Need For Speed: The Run - Discussion Thread
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channabasanna
Disciple
Got my copy of PC version yesterday from Flipkart along with their 3 movie download card from hollywoodhits.in.
The game comes in 2 DVD's and occupies almost 17GB. For installing the game you need to have Origin (EA) being installed and logged in. Also it asks you to install the latest Graphics Card drivers with out which it does not launch the game (Asked me to upgrade for my GTX560Ti to the latest drivers)
Started the game, feels quite good in Ultra settings for the Video. Will update more as and when i progress. If we can play online, let me know how to do so. Haven tried playing over internet anytime.
The game comes in 2 DVD's and occupies almost 17GB. For installing the game you need to have Origin (EA) being installed and logged in. Also it asks you to install the latest Graphics Card drivers with out which it does not launch the game (Asked me to upgrade for my GTX560Ti to the latest drivers)
Started the game, feels quite good in Ultra settings for the Video. Will update more as and when i progress. If we can play online, let me know how to do so. Haven tried playing over internet anytime.
Chaoseater
Adept
Picked my copy from Intencity day before yesterday night at 12. Just Started with SP, all is good till now. Graphics looks amazing. More on it once I complete it.
Played the game for close to an hour and a half yesterday and I am utterly disappointed! I hate to say this but this iteration seems to be yet another forgettable one. Coming from the same devs. who gave us plot-based titles such as Most Wanted and Carbon, it is very unfortunate to see that The Run does not live up to the expectations of the previous titles which garnered good reception overall. Truth to be told, Hot Pursuit developed by Criterion Games (the England based developer behind the critically acclaimed Burnout series) which released last year around the same time, was a much better title although it may have lacked a definite plot. The game went on to become one of the best arcade based racing titles ever. The Run, however has left me with disappointed on several accounts and probably proves that an awesome game engine is perhaps just not the right ingredient to make a perfect game. Read on to find out some of the quick impressions on the game.
First up, the premise of the single player career mode. The essence of the plot is pretty simple. The protagonist of the game, Jackson Rourke a.k.a. Jack (voiced by Sean Farris) owes some random crime organisation called 'The Mob' a large sum of money and was forced to flee. He comes across Sam Harper who informs him that participation in an illegal street racing event to be held in the country and an eventual win will guarantee him a prize money of $25M, sufficient to repay the debts and secure his life from the threats. Titled 'The Run', the event is a 3000 mile cross-country race from San Francisco, CA the west end of the continent to the New York, the extreme opposite end and Jack has to beat 200 rival racers in the course of the event. The cops are in pursuit of the guy as much as the organisation. Our friendly companion Google Maps, claims that this feat can be done in under 2 days not taking into account any pit stops en route. The Run does it in under 3 hours of gameplay!!
Next up, the visuals. It is quite obvious when you have a title developed on a next gen. engine such as Frostbite 2, the visuals are bound to look magnificent. Make no mistake here, The Run is perhaps the best racing title to brace the PC and consoles alike, in terms of visuals. I think GT 5 (developed exclusively for the PS3) and Forza 4 (developed for the X360) comes at a distant second! When I mean visuals, the level designs, crisp vehicle detailing, character detailing and animation, environment textures, shadows visible on the vehicles, lens flare from direct sunlight, environmental destruction such as broken boulders and avalanches occurring in real time, reflection of the vehicle from the water on the road etc. among others. The 3000 mile road spans across a vast range of landscapes and terrain such as the ice-capped mountains, deserts with sandstorms, coastal regions, grasslands to dense tropical rainforests, cityscapes with brightly lit towers and skyscrapers. This is perhaps the first thing that catches the notice of the player during the course of the gameplay. Transitions from cutscenes to gameplay were nicely done. But here's the drill - the frame rate is capped at 30fps! A clear indication of the fact that this game is a consolized port. And unfortunately there is no workaround as yet. I was able to max out all the video settings alright but a frame lock at 30fps is demeaning considering the smoothness of the gameplay is affected albeit not severe but defintiely noticeable.
Then we have the soundtracks which is another sore point. At one point of time, the franchise was renown for some of the best and enjoyable soundtracks from various popular genres such as alternative/punk rock, hip-hop, trance, hip-hop etc. in the game. Previous titles from the franchise - Underground, Underground 2, Most Wanted, Even Hot Pursuit (2010) had some very memorable tracks. Not any more unfortunately. The tracks in this game are best forgotten.
Coming to the gameplay, the career mode spans 10 stages with each stage comprising of 5~6 different races. Races broadly consist of 3 types - Sprint (finish the event beating all the opponents to the finish line), Make Up Time (a time trial race with several checkpoints; the remaining time at each checkpoint is automatically added to the countdown timer) and Battle Race (more like a boss battle wherein the player must overtake the opponents and hold the position for a specific period of time to defeat the rival car). Pursuits may happen at any point in the race and the player must outrun the cops to the finish line. Cops may utilise sedans to SUVs in a pursuit and can hammer the player's car or perform a roadblock. Cop vehicles have health bars a la Ho Pursuit and may be totaled if the player manages to ram the cops' vehicles several times. Busting roadblocks and totaling cop vehicles earn experience points XP. XP may also be earned for overtaking opponents, close shaves with opponent cars etc. XP helps the player level up during the course of the race and unlocks several abilities. Nitrous is unlocked when the player crosses the first level and autofills itself when driving through the opposite lanes, through shortcuts, drifting around corners or performing near-miss sequences with other cars. Vehicle customisation also returns and enables the player to use body kits and change colors from a selected list.
The game also brings a host of new features albeit some of them are useless! One of them is the ability to do a reset during the course of the game if the player manages to crash the car or fall from a valley down below. Doing a reset, resets the car's position to a previous well-known state at the same speed the car was at, when it passed through that region. Car damage is present and the car may be wrecked in the event of a head-on collision. Another new feature not present in any previous iterations of the franchise, is the ability to swap the car midway through a race. To do so, the player must pass through a gas station but doing so results in time penalty and any opponent overtaken previously may catch up with the player. Cars are unlocked as the game progresses and need to be chosen based on the type of tracks and the familiar variety re-appears - muscle, tuners and exotics. QTE makes its first appearance in a racing title and the first ever NFS game to feature one wherein the player does some on foot chase sequences evading the cops. Such sequences barely last a couple of minutes and fails to pump enough adrenaline into the blood! A change in the type of gameplay is welcome but not definitely in a way that it fails to impress the audience.
The in-game social networking feature Autolog returns which monitors the progress of the player's career along with the other human opponents. I haven't delved into the multiplayer aspect of the game so cannot comment much on that front.
Lastly, the game is ridiculously short! Trust me when I say this, I am done with 50% of the game within the first 90 minutes and have reached Stage 6 (4 more remain!) with a Position number 85. The run time is displayed as 1 hour and 9 minutes, probably owing the remaining duration to the restarts and cutscenes in the game. So is this worth shelling out Rs. 1500 for the PC version? Definitely NOT! I would rather advise spending that amount on a better title such as TES V: Skyrim or Arkham City. EA please do yourself a favor and pass the development rights of this never ending franchise to Criterion Games, thank you!
--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
Done with the title. A short game indeed. Must have clocked < 4 hours although the in-game stats say ~2 hours. The final race was lengthy, challenging and a bit interesting. Took me a couple of tries to get it right. Conclusion sucked and also indicated that the story may continue further. :|
First up, the premise of the single player career mode. The essence of the plot is pretty simple. The protagonist of the game, Jackson Rourke a.k.a. Jack (voiced by Sean Farris) owes some random crime organisation called 'The Mob' a large sum of money and was forced to flee. He comes across Sam Harper who informs him that participation in an illegal street racing event to be held in the country and an eventual win will guarantee him a prize money of $25M, sufficient to repay the debts and secure his life from the threats. Titled 'The Run', the event is a 3000 mile cross-country race from San Francisco, CA the west end of the continent to the New York, the extreme opposite end and Jack has to beat 200 rival racers in the course of the event. The cops are in pursuit of the guy as much as the organisation. Our friendly companion Google Maps, claims that this feat can be done in under 2 days not taking into account any pit stops en route. The Run does it in under 3 hours of gameplay!!
Next up, the visuals. It is quite obvious when you have a title developed on a next gen. engine such as Frostbite 2, the visuals are bound to look magnificent. Make no mistake here, The Run is perhaps the best racing title to brace the PC and consoles alike, in terms of visuals. I think GT 5 (developed exclusively for the PS3) and Forza 4 (developed for the X360) comes at a distant second! When I mean visuals, the level designs, crisp vehicle detailing, character detailing and animation, environment textures, shadows visible on the vehicles, lens flare from direct sunlight, environmental destruction such as broken boulders and avalanches occurring in real time, reflection of the vehicle from the water on the road etc. among others. The 3000 mile road spans across a vast range of landscapes and terrain such as the ice-capped mountains, deserts with sandstorms, coastal regions, grasslands to dense tropical rainforests, cityscapes with brightly lit towers and skyscrapers. This is perhaps the first thing that catches the notice of the player during the course of the gameplay. Transitions from cutscenes to gameplay were nicely done. But here's the drill - the frame rate is capped at 30fps! A clear indication of the fact that this game is a consolized port. And unfortunately there is no workaround as yet. I was able to max out all the video settings alright but a frame lock at 30fps is demeaning considering the smoothness of the gameplay is affected albeit not severe but defintiely noticeable.
Then we have the soundtracks which is another sore point. At one point of time, the franchise was renown for some of the best and enjoyable soundtracks from various popular genres such as alternative/punk rock, hip-hop, trance, hip-hop etc. in the game. Previous titles from the franchise - Underground, Underground 2, Most Wanted, Even Hot Pursuit (2010) had some very memorable tracks. Not any more unfortunately. The tracks in this game are best forgotten.
Coming to the gameplay, the career mode spans 10 stages with each stage comprising of 5~6 different races. Races broadly consist of 3 types - Sprint (finish the event beating all the opponents to the finish line), Make Up Time (a time trial race with several checkpoints; the remaining time at each checkpoint is automatically added to the countdown timer) and Battle Race (more like a boss battle wherein the player must overtake the opponents and hold the position for a specific period of time to defeat the rival car). Pursuits may happen at any point in the race and the player must outrun the cops to the finish line. Cops may utilise sedans to SUVs in a pursuit and can hammer the player's car or perform a roadblock. Cop vehicles have health bars a la Ho Pursuit and may be totaled if the player manages to ram the cops' vehicles several times. Busting roadblocks and totaling cop vehicles earn experience points XP. XP may also be earned for overtaking opponents, close shaves with opponent cars etc. XP helps the player level up during the course of the race and unlocks several abilities. Nitrous is unlocked when the player crosses the first level and autofills itself when driving through the opposite lanes, through shortcuts, drifting around corners or performing near-miss sequences with other cars. Vehicle customisation also returns and enables the player to use body kits and change colors from a selected list.
The game also brings a host of new features albeit some of them are useless! One of them is the ability to do a reset during the course of the game if the player manages to crash the car or fall from a valley down below. Doing a reset, resets the car's position to a previous well-known state at the same speed the car was at, when it passed through that region. Car damage is present and the car may be wrecked in the event of a head-on collision. Another new feature not present in any previous iterations of the franchise, is the ability to swap the car midway through a race. To do so, the player must pass through a gas station but doing so results in time penalty and any opponent overtaken previously may catch up with the player. Cars are unlocked as the game progresses and need to be chosen based on the type of tracks and the familiar variety re-appears - muscle, tuners and exotics. QTE makes its first appearance in a racing title and the first ever NFS game to feature one wherein the player does some on foot chase sequences evading the cops. Such sequences barely last a couple of minutes and fails to pump enough adrenaline into the blood! A change in the type of gameplay is welcome but not definitely in a way that it fails to impress the audience.
The in-game social networking feature Autolog returns which monitors the progress of the player's career along with the other human opponents. I haven't delved into the multiplayer aspect of the game so cannot comment much on that front.
Lastly, the game is ridiculously short! Trust me when I say this, I am done with 50% of the game within the first 90 minutes and have reached Stage 6 (4 more remain!) with a Position number 85. The run time is displayed as 1 hour and 9 minutes, probably owing the remaining duration to the restarts and cutscenes in the game. So is this worth shelling out Rs. 1500 for the PC version? Definitely NOT! I would rather advise spending that amount on a better title such as TES V: Skyrim or Arkham City. EA please do yourself a favor and pass the development rights of this never ending franchise to Criterion Games, thank you!
--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
Done with the title. A short game indeed. Must have clocked < 4 hours although the in-game stats say ~2 hours. The final race was lengthy, challenging and a bit interesting. Took me a couple of tries to get it right. Conclusion sucked and also indicated that the story may continue further. :|
G@d of w@r
Skilled
Hello guys! here after a long time... I purchased this game on 16th Nov (DVD copy) installed by DVD, inserted DVD2 when prompted, in Origin Beta, it appears Installing since 48 hours. I am unable to play the game since it is showing only Installing.. What could be the problem? why is it showing installing since last 48 hours? anyone else facing same problem?
PS: I am having 4mbps internet connection so if its downloading something, it should have been completed now. My brother says, same thing happened with Fifa 12. is there a special process to be followed to install this game?
--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
Anyone is experiencing above problem?? Still is is stuck at Installing (restarted twice in 2 days, resumed installing) end task just now, started origin again and resume installing..
dunno wat to do.. HELP!!!
PS: I am having 4mbps internet connection so if its downloading something, it should have been completed now. My brother says, same thing happened with Fifa 12. is there a special process to be followed to install this game?
--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
G@d of w@r said:Hello guys! here after a long time... I purchased this game on 16th Nov (DVD copy) installed by DVD, inserted DVD2 when prompted, in Origin Beta, it appears Installing since 48 hours. I am unable to play the game since it is showing only Installing.. What could be the problem? why is it showing installing since last 48 hours? anyone else facing same problem?
PS: I am having 4mbps internet connection so if its downloading something, it should have been completed now. My brother says, same thing happened with Fifa 12. is there a special process to be followed to install this game?
Anyone is experiencing above problem?? Still is is stuck at Installing (restarted twice in 2 days, resumed installing) end task just now, started origin again and resume installing..
dunno wat to do.. HELP!!!
If anyone's interested (don't think anyone would be but nonetheless), here's [H]'s performance report. Glad to see that their views (or most reviews for that matter) are vastly similar to what I had felt about the game.
HARDOCP - Introduction and Performance - Need for Speed: The Run - Performance and IQ
HardOCP said:
HARDOCP - Introduction and Performance - Need for Speed: The Run - Performance and IQ
Just reached Vegas. I've been playing it for close to 2 hours now and the only difficult part, for me, were those challenge races. I hate time trials with a passion. But so far, I find the game to be quite enjoyable. It's not ground-breaking, but good time killer. What sucks is that I'm still driving my stock BMW that I got at the beginning of the race. :ashamed:
They should have allowed us to select our cars prior to an event, rather than having to hit the gas station (during a race) to switch vehicles.
They should have allowed us to select our cars prior to an event, rather than having to hit the gas station (during a race) to switch vehicles.
Completed Colorado area this morning and have moved to stage 6. Obtained the 'Drafting' ability, but not sure how it works though. What challenges await me in the up-coming stages?
^Nothing much if I may add other than the final race. Took me a couple of tries because there were only 5 resets on the Normal difficulty mode and it was a lengthier track amounting to ~10 miles from the start to the finish line.
Car handling isn't as arcade'ish as Hot Pursuit and not as good a simulator as Race Driver: Grid was. A mix of both but getting the car to drift around the corners were a notch harder than Hot Pursuit and took me a while to get used to it. But catching up with the opponents were pretty easy or rather the AI was dumb!
PS: Thanks for the likes folks! Definitely inspires us to draft more such short reviews.
Car handling isn't as arcade'ish as Hot Pursuit and not as good a simulator as Race Driver: Grid was. A mix of both but getting the car to drift around the corners were a notch harder than Hot Pursuit and took me a while to get used to it. But catching up with the opponents were pretty easy or rather the AI was dumb!
PS: Thanks for the likes folks! Definitely inspires us to draft more such short reviews.
Chaoseater
Adept
I find the climax to be really dumb. Never expected such a dull end to the story. But overall, the gameplay was pretty moderate. Quite challenging some places especially the last race.
@gannu- The Last race was damn challenging. Was glued to the screen for the last 15 Kms.
As I earlier said very dull end.
@gannu- The Last race was damn challenging. Was glued to the screen for the last 15 Kms.
The drives through the Subway was kickass and edge of the sit. Hell Yeah.
As I earlier said very dull end.
Kauzy, why am I not seeing you playing this game? :S
comp@ddict
Skilled
Noo(deep throat batman-ish voice
::exclaiming that he didn't expect that at all:
rajveersingh09
Adept
Completed the game. Honestly i kinda liked the game. The avalanche race and the races towards the end are a great thrill. Yes the game is pretty short but its worth a play. The final race was pretty tough took me quite a lot of tries though the ending shows a path to a sequel !
P.s. Anyone noticed this? Calvin Garett whom we race here in this game is the main protagonist in the game Fight Night Champion where his name is Andre Bishop.
From Fight Night
From the Run.
P.s. Anyone noticed this? Calvin Garett whom we race here in this game is the main protagonist in the game Fight Night Champion where his name is Andre Bishop.
From the Run.
Aman27deep
Skilled
I personally loved the game. The graphics, the thrill of certain races is just too good
Me and #rajveersingh09 completed the game an hour apart
Also the last race in which you have to ride your car on the wall while you dodge the train, that's just epic !!
Me and #rajveersingh09 completed the game an hour apart
Also the last race in which you have to ride your car on the wall while you dodge the train, that's just epic !!
I played the game for like 3 hrs. Got really frustrated. I played without using resets for full xp. If i just go a bit into the jungle to use a shortcut the game resets me. And the difficulty scaling is so bad. In a race, the first opponent i have to pass i tough as hell and the rest of the opponents are a piece of cake. And the cops will only try to make me stop, even if there is a guys next to him who is going faster than me. This game ruined the nfs experience.