Normally a new entry into a video game series means progression, building on top of the games that came before. This is not the case for ‘Need For Speed: The Run’. By this point in the series, EA’s sales of the Need For Speed games have been dropping by 1 million sales each game. Either they reduced the available resources allocated to the NFS games or they just dropped the ball here. Not saying they took nothing from the previous games, there are similar features, but, like, 3 of them.
EA Black Box moved more towards an action and racer game rather than an action/racer game. Now featuring Quick Time Event cutscenes. Yay! What every gamer loves and wants! Especially in a racing game. The story is daft, you play as Jack Rourke who must win a coast to coast race across America to pay off the Mob and save his life. It’s that good.
Straight away the game feels as though it was made with the core focus on mobile gaming as that is what it feels like. A completely stripped down game that someone could control with limited on-screen buttons on their phone. The gameplay lacks character. There are only a handful of different races and each one boils down to the same thing. Reach the end before any other opponent. Sometimes you’re accompanied by police chasing you but that is more of an annoyance than a threat. Unlike the previous games if you fuck up you have 10 retries to start from the last checkpoint, after that you need to start the race over. The opponents aren’t hard, if you lose a race it is probably because of a mistake you made.
The game is a very linear style where you progress to the next race straight away without having to navigate menus. After each race you unlock instant upgrades, new challenge modes, new cars or profile badges. The only people who would get excited by profile badges are the same people who buy NFTs. Each race was short and relatively unexciting. I did appreciate the varied scenery as you cross America, keeping each section fresh and not too repetitive. There are a few races for example one up a mountain where you need to escape an avalanche. That was exciting.
From Underground to now, the NFS series has thrived on showcasing cars, letting you customise them, get right up close and personal but now it feels much less so. Yes you get to race a few different types but most of the time you’re looking at them from the rear as you race them. Your cars are picked from a lineup every so often and that is the only time you get to actually sit and look at the cars is only so often. You can change your car you are driving at no extra cost but you need to do this mid race, but only if there is a petrol station. Whoever thought this was a good mechanic needs their head examined.
I often judge the NFS games on the music as Underground set such a high bar and games that came after also had a decent soundtrack. ‘The Run’ has music, you just cannot hear it as the car’s sound effects drown it out. There are no settings in the audio menu to fix this. There is a “Film Experience” slider but fucked if I know what that does.
At a 4.5 hour playtime for the main story this is one of the shortest NFS games. I don’t know what went on when EA released this. Did they have a busy year and just squeeze this game out to adhere to their yearly release schedule? Who knows.
EA Black Box moved more towards an action and racer game rather than an action/racer game. Now featuring Quick Time Event cutscenes. Yay! What every gamer loves and wants! Especially in a racing game. The story is daft, you play as Jack Rourke who must win a coast to coast race across America to pay off the Mob and save his life. It’s that good.
Straight away the game feels as though it was made with the core focus on mobile gaming as that is what it feels like. A completely stripped down game that someone could control with limited on-screen buttons on their phone. The gameplay lacks character. There are only a handful of different races and each one boils down to the same thing. Reach the end before any other opponent. Sometimes you’re accompanied by police chasing you but that is more of an annoyance than a threat. Unlike the previous games if you fuck up you have 10 retries to start from the last checkpoint, after that you need to start the race over. The opponents aren’t hard, if you lose a race it is probably because of a mistake you made.
The game is a very linear style where you progress to the next race straight away without having to navigate menus. After each race you unlock instant upgrades, new challenge modes, new cars or profile badges. The only people who would get excited by profile badges are the same people who buy NFTs. Each race was short and relatively unexciting. I did appreciate the varied scenery as you cross America, keeping each section fresh and not too repetitive. There are a few races for example one up a mountain where you need to escape an avalanche. That was exciting.
From Underground to now, the NFS series has thrived on showcasing cars, letting you customise them, get right up close and personal but now it feels much less so. Yes you get to race a few different types but most of the time you’re looking at them from the rear as you race them. Your cars are picked from a lineup every so often and that is the only time you get to actually sit and look at the cars is only so often. You can change your car you are driving at no extra cost but you need to do this mid race, but only if there is a petrol station. Whoever thought this was a good mechanic needs their head examined.
I often judge the NFS games on the music as Underground set such a high bar and games that came after also had a decent soundtrack. ‘The Run’ has music, you just cannot hear it as the car’s sound effects drown it out. There are no settings in the audio menu to fix this. There is a “Film Experience” slider but fucked if I know what that does.
At a 4.5 hour playtime for the main story this is one of the shortest NFS games. I don’t know what went on when EA released this. Did they have a busy year and just squeeze this game out to adhere to their yearly release schedule? Who knows.