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Need for Speed: The Run
The Need for Speed series has a very strong
history; however there have been some serious peaks and troughs in the
releases. Black Box falls right into this, with some stellar additions
a number of years ago, but who have failed to live up to much of the
hype surrounding their releases in recent years. Need for Speed: The
Run attempts to bring something new to the NFS formula, a story.
The
story driving the story along is that you are on a the run from the mob
and must race across America to win enough money to ensure your safety,
a pretty average premise that really does nothing more than give an
excuse to be racing across the country, other than doing so would be fun
regardless. The cut scenes look nice, the only issue is that they
feature the much hated quick-time events, I found myself watching on
spot on the screen waiting or the icon to appear, missing much of the
videos anyway. The story is nothing memorable and does little to really
support the action, it even comes across as being far too serious for
the over-the-top world that is Need for Speed. The also won’t take very
long to finish, if you are expecting a genuine marathon race across
America you will be sorely disappointed.
The
action is broken up into ten stages, each from a different part of
America; this is further broken down again into separate section. These
races feature different objective, pass x number of cars, recover x
amount of time, it doesn’t take long before it become apparent that you
are essentially doing the same thing over and over again. The
competitors are generally challenging enough, it is just the same
challenge over and over.
For
such a long-standing series there have always been releases that
struggle with the handling, some releases are fantastic (NFS: Hot
Pursuit) and others feel awful (NFS: Pro Street). The Run fits
somewhere in between, when driving flat out the handling feels great,
but when there are some tighter corners things get a bit more difficult,
changing direction is a bit of a juggling act at times. Something that
was immensely frustrating while racing was the traffic, granted it is
needed, but when you have cars pull out in front of you from side
streets, ruining a great run like this can really sour the experience.
There is a rewind function but this generally does not sit well with me,
and the rewinding is slow and really takes away from the adrenaline
rush.
The
graphics for The Run are really a stand out; the cars are incredibly
detailed and really show off each model. There are a range of car
classes too to suit all different car fans. The cars are all
beautifully crafted and also appear fantastic when racing. The scenery
also looks nice, even if it just rushes straight past at 200mph, there
is also a good variety of scenery as you travel from San Francisco to
New York. The graphics are really the highlight of the game, the new
Frostbite 2 engine has been utilised very well for this racing title. I
didn’t experience any frame-rate issues and everything ran smoothly
during the entire play time.
As
always, sound is another stand out in this game, the cars all sound
fantastic. The big V8’s sound beefy and growl whereas the V12 give that
sound of pure power, when coupled with a good sound system this sounds
incredible, it has also been optimised well for those fortunate enough
to play this on a surround sound system. The crash effects really do
sound as though the world may be coming to an end. The soundtrack
wasn’t bad for The Run, no really big name bands on there but it does
the job, the music always feels at place and compliments the racing, it
never takes any attention away from the racing, whether negative or
positive, it simply compliments it.
Need
for Speed: The Run is another addition to the long standing NFS
franchise; I must admit that I was pretty excited for this release with
Black Box’s history with some good NFS titles. However, I was also very
sceptical as Black Box have released some of the not-so-good games of
the series. The Run is a real middle runner of the series, the handling
is definitely somewhere around the middle of the pack, the graphics are
up near the front and the sound sits about the same as the rest of the
releases. Unfortunately, The Run’s biggest let down is definitely the
story; it takes itself far too seriously and is a slightly ridiculous
premise to begin with. There is also not a huge amount of replay value
or things to keep you coming back. Overall, a true middle runner for
the Need for Speed series, some aspects hold up, others not so much. |
