- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Release Date: Nov 15, 2011
- Also On: 3DS, PC, Xbox 360
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Nov 21, 2011Need For Speed The Run is a good racing game that I was hoping would be great, and instead wound up being greatly hurt by its difficulty and lack of content. It's disappointing to see a Need For Speed game that isn't worth full-price and really is better as a rental, but that's the case here. The Run mode can be beaten in a day, and there simply isn't enough other content here to warrant a full-priced purchase. It's a short-lived, but incredibly exciting thrill ride that I'd recommend paying $30 or so for if you must own it, but not $60.
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Nov 16, 2011All this hype about a story-driven racing game was unwarranted; with a few small exceptions, this still feels very much like any other racer you've played. On top of which, when it never seems to matter what car you choose (more in terms of speed and less in regards to handling), and the AI just sticks to your side no matter what, you never feel as if you're accomplishing much.
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Apr 28, 2012In summary, The Run provides yet another aspect to the NFS series and with its Hollywood-like cut scenes and storyline, easy to pick-up-and-play driving; The Run is definitely one to run out for, however I wouldn't run a marathon for the game. If you're not a NFS freak, a simple rent will keep you occupied for more than enough time.
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Playstation: The Official Magazine (US)Jan 6, 2012Its overall experience never lives up to the implied grandeur of its cross-country speedfest premise. [Jan 2012, p.78]
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Nov 28, 2011The very short "campaign" mode of this NFS is balanced by the wealth of extras and the enjoyable gameplay.
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Nov 26, 2011Need for Speed: The Run takes players on a cross country competition for the promise of rich rewards, but ultimately the function of delivering the narrative hinders an otherwise decent driving game.
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Nov 26, 2011The Run sits squarely in the middle of the franchise pantheon; its tentative steps into storytelling are often ham-fisted, but represent something of a unique avenue for the development of the racing genre, while the core racing model is just about good enough if one forgets that its Criterion-developed predecessor was released just one year prior.
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Nov 17, 2011It's bogged down by unnecessary quick-time events and annoying mob chases, a halfhearted attempt to tell a story, and frustrating interruptions to your racing. In spite of these burdens, the game frequently makes you feel like you're tearing across the varied terrain of this vast and majestic country.
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Nov 16, 2011Adding in real world environments, with real world cities and landmarks, gives the game a real world feel.
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Nov 30, 2011What's here is entertaining enough, but you can't shake the feeling that the end product could have been so much more fulfilling with just a little more conviction and/or development time. Whatever their reasons though, I'll be crossing my fingers for a sequel; the concept is brilliant.
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CD-ActionNov 29, 2011A reasonable driving model and more attention to details would be enough to make this game significantly better. It seems that at some point the developers ran out of time and as a result the new Need for Speed is decent at best. [December 2011, p.70]
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Nov 23, 2011The premise for Need for Speed: The Run is good, but it is plagued by so many issues that it is hard to appreciate the things that it does well.
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Nov 16, 2011Despite its best efforts, Need for Speed The Run fails to capitalize on the core strengths of the game. The new engine is great, and the speed sensation is awesome. But the campaign is far too short and the game mechanics are poorly implemented. Rental recommended.
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Nov 14, 2011All this awesome racing action gets somewhat lost amid the nonexistent story, the dumb/scripted AI, the lack of options, and the overall shortness of the game. The Run is not a marathon racing game, it's a quick and dirty drag race.
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Play UKJan 9, 2012So long as you can get behind the odd handling and the deceptive setup, The Run offers some top-end racing thrills tucked in among some cheap, scripted and downright annoying moments. [Issue#213, p.84]
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Dec 12, 2011The Run has perpetual tunnel vision: too blind to see its restricting nature and too focused to care even if it could. The opening strokes of tearing velocity and lush American landscapes are inviting, but only carry so much weight.
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Dec 6, 2011There's a Hollywood sheen spread over The Run that occasionally makes it sparkle, from the Frostbite 2 engine's environmental effects to the action-movie score. But peer beneath the gleaming veneer and you repeatedly encounter a stomach-lurchingly shallow experience – not unlike any movie you can name by the aforementioned Mr Bay, ironically.
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Nov 24, 2011A game that had a lot of potential but seems to be cut in half. It lacks what excited us when it was first announced at E3, as if the developer wasn't brave enough to bet for what it made it different.
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Nov 22, 2011In Need for Speed: The Run the linearity is almost drawn to it's outer edge. It almost feels like everything you do is planned before you even start it and all you do is learn when certain events in the race will poop up and then act accodingly. The good parts - the Challenges, the varied enviroments and in some aspects the multiplayer - is drowned by poor design of basic game mechanics.
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Nov 19, 2011It's not nearly as strong as it could have been but there's enough here to provide a day or two's entertainment and – given the nature of what EA were trying to do – it at least succeeded on that level.
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Nov 18, 2011The Need for Speed series made quite a name for itself in the arcade driving genre with Hot Pursuit, the previous game. Developped by another studio, The Run isn't as rich as was its predecessor, and also suffers from some issues with its AI, playability, and extremely short solo play. All this combined makes it a little disappointing, but its far from being a complete failure. The Autolog and multiplayer save the day.
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Nov 15, 2011The Run certainly isn't terrible, and a big improvement on Black Box's previous effort, Undercover, but it needed more moments like the avalanche and less monotonous freeways. With the campaign over in an afternoon and the rest of the package failing to offer anything to keep you playing, The Run is some decent throwaway fun that will be forgotten as soon as you move on to something else.
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Nov 14, 2011The 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.
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Nov 15, 2011The Run takes an awkwardly serious approach to its story, eschewing the over-the-top fun and wackiness of its clear inspirations -- movies like the Cannonball Run series and classic arcade games like Cruis'n USA --to deliver a cross-country campaign that's sometimes exhilarating, but often frustrating and surprisingly banal.
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Nov 25, 2011I wanted to like The Run and early on, I genuinely did, but things quickly started to fall apart, culminating in some courses that were nothing but pure frustration. A few bright spots and interesting online aren't enough to escape mediocrity.
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games(TM)Jan 9, 2012Fleeting fun and a mild distraction it may be, but The Run finishes this particular race upside down in a ditch. On fire. [Issue#117, p.112]
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Nov 18, 2011This game goes backward in every way. Who got the idea to make a scripted racing video game with a B storyline running on an engine of a shooter game that looks like it was made three years ago? Don't tell me that this game was not taken out of Black Box's video game depository.
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Nov 17, 2011Quotation forthcoming.
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Nov 17, 2011The bad car physics and the horrible A.I. destroy what could have been a great racing game.
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Nov 15, 2011The worst of the game's technical sins is performance, with appallingly low frame rates in our patched PS3 retail version when you brake suddenly or drift through many a corner.
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Nov 15, 2011Like a smoke filled wheel spin, it looks good but it gets you nowhere.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 96 out of 218
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Mixed: 73 out of 218
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Negative: 49 out of 218
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Nov 17, 2011
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Nov 18, 2011
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Nov 15, 2011