Need For Speed The Run Review
Developer Black Box
Publisher EA
Platform PS3, Xbox360, Wii & PC
Release Date Out Now
The “Need for Speed” brand has seen three very different titles from three different studios in the last 12 months since Hot Pursuit arrived this time last year. Shift is taking a very different route and perhaps branching out into a defined series of its own. NFS “The Run” needed to try something to make it stand out and went the route of letting you get out of the car for the first time and incorporating a storyline on top of the games racing element, this is implemented through a series of cut scenes and quick time events.
You play as a young petrol head who has racked up a debt to the mob that he cannot play, you start out tied up and trapped in a car about to be dropped into a hydraulic car compressor. By hitting the right buttons at the right time you are able to advance the QTE’s and escape.
You are then offered a way out by an old friend but it involves you pitting your driving skills against some 200ish of the best drivers, driving some of the hottest cars on the market today in a Gumball style race across the USA.
The race starts out on the hilly streets of San Francisco as the illegal racers head for the start line, once you break out of San Fran. The game makes the jump from street racer to open country side taking in some spectacular scenery as you race through Yosemite National park and up over the icy Colorado Rockies and on through the suburb streets of Vegas on your way to New York. All of which are rendered beautifully using the Frostbite 2 engine (the same engine used for Battlefield 3).
Each stage is split into a number of different races which have a variety of different tasks to complete. These can range from having to overtake a set number of cars, Time attacks which just involves hitting the next check point before the clock runs out or the battle mode that requires you to pass an opponent before the clock runs out but to also stay in the lead so he is eliminated when the timers reaches zero all the time battling the clock, other racers and of course the cops.
Handling took a little getting used to but I was quite quickly able to start sliding the cars around with ease, the narrow tracks outside of the city prove the most tasking as any verrying off the track results in an automatic disqualification triggering the rewind feature. If you crash or stray slightly off the track the game rewinds to the previous check point you can also force it yourself by hitting select. A great feature for crashes but really annoying when you just go off road momentarily. Restarts are limited for each race but you don’t really need them all unless you are a terrible driver.
The game does boast lots of challenges for the single player to compete in outside of the story mode and also plenty of online fun too, as well as the autolog which builds competition between your friends. The main story can be finished in under 3 hours, with large chunks of that spent watching loading screens and XP totting up for things you are not quite sure how you unlocked or what they will ever do. It is quite short but with all the other racing options it was a nice touch.
NFS brought in Michael Bay to help produce an advert but his touch doesn’t stop there, the presentation of the game is very much in his style with way too many sound effects and over the top slow motion sequences in reality it spends far too long trying to be cool with very little substance behind it.
I did really enjoy how the car moves around the screen, sliding around the corner will kick the back of the car out into the bottom corner of the screen, this goes a long way to making it look like the car is driving on the road rather than the road just passing underneath it.
Overall : NFS The Run is presented quite well, although at times I wondered if it needed so much going on in between the races. The load times are killer and the story kind of falls apart half way through it almost like they just lost interest themselves. But in saying that, it does looks and plays quite well, if you are looking for a racer that isn’t too serious then The Run is a perfect fit.
SCORE 7/10
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