Need For Speed: The Run Review (PS3)

Need For Speed: The Run sees EA Black Box (Skate 3, Need For Speed: ProStreet) take over development duties for the first time since 2008’s Need For Speed Undercover, in a cannonball-run chase across the United States from San Francisco to New York. The Run will see you take Jack Rourke – who owes a lot of money to the wrong people – across a variety of stunning landscapes, from snowy mountain plains to desert highways.

The Run encapsulates the diversity of the American landscape very well in its ten distinct stages. Thanks to the Frostbite 2 engine (famously debuting recently with Battlefield 3), these locations are wonderfully realised and complimented by beautiful lighting effects that bounce off the tarmac and wide range of cars at your disposal. Sadly, Black Box also included features of the Frostbite 2 engine which are less welcome, like the quick-time events seen in Batllefield 3. The moments when these occur feel completely unnecessary, but thankfully they are few and far between.

Jack, with the help of his friend Sam, must get from 500th place to 1st before Jack reaches New York. The plot doesn’t develop much beyond the basic premise. Instead of providing a deep and engaging story, we are simply given a shallow narrative and expected to sympathise with Jack’s plight.

All we know is that Jack is a cocky bastard who spunks money he doesn’t have, making him a douchebag protagonist who is hard to identify with. Rival racers are introduced at different points in The Run, but all we are told about them is a page of text during the excessively long loading screens. Luckily, there aren’t many lengthy cut-scenes that waste time on the pointless plot, leaving you to get on with driving.

Driving in The Run can be equally thrilling and frustrating. The cars are responsive and can be thrown around the track with slick drifts and tight turns. The stages keep things varied and fun, ranging from highway drag-like races, to corner-intensive mountain time-trials. Not only will you have to try and beat your rivals or the clock, but, being a race along public roads, you will also have to move through a hell of a lot of traffic. The different cars and car-types handle differently, but throughout the campaign you will only have the opportunity to drive a handful of the overall roster, which is a shame.

For every neat idea in-principle there is in The Run, there are always one or two bizarre ones that hold the game back. Certain physics are locked until you earn enough XP. For example, drafting is unlocked at level 7, meaning you can’t use your opponents slipstream for the opening few levels.

To switch cars in-game, players have to drive into the garages littered throughout the levels. But, if you are in the middle of a race and want to change car, you will have to fall behind in the race in order to do so. This is terrible and makes changing cars in the latter stages of the game practically impossible, when the opponents are much faster. It would have been simpler to have the option to switch cars before each race, as certain cars are designed for certain tracks. Muscle cars are good for highway races and sports cars are better for city tracks.

There are also some cheap tactics employed by the AI which make the game infuriating. While rubber-banding isn’t a major issue, it gets worse the further you progress in The Run. What’s more annoying is when opponents magically get back into the race after a massive crash. If an opponent crashes into traffic, gets caught by police, or spins out, you will only be able to gain a few seconds on them before the AI resets the cars back onto the roads.

Naturally, you aren’t paid the same courtesy. There will be many times when you will be punished for The Run’s shortcomings. Although there is a rewind system, you are only given five per race, and these can either be used manually or triggered automatically when you crash or veer too far off-course. The problem is that far too often these rewinds will be automatically triggered at times when they shouldn’t.

Sometimes you can veer far off-track without a rewind being triggered. In other cases, you barely have to have all four wheels off-road for the game to kick you back to the last checkpoint. The worst thing is a lot of the time you won’t even be in any trouble and even get back on course, but the rewind will have already been triggered. There are also guided orange arrows which lock off certain roads and guide you along the track. Brushing these arrows will also cause an automatic rewind.

The online mode is fun and well put together, but the significant lack of modes makes it hard to stick with. All players can do is compete in races and the superfluous XP system is not implemented well enough to hook players further. Because of the tacked-on feel of the XP system, it feels like a cheap attempt to hook players in the way games like Call of Duty and Battlefield do. While these shooters offer enticing rewards at each level-up, The Run merely offers new display icons and backgrounds. New cars are few and far between – my first was around level 5 – and you have to earn a lot of XP between each level, making it a chore.

The Challenge Series adds longevity to the 3-4 hour campaign, and is arguably more fun than The Run itself. By removing the narrative and giving players loads of cars to race in a variety of fun challenges, this is where The Run is best.

A lot of ideas implemented in The Run seem great in principle, but poor execution holds it back from being a stellar title. In the time since Black Box last released an NFS game, there have been some fine additions to the series and sadly, not enough inspiration has been taken from these entries.

There are some incredible set pieces within The Run. Helicopter chases, neck and neck races, huge crashes and tunnel chases are all there, and all rewarding. The problem is that they are rooted in shoddy gameplay mechanics. This game is fun for a weekend, making it an ideal game for a rental but at £40, it’s hard to recommend. If you are looking for an excellent Need For Speed arcade racer, you’re probably better off looking at Hot Pursuit.

Need For Speed: The Run is out now on PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Wii. Or… Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is half the price.

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