Author Topic: Need For Speed: The Run -> MysterD's Impressions So Far...  (Read 2849 times)

Offline MysterD

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Need For Speed: The Run -> MysterD's Impressions So Far...
« on: Monday, October 22, 2012, 07:16:05 AM »
I bought NFS: The Run (PC) for $5 from Amazon DVG yesterday.

Got some 3 hours or so into it last night - and so far, I'm actually liking it. I really like the concept of this whole game being ONE entire race cross-country in the USA from West Coast (California) to East Coast (New York). It's linear as can be (which is fine), but the racing & tracks itself are just awesome and really good. I really like that there's TONS of racers on the track, as well.

These races...are interesting. Sometimes, you'll do a downhill down the mountain battle; you'll have to knock enemies out in certain amount of time; advance past a certain # of racers; etc.

QTE's (Quick-Time Events) don't seem to come too often. Instead of just having cut-scenes to watch to push story forward, they use QTE's - namely, after you make your way from one MAJOR area to ANOTHER. They namely are there to try to push the story forward, when they show up. Yeah - the story is nothing special. It seems to be there just to push the race forward. Not much depth into the characters and the story at hand, unfortunately - since this was supposed to be one of the strong points of the game, if you actually read interviews and previews on this game, before it was finished.

You have X amount of "resets", depending on what difficulty you're playing), in which hitting "reset" key sets you back to last checkpoint and/or last spot the game wants to put you back at. My gripe is if you finish a race; lose; and have resets; the game won't kick you back to checkpoint/last spot - you lose and have to do race all over again. This doesn't help in the race, when you lose right at the last second especially! So, before you finish, if you get a chance and are not going to complete the objective - you might want to hit "Reset".

The game's running on DICE's Frostbite 2 - and yes, it's gorgeous. The vistas thoughout this cross-country race from Cali to NY are awesome - I've seen Cali, Death Valley, Vegas and Colorado - and it looks great technically and artistically. I have this game maxed on 1920x1080 in-game on Ultra. In-game V-Sync ON caps the game at 30 FPS (frames per seconds). I threw off V-Sync OFF to try to get some better framerates - which it had, i.e it was running consistently around 50-60 FPS  - but, unlocking the frames often caused crashes to the desktop, here & there. Threw V-Sync ON to cap the game out at 30 FPS - runs perfectly w/out any crashes or anything.

So, I'm curious - has anybody else actually played this? I see Xessive has played it - as AutoLog here actually compare your stats w/ those on your Friends list on Origin. I should note this, since I'm on the Origin subject - NFS: The Run on the PC does require Origin to run.

For those who played it - what do you think of the game?

Sure looks like it's at least worth the $5, from what I've played so far...

Offline MysterD

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Re: Need For Speed: The Run -> MysterD's Impressions So Far...
« Reply #1 on: Monday, October 22, 2012, 07:17:55 AM »
{Place-holder, just in case...}
{Who knows, I might flip post #1 w/ My Impressions to #2 and put links and stuff in post #1 instead....}

Offline Xessive

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Re: Need For Speed: The Run -> MysterD's Impressions So Far...
« Reply #2 on: Monday, October 22, 2012, 08:43:58 AM »
It's not too bad, but it carries the extremely restrictive form of BlackBox's touch on the NFS franchise. Any minor deviation from the track warrants a reset. Otherwise I thought it was an alright game. It's just tough to compete with what Criterion are doing with NFS overall.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Need For Speed: The Run -> MysterD's Impressions So Far...
« Reply #3 on: Monday, October 22, 2012, 09:12:28 AM »
It's not too bad, but it carries the extremely restrictive form of BlackBox's touch on the NFS franchise. Any minor deviation from the track warrants a reset. Otherwise I thought it was an alright game. It's just tough to compete with what Criterion are doing with NFS overall.

I can see what you're saying w/ NFS: The Run being so restricted, though - since it pretty much goes in ONE big straight line. I'd guess ProStreet would be in a similar boat (or car here) on the restrictive nature - which I have, but never ever installed.

This all also makes me wonder - why don't they drop the NFS name from some of these games? Or move the tag to the end of the title? Or only put the NFS logo on there somewhere?
There seems to be so much different stuff that have been going on in the NFS franchise, over the years...which is probably why Shift series dropped the NFS tag from the front of it & tossed it at least somewhere else on the box, back when Shift 2: Unleashed came out - NFS name appears on the bottom of the box (away from Shift 2: Unleashed title) and has the NFS logo on it.

On another hand, Black Box's NFS: Most Wanted 2005 + Carbon didn't feel so restricted for me - and those are my favorites in the NFS series. Both of those had the open-world feel & lots to do.
Undercover - I probably should give it another chance, but I thought it felt too much like NFS: Most Wanted 2005 for me; and it just flat-out threw out too many game modes found in previous NFS's (Drag Racing from NFS: MW 2005; and Drift Race from NFS: Carbon). A game w/ such an open-world feel like Undercover - it should've kept those modes to deliver the "Kitchen Sink" and built upon what made both MW 2005 and Carbon so great.

NFS: Hot Pursuit 2010 (Criterion) was really good, though. Can't really fault that one for much of anything, honestly. That game's a blast.

Back to NFS: The Run - what the hell is up w/ this game CTD'ing every now & then? It's doing it again, here & there - even w/ the framerate cap of 30 FPS w/ V-Sync on. Seriously - WTF?

EDIT:
I can't really speak on the older NFS: Underground series unfortunately. For some reason, I missed those games...

EDIT #2:
And after 7 hours or so, I'm done w/ NFS: The Run (PC) - "The Run" Campaign.
« Last Edit: Monday, October 22, 2012, 11:57:55 AM by MysterD »