Rhythm Runner

Rhythm Runner is a runner where the music sets the course. Pick one of six cartoon runners and head out across a sunny meadow, a city at dusk, a crystal cave and a path through the clouds. Every crate, gap and hanging bar sits on a kick or a snare of the song that is playing, so you jump and slide in time with the drums. Hit the beat dead on for a perfect: it scores the most, makes your runner glow and builds a combo multiplier, and a crowd of animals pops up to cheer at every combo milestone.

There are twenty-four original tracks in four worlds, from a gentle 88 BPM first song that teaches the moves to a 142 BPM finale, all synthesised in your browser with lead, bass, pads and drums. Each song is a quick run of about a minute with a par score, a best score and up to three stars. A missed beat is a stumble that costs the combo and a little score, never the run, so every song plays through to the end. For something longer, Marathon is an endless run whose tempo rises every 32 bars as it moves through all four worlds, chasing your high score.

Obstacles show up two bars ahead on the track and on a beat timeline at the top of the screen, the ground pulses on every beat and a ring above your runner fills up for the next move, so the rhythm reads just as well with the sound off. A tap-along calibration screen measures your timing and remembers the offset. On a keyboard, Space or the up arrow jumps and the down arrow slides; on a touch screen, tap to jump and swipe down to slide, or use the big Jump and Slide pads. P pauses, M mutes, and your scores stay in your browser.