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Need for Speed: The Run |OT| We're making great time
- Thread starter DrAndonuts
- Start date
Sports Illustrated
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
Hm. Still $50.
I got this game as a gift and actually I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It's a huge step down from Hot Pursuit but it's still fun, in spite of some gameplay frustrations. The car handling is shockingly bad, and the races seem heavily scripted from start to finish, even when it comes to AI. For example, the cars "let" you pass them at certain moments so you can view nice set pieces.
The interface is slick, the sound design is nice and the environments are beautiful. It's a shame that it falls flat on its face. Give this series back to Criterion, or better yet, let's have a new Burnout game by them as this generation's racing swan song.
Is anybody playing this game? Please add me to your friends list for the Autolog stuff. I have a ton of friends who played Hot Pursuit and strangely enough, none of them are back for this game, lol.
PSN: Vexidus
The interface is slick, the sound design is nice and the environments are beautiful. It's a shame that it falls flat on its face. Give this series back to Criterion, or better yet, let's have a new Burnout game by them as this generation's racing swan song.
Is anybody playing this game? Please add me to your friends list for the Autolog stuff. I have a ton of friends who played Hot Pursuit and strangely enough, none of them are back for this game, lol.
PSN: Vexidus
Bog
Junior Ace
Yeah, no one on my list has it either. I'll add you just so we can unlock that garbage.
I actually enjoyed the run a lot. most fun in a racer. driving in cit was great and very adrenaline filled.
i want them to continue the run and improve it.
+very fun races.
+car may not handle good but the feeling that they were on a real road was great.you could feel every bump and surface.
+environment graphic were nice.
+city races were great with traffic.
+no laps and new places in every race were plus
now on to negatives.
-Races were short very short
-scripted a.i
-cars didnt looked as good plus many details were missing.
-handling of cars was very similar and bad
-car selection was bad
If races were longer joined to gather in a seamless world where we can keep on racing and defeat 250 or so racers continuously without any scripting or disjoints i think they ea have a real winner on their hand.waiting anxiously for Run 2
i want them to continue the run and improve it.
+very fun races.
+car may not handle good but the feeling that they were on a real road was great.you could feel every bump and surface.
+environment graphic were nice.
+city races were great with traffic.
+no laps and new places in every race were plus
now on to negatives.
-Races were short very short
-scripted a.i
-cars didnt looked as good plus many details were missing.
-handling of cars was very similar and bad
-car selection was bad
If races were longer joined to gather in a seamless world where we can keep on racing and defeat 250 or so racers continuously without any scripting or disjoints i think they ea have a real winner on their hand.waiting anxiously for Run 2
Bought this at release on PC (got it cheap) and I've only played in once. No AA options (didn't try forcing it in Catalyst Control Center though) and 30fps limit really threw me off and I've been waiting for a fix/patch ever since. From their FAQ:
"On PC, why is the framerate set at 30fps?
From what we've seen from players feedback on the game, they agree that The Run's graphics, use of the Frostbite 2 engine, and coast-to-coast scenery is truly breathtaking."
I don't . . . how . . . wait . . . what?
"On PC, why is the framerate set at 30fps?
From what we've seen from players feedback on the game, they agree that The Run's graphics, use of the Frostbite 2 engine, and coast-to-coast scenery is truly breathtaking."
I don't . . . how . . . wait . . . what?
XANDER CAGE
Member
+ Christina Hendricks
I found girl in Most wanted to be lot more attractive
Frankenstrat
Member
that might be code for "We were a little lazy with this port and don't want to admit it. Here, have a complete non answer."
Earlier I tried to play some online multiplayer. What a mistake!
My first attempt at the lobby screen gave me a black screen with looping audio, and it was apparently stuck, so I had to quit the game.
My second attempt actually got me into a game, but a few seconds in, the graphics started glitching out like crazy and then my ps3 hard locked. Had to shut it off by holding the power button.
This is all after being patched too. Won't be trying that again anytime soon.
My first attempt at the lobby screen gave me a black screen with looping audio, and it was apparently stuck, so I had to quit the game.
My second attempt actually got me into a game, but a few seconds in, the graphics started glitching out like crazy and then my ps3 hard locked. Had to shut it off by holding the power button.
This is all after being patched too. Won't be trying that again anytime soon.
Neuromancer
Member
Do you pick a difficulty in SP? Or is it just what it is?
Yep you can choose between easy, normal, hard and extreme just like in the demo. Extreme needs to be unlocked though by completing the run once on any of the other difficulties. Extreme is fucking brutal though. I'm a hardcore racing fan but this rubber banding AI... wow.
Well I just beat this game, and I have to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit, in spite of it only lasting for 2 hours of gameplay. After the credits finished rolling, the game hard locked on me, causing me to manually turn off the PS3. But enough about how busted it is, we all know about that. I'd like to say some positive things.
This game gets better and better until the end. The first few stages are a slow burn, but the last half is a roller coaster ride. I got used to the terrible car handling after a while, and found that the secret is to avoid drifting as much as possible, and use the boost out of every corner.
The graphics in this game are fantastic, especially when it comes to lighting and camera effects such as lens flares and bokeh. The environments are terrific, featuring beautiful scenery with surprising attention to detail. The detail, combined with the mostly solid framerate, leads to a real sense of speed when going fast. You actually start to feel anxious as you edge closer to 300 km/h while weaving through the traffic.
There were some standout moments for me, which I will spoiler tag below:
Stage 5:
Stage 6:
Stage 8:
Stage 9:
Stage 10:
There are moments where this game REALLY shines, and it makes me wish that more attention was put into the whole package. This game could have been something very special, and while it does have its moments which I outlined above, it still falls short overall. If you are on the fence, wait for some price drops before diving in, but it's definitely worth playing if only for the campaign. Yes it's heavily scripted, but damn if it isn't a blast. Put your expectations between Undercover and Hot Pursuit, and you're good to go.
Here are some of my shots from photo mode on PS3. I may go back and capture some more spoilery ones later.
This game gets better and better until the end. The first few stages are a slow burn, but the last half is a roller coaster ride. I got used to the terrible car handling after a while, and found that the secret is to avoid drifting as much as possible, and use the boost out of every corner.
The graphics in this game are fantastic, especially when it comes to lighting and camera effects such as lens flares and bokeh. The environments are terrific, featuring beautiful scenery with surprising attention to detail. The detail, combined with the mostly solid framerate, leads to a real sense of speed when going fast. You actually start to feel anxious as you edge closer to 300 km/h while weaving through the traffic.
There were some standout moments for me, which I will spoiler tag below:
Stage 5:
The last event of the stage, where you are racing through a fucking avalanche in progress. That was some epic stuff, and it gave me my first real WOW moment in the game. Having your vision entirely obscured by flying snow was so nerve wracking and awesome.
Stage 6:
I loved racing through the thunderstorm, with the wet pavement and the lightning flashes in the sky. Fantastic atmosphere.
Stage 8:
Racing on the foggy Chicago highway was a nice calm before the impending chaos ahead.
Stage 9:
The last event of this stage is my absolute favourite in the game. Running from the supercar police cruisers down a winding autumn forest road. The trees were absolutely beautiful, with the fall colours showing brightly and the sun beaming down through the branches. Also, I loved the golden leaves all over the road, which got more and more concentrated toward the end of the race. The track design was great too, because there were so many twists and turns and yet it felt effortless to navigate. What an exhilarating race, and one of my favourite tracks in any racing game to date.
Stage 10:
The final race was so damn intense. The long bridge where you had to dodge oncoming cars was great. Then the game got so crazily over the top, with the god damn train tunnel. Speeding through the narrow tunnel, dodging one train, while the next one is riding your ass, getting closer and closer to you, with its headlights getting brighter and brighter on your car, until you get the chance to change tracks, and it speeds by you on the track you were just driving on. How fucking epic was that? That sequence was a jaw dropper, for sure.
There are moments where this game REALLY shines, and it makes me wish that more attention was put into the whole package. This game could have been something very special, and while it does have its moments which I outlined above, it still falls short overall. If you are on the fence, wait for some price drops before diving in, but it's definitely worth playing if only for the campaign. Yes it's heavily scripted, but damn if it isn't a blast. Put your expectations between Undercover and Hot Pursuit, and you're good to go.
Here are some of my shots from photo mode on PS3. I may go back and capture some more spoilery ones later.
DidntKnowJack
Member
I have to say, I kind of agree. The controls in this game seem better. For some reason I found the cars in Hot Pursuit a bit squirrel-y. I'd slip and slide all over the road.
I'm not saying The Run is outstanding or anything, but I'm definitely having more fun with it than I thought I would.
Xander51
Member
I agree too. I think it took a little too much flack for its lack of content, in spite of the challenge mode and the diversity of the tracks.
I'm having some frantic good fun with this game. It's a next-gen Cruis'n to me, and I've wanted one of those for a while.
The Frostbite engine shines here--this is a great-looking racer with stunning environments that do nice justice to the scenic American landscape. (I LOL'd that the cutscenes even have the same "dirty lens-flare" look as Battlefield 3, hehehe.)
So far, so good, then. Sure, the load times are long, but I forget about that the moment I'm back on the road racing and grinning like a crazy fool.
The Frostbite engine shines here--this is a great-looking racer with stunning environments that do nice justice to the scenic American landscape. (I LOL'd that the cutscenes even have the same "dirty lens-flare" look as Battlefield 3, hehehe.)
So far, so good, then. Sure, the load times are long, but I forget about that the moment I'm back on the road racing and grinning like a crazy fool.
twinturbo2
butthurt Heat fan
I really hope that the guys at Black Box grab some Cruis'n World arcade cabinets, because I'm convinced that The Run will go global in 2013.
I hope they don't let me down, I want to race a Pagani Huayra on the moon at the end of their next journey.
I hope they don't let me down, I want to race a Pagani Huayra on the moon at the end of their next journey.
NullPointer
Member
I pondered picking this one up until I saw the first few minutes of the GameTrailers review.
"Unskippable cut-scenes"
"QTEs, fortunatley few and far between"
"No way to replay individual events"
"2 hour campaign..."
Yeah, no.
"Unskippable cut-scenes"
"QTEs, fortunatley few and far between"
"No way to replay individual events"
"2 hour campaign..."
Yeah, no.
Just finished the game story mode. It's much better than this three-page OT would suggest.
Look, the game isn't two hours long. Not unless you play it on easy, or you're some kind of racing-game Wunderkind. My game clock read 2:21 at the end of the campaign, but I easily played for more than double that, at least five hours, due to losing and having to restart races.
And that's before even touching the multiplayer or Challenge Races mode.
The game can be difficult, and the New Jersey stages in particular gave me lots of trouble.
The last level was indeed epic, but when you realize that
, it feels a little cheap.
My favorite things about the game are definitely the track variety and gorgeous, atmospheric locales. They made it for me. Several of the environments looked so beautiful, they just transported me there. (Hello, Pennsylvania in fall!) My favorite levels were the ones in Eau Claire(!) and Fort Atkinson(!!) Wisconsin, of all places. These towns, and the run down to Chicago, are right in my neck of the woods, and the artists really captured the distinctive look of the state. Hell, I never realized how charming and challenging those country roads and farmhouses could be until I blew by them at 130 mph!
I even liked the quick-time events. They were few and far between, and while they may stick out a bit oddly for just that reason, I found them exciting and even a little humorous--definitely a change of pace from your standard racing game.
The things I didn't like about the game were the long loading times and the game's annoying catch-up mode. (Though I do appreciate when AI drivers make mistakes and crash on their own, it does bother me when they can climb back into the race so easily.) A few races had me stuck for a good long time, while my hand turned into an agony-ridden claw thanks to Sony's shitty Dual-Shock controllers.
So all in all, I liked The Run and I would definitely buy a sequel. For some reason, I've been dissatisfied with many racers this generation, but this one satisfied me in new ways and looked great to boot.
Interior view next time, please? Thank you.
Edit: Yeah, just had a look at some of the Challenge Races. Good stuff in there; different than what I've already seen in the story-mode races. I'll be playing this game for a good long while.
Look, the game isn't two hours long. Not unless you play it on easy, or you're some kind of racing-game Wunderkind. My game clock read 2:21 at the end of the campaign, but I easily played for more than double that, at least five hours, due to losing and having to restart races.
And that's before even touching the multiplayer or Challenge Races mode.
The game can be difficult, and the New Jersey stages in particular gave me lots of trouble.
The last level was indeed epic, but when you realize that
it doesn't matter how fast or how slow you go, the level is "canned" to keep you in the race until the very end
My favorite things about the game are definitely the track variety and gorgeous, atmospheric locales. They made it for me. Several of the environments looked so beautiful, they just transported me there. (Hello, Pennsylvania in fall!) My favorite levels were the ones in Eau Claire(!) and Fort Atkinson(!!) Wisconsin, of all places. These towns, and the run down to Chicago, are right in my neck of the woods, and the artists really captured the distinctive look of the state. Hell, I never realized how charming and challenging those country roads and farmhouses could be until I blew by them at 130 mph!
I even liked the quick-time events. They were few and far between, and while they may stick out a bit oddly for just that reason, I found them exciting and even a little humorous--definitely a change of pace from your standard racing game.
The things I didn't like about the game were the long loading times and the game's annoying catch-up mode. (Though I do appreciate when AI drivers make mistakes and crash on their own, it does bother me when they can climb back into the race so easily.) A few races had me stuck for a good long time, while my hand turned into an agony-ridden claw thanks to Sony's shitty Dual-Shock controllers.
So all in all, I liked The Run and I would definitely buy a sequel. For some reason, I've been dissatisfied with many racers this generation, but this one satisfied me in new ways and looked great to boot.
Interior view next time, please? Thank you.
Edit: Yeah, just had a look at some of the Challenge Races. Good stuff in there; different than what I've already seen in the story-mode races. I'll be playing this game for a good long while.
This is on sale for $20 on Origin now (PC). I picked it up, as I enjoyed the demo.
I really like it so far. Some of the best racing environments this side of Dirt, and the arcade racing physics are solid.
When people say "It's only 2 hours long!", that's a bit of a stretch. It's about 30-40 individual events that played back to back. If you ace them all on the first try, you're going to be sitting there for about 3-4 hours. That's with zero retries. As it stands, on normal difficulty, I've played about two hours and am about 1/8th of the way through the main campaign. There are also tons of challenge races that are different than the ones in the main game which unlock new cars.
I'm actually enjoying this a lot more than Hot Pursuit.
I do have a question, though... how do you know if an upcoming event is going to be on freeways, in a city, or in rough back-country? For instance, I played Death Valley, and figured it was going to be one long stretch of road, so I took a muscle car. Turned out it was one of the craziest switch-back courses I'd played yet.
I really like it so far. Some of the best racing environments this side of Dirt, and the arcade racing physics are solid.
When people say "It's only 2 hours long!", that's a bit of a stretch. It's about 30-40 individual events that played back to back. If you ace them all on the first try, you're going to be sitting there for about 3-4 hours. That's with zero retries. As it stands, on normal difficulty, I've played about two hours and am about 1/8th of the way through the main campaign. There are also tons of challenge races that are different than the ones in the main game which unlock new cars.
I'm actually enjoying this a lot more than Hot Pursuit.
I do have a question, though... how do you know if an upcoming event is going to be on freeways, in a city, or in rough back-country? For instance, I played Death Valley, and figured it was going to be one long stretch of road, so I took a muscle car. Turned out it was one of the craziest switch-back courses I'd played yet.
Snkfanatic
Banned
Hmm all of you comparing this to Hot Pursuit, did you enjoy HP? I loved that game and I have beaten it twice now. Should I grab this on PC?
I bought this from Amazon for PC for 15$ the other day, and I'm having a great time with it!
Best part: They actually unlocked the frame rate in the races. You have to turn off in-game Vsync, but I just force vsync and triple buffer throught D3Doverrider. All cutscenes and menus still run at 30FPS, but the parts where you are driving all runs at 60FPS.
You do notice that the game is pretty demanding without that framerate cap. I struggled to make it work with SLI, but finally made it by using the Battlefield 3 SLI profile in Nvidia Inspector. Running it at 2560x1440 downsampled on my tv, and it looks absolutely stunning. Frostbite 2 really shines here.
I never managed to get into Hot Pursuit, as I grew tired of all the gimmicky (IMO) police car items and power ups. I enjoy playing these games with a wheel, and Hot Pursuit really didn't work well because of all the different buttons needed, so I guess that's why. The Run works beautifully with a wheel in the racing parts. The quick time events are of course not ideal with a wheel, but I just play with my 360 controller next to the wheel, and grab that when needed. I also find the handling to be super-satisfying. Very arcadey, but feels great.
There are a few negatives as well. It forgets my key mapping for my wheel every time, but I got around that by using some profiler software to map the buttons. The rubber banding AI is also extremely obvious a lot of the time, but I find myself forgiving that as I'm still having a whale of a time.
I'm playing it through Origin, and I don't have any friends who play this on PC, so my Autolog is empty and lonely. If you are in the same situation, please add me on Origin so we can compare times!
Origin-ID: Deepo
Best part: They actually unlocked the frame rate in the races. You have to turn off in-game Vsync, but I just force vsync and triple buffer throught D3Doverrider. All cutscenes and menus still run at 30FPS, but the parts where you are driving all runs at 60FPS.
You do notice that the game is pretty demanding without that framerate cap. I struggled to make it work with SLI, but finally made it by using the Battlefield 3 SLI profile in Nvidia Inspector. Running it at 2560x1440 downsampled on my tv, and it looks absolutely stunning. Frostbite 2 really shines here.
I never managed to get into Hot Pursuit, as I grew tired of all the gimmicky (IMO) police car items and power ups. I enjoy playing these games with a wheel, and Hot Pursuit really didn't work well because of all the different buttons needed, so I guess that's why. The Run works beautifully with a wheel in the racing parts. The quick time events are of course not ideal with a wheel, but I just play with my 360 controller next to the wheel, and grab that when needed. I also find the handling to be super-satisfying. Very arcadey, but feels great.
There are a few negatives as well. It forgets my key mapping for my wheel every time, but I got around that by using some profiler software to map the buttons. The rubber banding AI is also extremely obvious a lot of the time, but I find myself forgiving that as I'm still having a whale of a time.
I'm playing it through Origin, and I don't have any friends who play this on PC, so my Autolog is empty and lonely. If you are in the same situation, please add me on Origin so we can compare times!
Origin-ID: Deepo
One of the worst racing experiences I've had in a long time (Have only played through the main story yet though). Which is a shame because there is a good game in there hidden under the mountain of crap.
The QTEs, the unskippable (Really??) cutscenes, frustrating control assist, the multitasking lotto-gameplay, and probably some of the most intrusive rubber-band AI I've ever seen.. My god..
Loved the visuals - I think.
The QTEs, the unskippable (Really??) cutscenes, frustrating control assist, the multitasking lotto-gameplay, and probably some of the most intrusive rubber-band AI I've ever seen.. My god..
Loved the visuals - I think.
Yeah, it has that NFS flair. Hot Pursuit is way too bland.
Fox Mulder
Member
I dont think EA Black Box closed down, just kicked off NFS duty.
Paladin CL
Member
I dont think its underrated at all, the game is quite bad compared with Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted, the cars (any) feel like they weight 5 tons, they are clumsy and heavy and that unacceptable in an Arcade (IMO). Plus the campaing is extremely short.
I just got around to completing this game. Admittedly it is pretty short but I found the gameplay to be excellent. It's very fast paced, action packed and has a super-cheesy story line (which I actually quite liked) but most of all, it was so fun to play! the graphics were also pretty beautiful at times (PC, full spec). It's basically the COD of racing games.
I genuinely much preferred this to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (apparently I'm the only one) which in comparison felt dull, slow and had cars that felt like they handled like boats in comparison. Strange really, as Burnout: Paradise is one of my favourite racing games ever.
I genuinely much preferred this to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (apparently I'm the only one) which in comparison felt dull, slow and had cars that felt like they handled like boats in comparison. Strange really, as Burnout: Paradise is one of my favourite racing games ever.
No, you are not the only one. To thisd ate I still don't see the appeal of Hot Pursuit.
Goldrusher
Member
I found them véry similar.
The only difference being that in Hot Pursuit, they stitched all the stages together into an open-world... which was never used. I'm pretty sure every event took place on a blocked off track.
They are not similar at all...in fact they couldn't be much more different (staying in the NFS universe of course).
Goldrusher
Member
The Run felt like Hot Pursuit to me.
Same event-style, same locations, similar handling, same cop chases, Autolog, etc.
Really, so games taking place on circuits, in an urban setting at night (Underground, Carbon) or only during the day (Undercover), or perhaps even real race tracks (Shift) are all more similar to The Run, than Hot Pursuit?