Need for Speed: The Run

The Need for Speed series had for a long time languished in the sleazy end of gaming. Obsessed with street racing, car modding, and scantily clad girls, it was a game series for those who think 'Nuts' is a quality publication. Last year however, Criterion games reinvented the series with Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. The sleaze was gone, as were the city based illegal racing and tabloid sensibilities. Replacing them was a kind of A to B racing across open country, as with a game like Out Run. The game wasn't perfect, particularly on the frame rate front, but it was a successful re-invention.

Now we have Need for Speed The Run, a game which on the surface appears very similar to Hot Pursuit. It'a also A to B racing, this time across all of America, and it even has a set-up this time - it's essentially a video game version of The Cannonball Run, or The Gumball Rally. So far so good...

Sadly it starts to go wrong at this point. Not content with the Cannonball Run set-up, there is an additional story about being chased by the mob. It's never fleshed out in any way and is therefore totally meaningless and adds nothing. The game also has a cast, which consists of a highly obnoxious and truly hateful main character, his girlfriend, and a bunch of 'rivals', who if they're men all look like murderers, and if they're women look like strippers. Classy stuff EA.

The game itself is a series of short stages, typically 2-5 minutes long, rather than an Outrun style non-stop race. The locations change regularly as you would expect, with the early stuff set in Yosemite Park and The Rockies working well. Once they're over, it's all downhill unfortunately. I can't say how accurate the scenery is, but if it's in any way like the real America, I think you can safely cross it off your 'to visit' list. There are a lot of industrial estates, chemical plants, empty fields, and boring motorways. Yes, motorways. Some stages of The Run are like being stuck in traffic on the M6.

The game tries to add life to the ugly scenery by mixing up the objectives of each stage. Some are checkpoint races, some are elimination races, some are straight races where you must beat a certain number of other drivers by the end, and some are one on one rival races. This leads me to the biggest problem with The Run by far - the A.I.. The other drivers never feel like real drivers, they feel like scripted cheats. Most stages against A.I. follow much the same formula - you'll make virtually no progress until the near end of the stage, when in the last half a mile or so all the A.I. cars will let you catch them up for a heated final showdown. Should you manage to get ahead before you're supposed to, the A.I. cars will usually rocket past you with completely impossible speed and handling. It all feels fake, like you're not really playing the game. Bizarrely the game also has levels where you're attacked by the mob. They attack with enormous black cars armed with machine guns (yes, really), which are surprisingly capable of comfortably outrunning a Lamborghini despite being as aerodynamic as a brick. They even attack with a helicopter gunship at one point, which is so absurd and laughable as to be nearly game breaking.

The difficulty is also above average, with some nasty spikes in places, so be ready to re-play some stages many times to get past them. Despite that, the game is short, - my in game clock read 2 hours and 20 minutes when I had finished the game, but you could add another hour onto that with all the failed attempts on various levels.

Despite the many flaws there is still an enjoyable game in here, it's just difficult to get to thanks to the cheating A.I., heavily scripted feel of everything, truly obnoxious characters, brainless story, and forgettable scenery. Had this been a pure A to B race, had fair A.I. opponents, and been set in Europe, it would have been hugely improved. Needless to say if you haven't got Hot Pursuit yet, buy that instead.

Don't often write reviews, but I was surprised by how differently this game is perceived by different people.
I've played pretty much all the NFS games on various platforms. I've experienced a quite diverse level of enjoyment depending on the installment I was playing. My favourite by far remains NFS Hot pursuit on the old Gamecube. That was just superb.
So I was curious about 'The Run'. The cops were in it, and you had a set course to run. No tuning of cars (barring the odd body kit) and no real chance to buy/upgrade you car either unless you actually unlock it first.
In fact, it felt a bit like the old Cannonball run movies......

So the game itself. It's not rocket science and it plays a lot like previous NFS games. The graphics were ok, but nothing special. Sound is good. Handling is arcadey, as you would expect. Drifting round corners is a lot easier than you think it's going to be. It's bascially not a hard game to pick up at all. The resets are not a bad idea as it means you can crash out three quarters of a way through a race, and not have to start from scratch. I admit, it's cheating a bit, but I prefer that rather than having to redo a full 10 minute race.

The cop roadblocks are fairly easy to avoid, or blast through. In fact, I found that the cops were just a nuissance,but I also never really felt like I was in any danger of being taken down. It's inevitably a bad judgement call that will send you flying off the side of the road, rather than pressure from the police. So I'm not going to say they add much to the game play. The only thing they add is traffic. When you're trying to pick a gape between two racers just in front of you, and a police car nudges you off target by an inch, it can really annoy you, but that's about it. The mob encounters are considerably trickier as they tend to shoot at you, but I won't spoil the plot (if you can call it that.....).

There are cut scenes where you're out of the car, that require a bit of button pushing at the right time, in the right sequence, but they're just an interlude to the driving. Not too hard, and not particularly interesting, but not bad either.

The cars are fantastically reproduced. They look stunning, and as you progress and get slightly faster cars unlocked, it becomes quite exciting getting behind the wheel of a supercar.

I also found the idea of driving accross the US quite good. The change of scenery is very well done. The driving conditions also change as the climate changes. It's just good old fashioned fun. There are shortcuts and jumps, hairpins etc to make you test your skills. All good.

The gas stations are indeed a bit weird. In fact they appear every now and then to allow you to change your car. They're good at the beginning of a race as you can change to a car suited to the course, but every now and then,they're right at the end of a race/course. This seems a bit weird, especially as you're often neck and neck with a rival at the end of a course, so the idea of stopping to change cars is ludicrous.

Nonetheless, this is a great game. I have also got, BF3 on my PC, Batman Arkham City and Assasins Creed revelations as my current games, either on my PC or on my PS3. I spend most of my game time (as much as my wife allows me) on BF3 on my PC as I play online with friends. Before I got NFS, I was occasionally taking breaks to play Batman. Assasins is on hold for a later date. When I got hold of NFs, I honestly couldn't stop playing. Its addictive because you can see the goal you need to achieve, and if you're competitive like me, you'll want to keep playing till you to your goal. The fact that this involves racing ludicrously fast cars around lovely rural and city settings in the US, being chased by the mob and the cops, is surely just a bonus.

I loved it. It's meant to be about having fun. This game certainly delivers.

Dear Fellow-Gamers, this is my first review on Amazon and it is for this particular game because I strongly feel that it is underrated. I own quite a lot of racing games on the PS3 and on other systems so I feel that I can compare it with other games from the same genre.

Graphics: In my eyes simply stunning, when you stop the car, the graphics can look a bit blocky and there is room for improovements on details such as the vegetation, but as soon as you are racing along with 200km/h (and that is what you are doing most of the time) it looks and mooves great with a very satisfying feeling for speed and draw distance.

Sound: The music is nothing special (again to my personal taste) however the engine sounds are beefy and they differ a lot from car to car. Also the engine sounds from your competition are nicely done and are true audio candy.

Gameplay: Here I have my issues with most of the critical reviews! The game is fantastic and satisfying if you like simple, fast arcade action. This game is not a super hard car simulation but rather a "Test Drive" (an accolade classic, well known to the elder gamers among you) on steroids! The game is fast paced, the story simple and the action comes immediate with the ignition of your virtual engine. The steering is perfect in my eyes for an arcade racer and the content/value for the asked for price is great. I am again and again amazed what kind of progress the game industry went through in the last 20 years, this game is a dream come true for me and reminds me of old arcade racer gems such as Out Run, Test Drive, Chase H.Q. Also the choice of cars is solid, with a nice choice of the most expensive and exclusive supercars.

Hardcore Driving Simulation fans however are likely to be disappointed with this BlueRay disc and should rather stick with Gran Turismo.

kind regards, your Retrogamer.