The Need For Speed franchise has always been a bit of beacon for semi-casual speed freaks. Gamers flocked to the series knowing that they will get some good racing action with stunning cars and great graphics, couple with a plot here and there. But Electronic Arts’ latest fall very short of the familiar mark, leaving a rubber taste in gamers’ mouths.
A screen shot of Need For Speed - The Run (image: EA)
Need For Speed – The Run is a great concept on paper, with the brand trying to do something new in order to pump some life into a franchise that might be on the decline. The premise is actually simple – gamers are locked in a race for $20-million from San Francisco to New York.
But we have seen it many times where the planning on paper just doesn’t meet the requirements in the final execution of the title. The race is driven in 10 stages, with each stage divided into a number of sections.
The player will naturally start at the back of the pack at number 200, and as the sections progress, the player will have to gain a pre-determined number of position in order to proceed with the rest of the race.
If gamers fail to reach the quota of positions, the game will reset the player to the beginning of the stage – which is very frustrating, as it will more often than not be down to only one position. Each race also has a number of checkpoints, and if a player strays too far off the track, the game will reset them back to the last checkpoint. Gamers are only given 5 resets per race, and if those are exhausted, players will have to restart the entire section from the beginning.
It would have been better if they allowed for players who didn’t gain the necessary amount of positions, to carry on with the race. If the player had to gain 10 positions but only achieved 8, the next section they will have to gain 12. If they fail three sections in a row, then the player should have been given an option to retry from any section. After all, the game sets goals such as Reach 150th by Las Vegas, and Reach 50th by Chicago. And it's no where near realistic driving times, as Las Vegas will be reached in 35 minutes, which is a 600 km drive.
The physics of the title is also very off, with the smallest of shrubs sending cars into a flat spin and flipping out. There is about on a 2-meter margin on the side of the road, before the mechanics decided that players strayed too far, and resets. Another familiar trait of a EA game, is the elastic AI, where competitors will be miles behind, just to casually cruise by as soon as gamers hit the nitros.
In Need For Speed Hot Pursuit, one of the goals were to take out as many cop cars during a race as possible. Although the cops are back in the action, don’t even try this during a race, as the players’ vehicle will be wrecked – no matter where or how hard a police car is damaged. And naturally the police will be chasing only after the player, disregarding the other competitors in the race.
Being a racing game, a large number of licenced vehicles are available to the player in order to make it to NY first. Only problem is that players will hardly ever get a chance to change cars. After each stage, gamers can choose a new ride. If the chosen car is unfit for the next race, gamers would like to swap it – and the only way to do this is to drive through a garage.
The problem is that garages are so few and far between that they are very easy to miss completely. And there is usually only 1 garage per stage – so if you miss it, you are stuck with a Lamborghini on a gravel mountain pass.
Electronic Arts created hype for the title by punting the fact that gamer will have to get out of their cars at certain section and run. Running is a bit of a strong term in this title, as players won’t be doing any physical running.
The action generated from the running is all based on cut scenes, and the player’s only input is a series of quick-time events. Another problem with the QTE are that all the action on the screen is fast and furious, with police being kicked, killer guard dog and dodging bullets. While gamers are fixated on the action, a small button indicator is shown on the screen – which players will have to press in order to progress through the cut scene. Paying close attention to the screen, the button queue is hard to spot, resulting in a failed QTE – which resets the game.
While the plot is very thin and almost negligible, the bulk of the excitement is just in the racing. The term 'excitement' is being used very lightly, as all the aspects of the title come together to provide a very mediocre game at best.
The stunning graphics and the in-game sounds are probably the only elements of the title that shine through, as the cars’ physics are off, the game mechanics are flawed and the running part isn’t actually running.
Fans of the series should get it if they intend to stick to the multiplayer, as the single player campaign will be forgotten in the next few months. And the actual driving time (players racing on the track) in the campaign is only 2-hours long.
Need For Speed – The Run is a great concept on paper, with the brand trying to do something new in order to pump some life into a franchise that might be on the decline. The premise is actually simple – gamers are locked in a race for $20-million from San Francisco to New York.
But we have seen it many times where the planning on paper just doesn’t meet the requirements in the final execution of the title. The race is driven in 10 stages, with each stage divided into a number of sections.
The player will naturally start at the back of the pack at number 200, and as the sections progress, the player will have to gain a pre-determined number of position in order to proceed with the rest of the race.
If gamers fail to reach the quota of positions, the game will reset the player to the beginning of the stage – which is very frustrating, as it will more often than not be down to only one position. Each race also has a number of checkpoints, and if a player strays too far off the track, the game will reset them back to the last checkpoint. Gamers are only given 5 resets per race, and if those are exhausted, players will have to restart the entire section from the beginning.
It would have been better if they allowed for players who didn’t gain the necessary amount of positions, to carry on with the race. If the player had to gain 10 positions but only achieved 8, the next section they will have to gain 12. If they fail three sections in a row, then the player should have been given an option to retry from any section. After all, the game sets goals such as Reach 150th by Las Vegas, and Reach 50th by Chicago. And it's no where near realistic driving times, as Las Vegas will be reached in 35 minutes, which is a 600 km drive.
The physics of the title is also very off, with the smallest of shrubs sending cars into a flat spin and flipping out. There is about on a 2-meter margin on the side of the road, before the mechanics decided that players strayed too far, and resets. Another familiar trait of a EA game, is the elastic AI, where competitors will be miles behind, just to casually cruise by as soon as gamers hit the nitros.
In Need For Speed Hot Pursuit, one of the goals were to take out as many cop cars during a race as possible. Although the cops are back in the action, don’t even try this during a race, as the players’ vehicle will be wrecked – no matter where or how hard a police car is damaged. And naturally the police will be chasing only after the player, disregarding the other competitors in the race.
Being a racing game, a large number of licenced vehicles are available to the player in order to make it to NY first. Only problem is that players will hardly ever get a chance to change cars. After each stage, gamers can choose a new ride. If the chosen car is unfit for the next race, gamers would like to swap it – and the only way to do this is to drive through a garage.
The problem is that garages are so few and far between that they are very easy to miss completely. And there is usually only 1 garage per stage – so if you miss it, you are stuck with a Lamborghini on a gravel mountain pass.
Electronic Arts created hype for the title by punting the fact that gamer will have to get out of their cars at certain section and run. Running is a bit of a strong term in this title, as players won’t be doing any physical running.
The action generated from the running is all based on cut scenes, and the player’s only input is a series of quick-time events. Another problem with the QTE are that all the action on the screen is fast and furious, with police being kicked, killer guard dog and dodging bullets. While gamers are fixated on the action, a small button indicator is shown on the screen – which players will have to press in order to progress through the cut scene. Paying close attention to the screen, the button queue is hard to spot, resulting in a failed QTE – which resets the game.
While the plot is very thin and almost negligible, the bulk of the excitement is just in the racing. The term 'excitement' is being used very lightly, as all the aspects of the title come together to provide a very mediocre game at best.
The stunning graphics and the in-game sounds are probably the only elements of the title that shine through, as the cars’ physics are off, the game mechanics are flawed and the running part isn’t actually running.
Fans of the series should get it if they intend to stick to the multiplayer, as the single player campaign will be forgotten in the next few months. And the actual driving time (players racing on the track) in the campaign is only 2-hours long.
Comments
Post a Comment