The need for Speed franchise heads off on a dramatic, cinematic, coast-to-coast journey with the run. But is it worth hitching a ride?
- GamePro Score
The run should be great. It’s got everything it needs to hit the highest of highs: an excellent 3D engine, high quality motion capture, some great actors, facial graphics that convey emotion, and what feels like a ton of money behind it.
But I’m not really enjoying it that much. so what went wrong?
Well, after taking the need for Speed franchise in a slightly more sim-like direction with the excellent Shift, and then recapturing the magic of the original 90’s NFS games with the absolutely brilliant Hot Pursuit, it seems that EA have found a third contemporary spin on the series: one that combines a movie-like story with racing that has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Kind of like a driving version of the Uncharted series. I certainly get what they’re doing, and they almost pull it off. Almost.
Where the run fails to hit the mark can be seen almost as soon as you boot it up. the game opens with a dramatic QT sequence, where you sit and watch events unfold, waiting for the moment when you become involved in the action in similar style to the Uncharted series. however, where Uncharted succeeds by drawing you in with its sparkling dialog, dramatic moments, and great gaming cinematography, the run feels obvious and predictable: you sit there watching the cliches play out.
It seems like it’s trying too hard. a feeling that is echoed when you encounter the game’s overblown dramatic set-pieces. in some respects, that’s a deliberate ploy by the designers to deliver what are supposed to be thrilling “Michael Bay moments,” but they often come across as contrived to the point of silliness. I’m sure if I was a lot less cynical, I might sit there and say “wow,” rather than simply rolling my eyes. But I’m not, and I did.
Another thing I rolled my eyes at was the game’s main character. if you’re going to make a plot-heavy, cinematic game, the main protagonist has got to be appealing. the benchmark Uncharted series does an amazing job of getting you firmly behind its characters thanks to its superb writing and witty dialog. But with the run, the hero pretty much came across as a douche from the get go. I really didn’t feel much empathy towards him or his plight, and nothing really happened during the game to change my mind.
So what about the racing itself? well, this is yet another area where the game is uneven. the run is a linear journey across the US from San Francisco to new York; a long series of point-to-point races interspersed with plot moments. each stage has an objective, such as passing a specific number of cars or beating a particular opponent, and there are a plethora of environmental and man-made hazards to avoid. the game is at its most fun when you’re racing through thick traffic trying to overtake opponents, or are playing cat-and-mouse with pursuing police cars, which become increasingly difficult to shake the further you get into the race. But there are moments of frustration that come in the form of difficult-to-avoid set-piece type hazards. Once you know when and where they’re going to happen, you can avoid them, but the first time out, unless you’re lucky, you get nailed.
Part of this has to do with the handling engine, which just doesn’t seem to be very responsive. Since the run is an over-the-top, dramatic race game, I was expecting the handling to be fast and responsive, with lots of tail slides that make you feel like you’re driving on the edge. But that’s not the case. the cars all feel very similar: they drive fast in a straight line, but don’t change direction very quickly. What made Hot Pursuit so good was that it was tuned beautifully for maximum excitement and exhilaration, and gave you confidence that, as long as you reacted quickly enough, you could get through almost any situation. the run just doesn’t give you that kind of confidence — sometimes you see a hazard coming up, and you steer to avoid it, but the car simply doesn’t change direction quickly enough.
The other thing I found was that the deeper I got into the game, the more repetitive it began to feel. the storyline’s twists and turns help sustain interest, and there are set-pieces that are supposed to provide excitement and drama, but the stages began to blur together, and it just felt like a bit of a grind.
And that’s such a shame, because graphically and technically, the game is terrific. the journey across America is beautifully rendered, capturing the varied landscapes spectacularly as you travel over the Sierra, across the great Plains, and head towards the East Coast. the quality of the movies is very good too, and the characters’ faces are nicely rendered to convey emotion. But the story and the gameplay just don’t hold up their side of the bargain, and the game ends up falling short of its considerable potential. I certainly tried to like the run, but in the end it just reminded me of some of the worst aspects of the Underground/Carbon/Prostreet NFS games: lots of noise, flash, and bang, but lacking soul and true racing excitement.
That said, I’m hoping the developers can take a second crack at this format. With less focus on wannabe Michael Bay silliness, and more emphasis on good storytelling to drive a great gaming experience — perhaps getting away from the modern cliches and doing something different like setting it in the 70’s or 80’s — I could see a future version of the run being something to look forward to. But this version is a big disappointment.
PROS: excellent graphics that capture the look and feel of America’s varied landscapes beautifully; fun racing challenges and moments. CONS: Handling sometimes feels inert and unresponsive, and not tuned for fun; characters, dialog and action moments feel cliched and sometimes silly; gameplay can get repetitive.
Review: Need for Speed: The Run (360/PS3)
