Need for Speed: The Run

Despite a somewhat short campaign Need for Speed: The Run is a great racing-game with beautiful settings, an epic soundtrack and a whole lot of high-speed action.

In the wake of full-fledged car and driver series like Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport, and Test Drive Unlimited, the inflated expectations around The Run make it seem like more of a letdown than it really is.

NFS: The Run has its moments. Unfortunately they are neither many nor long. On the gameplay and technical side it's still a good game though but with lots of wasted potential.

EA studio Blackbox fails to combine a fast paced racing experience, Battlefield 3 graphics with a good entertaining and satisfying story in Need for Speed: The Run. While the action is fun and the different settings look very good, the Frostbite Engine 2.0 could have been used slightly better on PC and the story could actually be a story: not just an excuse to send some uninteresting dude from A to B.

A fun game, with a great sense of speed and some amazing moments. In the end, though, the campy story, the heavily scripted action, and the lack of race types and customization, keep it from being a Need For Speed to remember. A missed opportunity.

Quotation forthcoming.

A fun, spectacular-at-times cinematic arcade racing game. Unfortunately many gameplay and technical problems spoil some of the fun, most of all the lame checkpoint system.

Shows how you can bury even the most original idea with lack of either bravery or fantasy. [January 2012, p.69]

Racing purists may thumb their nose at it, but if you're the kind of person who prefers Burnout over Gran Turismo, you'll eat it right up.

The Run is occasionally a fun street racing game hampered by a number of issues that prevent the game from unraveling its true potential. The multiplayer helps to divert the attention but not enough to realize that the heydays of Need for Speed: Most Wanted are gone.

The Run bragged about revolutionizing the NFS series with an enticing story and memorable gameplay. Unfortunately, the story was better off missing in action and the only things that are memorable from the gameplay are its shortcoming: no freedom of choice, no Free Roaming, no Replay, no cockpit camera, no choice of races in multiplayer.

The experiment which is Need for Speed: The Run has failed. It's not an unplayable game, of course. You can spend a couple of fun hours, but only after accepting some controversial gameplay solutions. What is sad is the fact, that even the supporters of Black Box's new game can't play too long in single player modes and that affects the final grade.

Innovation at all cost doomed NFS The Run – for every good idea comes a terrible one, and even the best ones are buried by technical issues. [Christmas 2011]

So EA, what's next on your mind? Need for Speed Drag Racing with only one button – "Continue"?

Need for Speed: The Run is an odd duck. It's an arcade racer that does some things really well, but is insistent on having you interact at times with a Michael Bay-esque experience (I guess that's why he was asked to direct that trailer). Like his films, The Run is much more about style than substance. It's a decent arcade racer, and for those looking for a mindless racing experience, chances are you'll find something to like here.

We've tried to have fun with this game and it ended up biting us in the ass... several times. Even with its truly gorgeous graphics and highly detailed tracks, in addition to a kick-ass soundtrack, the game won't keep you occupied for long. Moments of sheer entertainment are all-too-brief and are quickly overshadowed by frustration.