Need for Speed is one of EA’s many franchises that gets re-hashed each year and released just in time for Christmas. So announcement of another NFS game was no real shock but we still decided to take a look under the hood to see what Need for Speed: The Run has in store for us come the November 2011 release.
Gorgeous cars and a great backdrop – NFS The Run
Fans of the series will know that NFS has seen everything the racing world has to offer – customising your ride, illegal street racing, more organised track racing, cops versus robbers in the more recent Hot Pursuit and now NFS The Run plays as one man (us) trying to get from Chicago to the West Coast any way he can (provided its a car).
Check out the 5 minute Gameplay trailer which was demo’d at the recent EA conference and you can see that the Need for Speed series is taking another new direction. There seems to be more than just driving fast cars with the addition of Quick Time Events (QTE) at certain points. There’s no question that this will help provide a fluid storyline rather than just drive, choose another race, drive some more. However, it will be interesting to see if the QTE’s are a nice introduction to an otherwise widely accepted game genre or if they will become a hinderance and annoying to do.
The emphasis is, of course, on the cars and the racing. Despite Hot Pursuit being a huge success and introducing ‘weapons’, there doesn’t seem to be anything like this in The Run. Also given the way the story plays out from what we have seen, it is unlikely there’s going to be a ‘Garage’ and therefore we’re expecting certain stages of the game to be in set cars. If so, this is a bold move by EA given NFS has always been about freedom to chose your ride and in some cases, do what you want to it.
We’ve got faith though and we know that come November we will be holding the joypad with gritted teeth as we scream through canyons and streets at eye-watering speed. Hope it’s worth the wait..!
Need for Speed: The Run – 5 minute gameplay trailer
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