Game Review: Need For Speed: The Run

Game: Need for Speed: The Run
Console: Sony Playstation 3
Developer: EA Black Box
Release Date: 18th November 2011

Featuring a race from San Francisco to New York as its main story mode, Need For Speed: The Run evokes memories of Cruis'n USA and other games which have attempted this sort of idea. Players take control of Jack, who is in debt to the mob after having been lent the starting capital for his business. After being kidnapped, Jack escapes via a QTE sequence and begins his journey with the intention of winning the 25 million dollar jackpot, helped along by his business partner and former girlfriend, Sam, via satellite link.

Every stage of The Run mode is a point-to-point style race, with players starting in whichever position they were last in overall, tasked to overtake a set number of opponents, battle rivals or complete time trials in order to make up time. There are three major checkpoints along the way; Las Vegas (where players aim to be 150th), Chicago (where the aim is to be 50th) and New York (where the aim is to win). Players can't fail in reaching these stages in the required positions as each individual race must have its victory conditions met to continue.

The locations featured throughout the journey look beautiful and there's a nice variety of settings as players make their way across America. The main mode is by no means long, and can be completed in 2 or 3 sittings, depending on the player's dedication. There's a huge selection of cars in the game, though not all can be selected in The Run mode, and some are even locked until players have completed several online achievements.

The handling of cars feels almost perfectly matched for the style of the game; it's possible to reach massive speed and not have to worry too much about losing control of the car. Overtaking is relatively simple and braking is always effective enough to make cornering easy. Nitrous is featured in the game and recharges as players drive aggressively, with upgrades when players hit XP milestones.

Every now and then, the action will be interrupted by a cutscene or QTE, expanding the story. It's hard to say whether these detract from the game at all; they certainly don't feel at home in a Need For Speed game, but I probably wouldn't have questioned them if this was a standalone game from another series. The story isn't too heavily pushed onto players, and it only seems to affect a few races in total.

A bigger problem for the game is just how much AI rubberbanding features in races. Much of the time when leading a race, and travelling at a car's top speed, opponents will cruise by and overtake, despite the unfairness of such a move. Conversely, completing much of the final race of the game with R2 only half depressed can still result in a victory with a final burst of speed. Challenge Series also suffers from these problems and is far more boring than The Run mode, despite being somewhat like an arcade mode from games of the past.

Graphically the game is lovely and features the very best of America's landmarks and sights; I loved flying through 'Hurricane Alley' and the plains. It's true that there's not a lot of stages with major excitement and players looking for a true arcade racing experience may be disappointed, but the sense of speed and lighting effects featured in the game are some of the best I've seen in the seventh generation of consoles.

Overall, Need For Speed: The Run breaks away from the traditional circuit racing formula of the Need For Speed series and presents an interesting and fairly original idea for a main mode, which features a cinematic story that may interest some players. Challenge Series and Online mode present rather more pedestrian levels of interest, and show that the developer focus was leaning somewhat towards the online modes, with the XP system and constant profile badge unlocks. Despite this I'd gladly play through The Run mode again in a few months thanks to some high octane racing action and beautiful landscapes.

Rating: 80/100
Grade: B