EA have released their new title for the Need for Speed series called The Run, developed by Black Box who return to the series who made their efforts in bringing up the old school feel of the Need for Speed games i.e. arcade style racing back in the business after the disappointment we had from Need for Speed Undercover. This time apart from having your average kid racing his way to be the top, EA have introduced a storyline to the game which is somewhat similar in what you might find in the Fast and Furious movies where the guy is in trouble and he has to race his way to freedom or money. Thou this may sound another Need for Speed game, EA have made great improvements in gameplay and graphics.

The story puts us in the shoes of a guy called Jack Rourke who is in a bad position with the mob where he owes them a considerate amount of money which of course he cannot pay. You will start your journey into this fast adventure filled with nitro and burning rubber duck-taped to a steering wheel in a nice car and lowered down into the crusher to be squished to death. Through some pushing of the circle and square button you will manage to escape certain death and steal a car of the mob. You will be chased down the road which will be your first tutorial of the game. After you manage to escape, you will meet an old sexy friend of yours by the name of Sam Harper who proposes a rather wealthy solution for your problem. It’s a non-stop 300 mile race across the United States that starts from San Francisco and ends in New York City. The price is $25,000,000 which is more than enough to pay back the mob, thou it will be a bit of a struggle since you will have to race against 200 more drivers.

Black Box Studios have been making Need for Speed games for some time now, and they manage to get the fun in racing with nitro blasting and wheel burning arcade action. So if you are looking for precision simulator-like game, look somewhere else. Need for Speed games have always been arcade-like and the system remains like that. Thou in this version it was much improved in graphics and the choice of cars. Thou gameplay is a bit like the SHIFT series where it feels like the car is racing on glass, which is quite minimal, the AI feels a little dumb and a bit unfair especially when you are racing and the police will target only yourself. On the other hand, which is an improvement from the rest of the Need for Speed series, the cars are all different from each other i.e. in feel and performance and there is a good choice of cars for you. One thing that is missing from the Need for Speed fans’ anticipation is the customization and upgrades of the cars. Most of the fans of the series look for this option and to be honest was a bit disappointed from the lack of customization of the car as well as upgrades of engine or tuning of the car’s performance.

I am saying improved, because The Run uses the Frostbite 2 engine which visually made the game look stunning in graphics and lighting effects. The graphics while you are racing in the game are stunning and perfect, but although the graphic detail in the cinematic scenes are amazing, the framerate wasn’t quite smooth as it should have been and it’s immediately noticeable.

But on the bright side, I prefer to have the perfect gameplay rather than smooth cinematic scenes since the focus of the game is essentially the gameplay. Going back to the core of the game i.e. the gameplay, the graphics look better than ever with the superb effect, destructible objects, weather effects, variety of tracks and high details. The detail really puts the game in a higher rank as while you are racing you will see the authenticity of the places you are racing in. Talking about variety of the game, we can say that it’s the climax of the game as you will be racing through deserts, bridges, cities, snow tracks and much more. This is what keeps you hanging to the game as not to get board of it, a good balance of different race types along with a good combination of different tracks give a better experience of the game without ending stale after a while. The campaign offers some good gameplay modes including the eight-car race, checkpoint racing, time attacks, police chase and even some mountain drifting. Thou there as some parts of the game where you will be fighting the police force and jumping from one place to another, it’s quite minimal in gameplay since you will just need to push a button to perform the action. Apart from giving a break from constant racing in the game, it isn’t much to look at. After you finish up the campaign, apart from having some additional challenges there is the multiplayer option which in my opinion works well and the Autolog being my favourite multiplayer companion.

Conclusion

Need for Speed: The Run is a good arcade-style racer and in itself it’s a big improvement from the Need for Speed: Undercover release. The graphics are impressive along with the effects including weather, destructible objects and the variety of environments that you race in. The lack of customization, especially of the performance of the car was a bit of a disappointment but apart from that the game was fun and entertaining.