview with Aksys Games Co-Founder Alex Neuse

November 2, 2011 Patrick Hickey Jr. Video Games 0

Review Fix chats with Alex Neuse, one of the minds behind Aksys Games’ newest title, “Runner2,” who speaks about the game’s development and its overall goals.

Review Fix: How is this game different from the other games in the series?

Alex Neuse: Runner2 is completely HD, has a fresh new sound style, and gives players more of what they loved about BIT.TRIP RUNNER and less of what they didn’t love. It’s a side story, and while it’s still in the BIT.TRIP canon, it doesn’t contribute to the primary storyline.

Review Fix: All of these games are founded on simple controls and immense difficulty, how will this one stack up?

Neuse: If you played BIT.TRIP RUNNER, Runner2 will seem very familiar.  It has all the same signature moves as the first game, as well as tons of new surprises.  But we are not making the core controls any more complex.  Since RUNNER’s control scheme was so tightly dialed, we ain’t messing with a good thing.

Review Fix: I know the development process has just begun for this title, but how is it going so far?

Neuse: So far, development is going very well.  We’re deep into the prototyping phase, and things are starting to look like fun, which is always an exciting moment on any game.

Review Fix: Can you discuss the new gameplay additions in this title?

Neuse: We aren’t ready to reveal too many new additions at this time, but we will be rolling out bi-weekly nuggets of gold on our development blog at www.runner2.com, so keep watching.

Review Fix: Can you tell us about some of the new features?

Neuse: Some of the new features which we’ve already let slip are that there will be:
– 10+ new abilities for CommanderVideo
– Multiple playable characters
– New difficulty modes and checkpoints
– New costumes for our hero

Review Fix: The games in this series have a die-hard fan base that are constantly looking for improvements and new content. How do you feel this game will be remembered next year at this time?

Neuse: Next year, at this time, I hope this game is remembered for being the ultimate side-scrolling rhythm game ever made.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14917 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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