Before you can step on to Burnout Running’s treadmill you have to stretch. The attendant walked me and three other players through a series of basic wrist loosening motions and a modified version of the runners stretch. Afterwards every gets on a treadmill, but it’s not an automatic treadmill. The game is about running fast, not keeping up with a set pace. Players have to push metal bars linked underneath the rubbery mat backwards. The faster you push the bars, the faster your character runs on screen.
The first event is a sprint, but running with the game isn’t like real life. You hold onto an orange bar on the front of the machine and dash as fast as you can. I felt like I was a hamster in a wheel, minus the wheel. When you get to the finish line you have to push the action button, which is placed on the front of the treadmill. Everyone gets points based on their time and it’s off to the next event, the hurdles.
Sprinting was designed to get everyone comfortable with running and button pressing. The hurdles event takes the mechanics a step further by adding in rhythm-like button pressing. If you miss hitting the button your runner dashes straight into the hurdle and your speed drops down to zero. The race is so short there isn’t much of a way to catch up if you hit a hurdle. You can only hope someone else makes a mistake or you’re going to end up in last place.
All the way at the end is the long jump. Again the goal is to run as fast as you can, but the twist is you have to hit the action button before you pass the line. If you go over you get a foul and the jump doesn’t count. You get two tries and then the total score for each event is added up. Everyone claps for the winner and Sega’s five minute arcade workout ends.
It's an interesting concept, maybe not for arcades in the USA, but a game like Burnout Running is something that would work well in a health club or maybe an elementary school with a tiny gym.
