Out at midnight: Pendulo goes back to its roots with franchise pioneer Runaway: A Road Adventure

Pendulo's point-and-click series Runaway hasn't exactly gone down a storm here at Pocket Gamer. You see, we gave spin-off Hidden Runaway a 6, and pelted A Twist of Fate with a 4.

Maybe Runaway: A Road Adventure, Pendulo's iOS port of the 2003 game that started it all, will finally win us over.

The game stars Brian Basco (a shy physics student on a road trip) and his new pal Gina Timmins (a stripper who witnesses a mob hit). With the mafia on their tail, Brian and Gina must escape from New York.

This generally involves solving a series of obtuse item combination puzzles and delving into dialogue trees with oddball characters. The usual stuff.

All told, Runaway: A Road Adventure boasts 100 environments, about 30 characters, and loads of puzzles. There's also a hint system; a new interface for the touchscreen; and translations for English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian speakers.

At release a decade ago, Runaway: A Road Adventure received rather middling reviews, though Adventure Gamers called it "an incredibly beautiful and enjoyable adventure with a story that is both accessible and escapist".

Whatever the case, let's hope this iOS edition is better than Runaway: A Twist of Fate, which we criticised for the "shoddy puzzle design and cringeworthy comedy - wrapped up in a bloated, bug-ridden app".

Runaway: A Road Adventure will surface on the UK and US App Stores at midnight tonight. It will cost £2.99 / $4.99.