I was kinda sold on Need for Speed The Run. I mean, outside of the QTE's, what could go wrong? I loved Criterion's Hot Pursuit to bits, I think DICE's Frostbite engine is the shit, and a cross country America run? That's like flippin' Cruisin' USA. Then I played the demo. It was neither fish nor fowl. Not quite arcadey enough, to feel like a true follow-up to 2010's Hot Pursuit, and not 'weighty' enough to pass for a more serious simulation (and the announced 'simulation' setting was nowhere to be found). I tried hard enough to end up liking its driving model though, and I was set to grab it come launch...

Then all the devasting reviews hit. Only 3 hours long. No replay value. Shoddily strucured. Wierd online play. Bad Autolog integration. God dammit - and that's been it for The Run. Now I still kinda want to play the game, for all the reasons I had all along. Sell me on it, as best you can. It can't be all that bad! I mean a 3 hours long campaign sounds bad on paper, but 3 hours worth of original open road? That's probably more road than there is in Gran Tourismo 5. And it is really pretty. It's essentially Cruisin' USA - it just can't be as bad as it was received!

Does really nobody have anything nice to say about this game? Good Lord!

I will be very surprised if anyone comes to this game's defense.

From what I saw of it, it has no major flaws or bugs; technically, you can say that it functions. But it's short, the story sounds pretty meh, and there's nothing else that makes it stand out from the crowd. There have been better Need for Speed games recently, and there are other driving games more worth your time, like the surprisingly good Driver: San Francisco.

No. It's awful. Buy Hot Pursuit instead and only play Criterion-made arcade racing games from now on. You'll hug yourself for it.

Don't buy it. Then again, you also loved Kingdoms of Average... :P

Seriously, don't buy it.

Go buy Hot Pursuit, Driver SF, or hell even set up cop vs robber games in Burnout paradise. Nothing good about need for speed the runs.

the games like £14 now... how much selling does it need. just take a punt

the games like £14 now... how much selling does it need. just take a punt

I personally thought it was boring. The environments are nice to look at though. Apart from that, everything else is average. I have yet to finish the game, because its become such a chore to plough through.

It's a video game and just by being on this site I think it's safe to assume you like video games. I've never played it and to be honest from what I've seen it's pretty shitty. Don't play it or buy unless you can get it for super cheap.

@Seppli: It's supposed to be 5 bucks at best buy tomorrow if you are still interested. At least it wouldn't be much of a loss if you don't like it.

@Bell_End said:

the games like £14 now... how much selling does it need. just take a punt

...more worried about my time. Then again, 3 hours? That's like climbing 20 synchronization points in an Assassin's Creed game.

I rented this for a couple of bucks for a week. It looks nice, but somehow doesnt seem all that exciting. You would think dodging through traffic at 190mph would be, yet it still manages to fall flat.

I thought the rule with the need for speed series was the same as with star trek films...you get a good one, then a bad one, then a good one. Hot pursuit was definitely a good one so....

Im gonna give the game a chance, and the multiplayer free trial. Ive got it for a week after all.

Well I think the campaign had a few good beats, but im glad that mongoose of a game has gone. Im looking forward to what the next guys can do with the experience from the using this engine

I was kind of in the same boat as you. I recently fell back in love with racing and I was always a bit curious about The Run.

Now my curiosity can be sated because I got a copy off Amazon for 7 bucks. I would see if you could get a cheap version of it and then give it a spin. Couldn't hurt, right?