Are you a fan of parkour but don’t have the time or physical options to go out and do it as much as you would like? If so, then you may find ParkourGames to be one of the best sites on the web for you. It features multiple different games that are based on the parkour sport and of course the best part is that they are all completely free!
Among the best games on ParkourGames are Free Running and Urban Thrill. Both of these games offer the parkour enthusiast a quick and easy ‘fix’ without leaving the comfort of their web browser.
Parkour is the ‘art’ of moving from one place to another as quickly as possible while being as creative as possible with the obstacles along the way. It is also some times called free running and has become one of the most popular sports in the world, having begun as an underground movement and finally moving into the spotlight of accepted sport. That being the case, there were bound to eventually be video games based on the concept and ParkourGames is a great web site that offers nothing but those types. Here are two of my personal favorites.
Free Running is one of the best parkour based games I have seen on the web. It features some very well rendered 3D graphics, and a supremely simple but satisfying control scheme. The idea is to run as quickly as possible through the courses and gather as many bonuses as possible. There are stars to add extra points, stopwatches to get extra time bonuses and cameras to gain a brief 360 view in slo mo. Each of these is its own reward but stringing them together in a combo is a satisfying goal as well since it will lead, ultimately, to a better score.
There’s nothing to download, per se, for Free Running but it does require the Shockwave player on your browser so you may need to install that. The only downside I found was the small screen size and the fact that the Shockwave player wanted to install some spam ware. The spam ware is easily avoided by declining it when installing and the small screen size is a very minor con for a free web based game. This one is best for the casual gamer that wants a quick simple way to have parkour based fun without a lot of complex action and difficulty.
For the more experienced and consummate platform gamer, Urban Thrill offers a slightly more in depth and complex experience in a side scrolling parkour challenge. The graphics are cute and smooth and the controls are more advanced and varied than Free Running. The game play itself features numerous moves and options that you don’t find in Free Running and can provide a more hectic and thrilling parkour simulation experience. Some moves are automatic and some require specific key combos. There are power-ups and other obstacles to worry about along the way, too, much as in real life where an energy bar or an officious police officer can make or break your run.
Both of these games are excellent examples of what the web has to offer for free to the parkour enthusiast and the casual gamer in all of us. The entire web site of ParkourGames is full of these kinds of games and while most of them won’t blow you away with their advanced graphics or million dollar development budgets, they are all solid on game play and are well designed and implemented. What more can we ask for from a web site of free games? Until next time, my friends!
- Check out ParkourGames here. Alternately, check out Free Running and Urban Thrill.
