Good for a rental. A strained, frustrating rental.
*This review only covers the main story mode on PS3*
This game feels like it was rushed: poor optimisation for loading, simplistic-yet-infuriating AI, half-baked story and uneven pacing all culminate in potentially ending the chances of having another true story-driven (no pun intended) driving games, which is the biggest disappointment.
While the length of a game should not judge the competence of a game, NFS the Run fails to deliver enough engaging moments in the 6 hours I spent through the story mode.
The game doses out its most hi-octane thrills in the first and last quarter which makes playing out the middle of the game a laborious task. This is made more frustrating by a rubber-banding AI that seems to magically gain and lose the ability of a 6th and 7th gear particularly at the end of the race. This would be less of a problem if the loading times weren't so arduous. It was noticeable enough for me to warrant getting a stopwatch to time an average load (48 seconds).
What's more, whenever you go off track the game seems to choose depending on the course whether you have to go back to the last checkpoint (~15 second load) or be warped back to the track fairly instantly.
Not being particularly great at driving games meant that a large time was just spent watching loading screens.
While many people find QTE's insufferable, the scarce amount of them despite being a USP of the game makes it a non-issue.
The story again is dosed as much of the action is but feels like large sections are missing, with loading screens explaining a rival's back story with no actual dialogue or face-time to explain anything.
If you are somewhat into driving games, definitely wanting something different, and not expecting a version of Shift or Underground or Hot Pursuit, this game is worth a try, just know that you are in for an underwhelming ride.
