Need for Speed The Run Review

Out of all the developers that have handled Need for Speed titles in the past, EA developer Black Box has managed to create quite a few of the installments in the franchise. All of their console hits have included the highly acclaimed Need for Speed Underground and Underground 2, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Need for Speed: Carbon, Need for Speed: ProStreet, and Need for Speed: Undercover. Ever since the release of Need for Speed: Most Wanted (my personal favorite), Black Box has hardly delivered anything groundbreaking for the popular racing series. Their latest release Need for Speed: The Run is the 18th title in the franchise and delivers some classic action with an interesting plot, but comes up just a little short of the finish line to be considered the best in the series. The game opens like a scene out of the film Gone in 60 Seconds with bad boy racer Jack Rourke being caught in a dire situation with some powerful criminals in which he'll have to escape. After Jack's evasive departure, he finds himself presented by an associate with a $25,000,000 race called “The Run” in which he'll get ten percent of the cut.

Just enough money and a little more to pay whatever his debt is with the bad guys. The stakes of the race is a 3000 mile cruise and bruise among 200 other drivers that begins in San Francisco and concludes its finish line in New York. I felt like this was an appealing plot for a racing game, but the game struggles between keeping players interested in the story and its characters and the arcade-like gameplay. I wanted to actually be interested in Jack's struggle, but after awhile I realized The Run took itself more seriously as just a racing game than it cared to present any aesthetics to its story. It's just a generally unbelievable plot (not in the good way) full of racing cliches, boring characters, and a world that just doesn't fit in with the arcade gameplay. There isn't even a valid conclusion or a reasoning as to why Jack is in trouble. The Run starts out easy enough but climbs in its difficulty as you continue on, and interest seems to weave in and out about as much as you will driving in traffic. There's a nice selection of cars that include muscle, imports, and exotic choices. The problem is that there aren't as many custom options as past installments and you won't feel like the car your driving is particularly your style.

The handling of the cars is also dependent on what you like as a Ford Mustang Cobra handles a lot more difficult than a Nissan 370z. It took me awhile to figure out how to change my cars since there isn't a menu option. Instead, you will need to keep an eye out for gas stations during your races to pull into and change your loadout. This was kind of stupid because every time I wanted to change my car I would end up back in last place. The scenery changes throughout the cross country excursion moving from west coast atmosphere like deserts and canyon roads to mid US territory like the Rocky Mountains all the way to the New Jersey Turnpike. While a bit of the scenery here is nice, I felt like the tracks were a bit underwhelming and didn't allow for a lot of thinking on my part other than just wanting to finish them. This is the first non-first player shooter to run on DICE's Frostbite 2.0 engine, and I have to admit that I would have never noticed if it wasn't in the credits. The game doesn't look or run badly, but there's absolutely nothing about it that sets it apart from anything else. The sound design is decent and offers your standard “go as fast as you can” soundtrack while throwing in some thematic music to particular settings, but there is also some sound compression here and there.

This feature review concludes on the next page, please click Page 2 below to find out our final thoughts on EA's Need for Speed: The Run.