Black Box’s latest Need For Speed title might have been in development for two years but it’s only recently bared its teeth in public, an early April leak that ended up being a slightly confusing video trailer probably not the usually slick affair that EA are known for with their top tier series. Thankfully, though, an impressive E3 on-stage playthrough silenced most critics, and recent hands-on previews of The Run have been mostly positive.
[drop2]The biggest change for fans of the Need For Speed lineage has got to be the all new central character, simply named ‘Jack’. “It’s the first time we’ve had a real character in the series,” executive producer at Black Box, Jason DeLong told TheSixthAxis. “He’s an anti-hero,” he explains, and one “inspired” by the likes of Nathan Drake. Jack’s not just there to give the player something to look at, either, he’s central to the game.Details on why he’s driving across 300km of American roads and highways are scant, and DeLong’s not talking. Not yet, anyway – the exact reasons why are being kept under wraps. “Suffice to say the game starts unexpectedly for Jack, and it’s life or death right from the beginning,” said DeLong. The race from San Francisco to New York, then, is Jack’s story, and the prize money – a singular, one off lump sum for the winner – is his ticket to freedom.
The Run plays out as a series of interconnected races, which range from sprints and time trials to one on one rival battles and even environmental escapes, like an avalanche in Colorado. Between these races are the much discussed on-foot sections, which intersperse with the vehicle bits to break up the game and seque in the next bit of the storyline. It’s a refreshing alternative to a boring old pop-up map or loading screen, but the fact that the out of car bits are purely quick-time events (you don’t control Jack in these sections) has caused something of a stir.
[drop]DeLong’s surprised (and thankful) that we didn’t think they were nearly as bad as were being made out. “They’re only about 10% of the game,” he said, before explaining that they’re used to present new car choices to the player as well as help create a “blockbuster Hollywood experience.” Your first choice of car will be at Jack’s own garage, but after that it looks like your rides will be determined by less legal methods.The car choice is worth a mention, too. Classic vehicles like the original Golf GTi and early BMWs square up against newer vehicles the Need for Speed franchise has been known for, and these cars will present themselves at key points in the game’s exposition – although DeLong told us that there won’t be any repetition, the cars will be unique for each section. The developers have tried to feature special edition and tweaked versions of each vehicle in the game, and although there’s no hardcore customisation like bodykits and a vinyl designer, we were told there’ll be alternate liveries to discover.
[videoyoutube]EA aren’t ready to talk about multiplayer yet (apart from the rather obvious confirmation that “it’s in there”) but we did manage to prize some information about Autolog from DeLong. It’s better, this year, in the sense that the powerful, automated stat tracking system will now update you turn by turn, second by second. “If you take a specific corner well in Chicago, your friends will know about it,” he told us.And that road trip’s a big one. The game obviously hasn’t got the entire journey mapped out, but the amount of track that is in there is staggering, and easily the biggest driveable area the NFS series has seen. DeLong promised huge amounts of variety, too, from built up cities to open deserts, and sections will be replayable to try to keep that Autologging ticking in your favour.
The Frostbite 2 engine is working a treat, too – the graphics look great and the flexibility of the tools has meant Black Box can change elements of a course and test live without having to rebuild the entire thing, not to mention allowing for Jack and his various enemies to have convincing on-foot animation and the cars themselves to exhibit that almost trademark blend of arcade simplicity and sim-lite physics. And of course the cars themselves look lovely; the console versions are “identical” not only to each other, but they’re not far from the PC version barring a few high resolution textures.
The Run is shaping up to be a rather enticing game. The premise is certainly solid and Autolog has a habit of transforming any racing game into something compelling and addictive by virtue of our competitive need to beat our friends at something – the tweaks sound like that’s going to be raised up a notch or two. The game’s a few months off yet, but it’s already showing great promise. We’ll keep an eye on it and be back with more in the coming weeks.
R4U Eldave0
Sounds interesting but I still want to slap the guy who thought adding quick time events to a racing game was a good idea.
3shirts
Or any game
aerobes
I quite literally could not agree more.
Erroneus
Worked brilliantly in Heavy Rain :)
But I agree, I don’t see the point of them in this.
R4U Eldave0
Heavy Rain is brilliant and the controls worked really well :)
That said, people bought HR because they wanted an emersive storyline and the controls helped draw you into it (kinda). I will give you odds on that people who buy NFS want to be able to drive cars, not complete quicktime events ;)
moshi
And I will slap thee back in defence of bringing something different to the genre.
R4U Eldave0
I’m all for innovation of a genre, particularly one as tired as the racing genre… but unnatural quick time events just isn’t the right way to go :P
Smallville2106
I had this on preorder till I heard about the on foot sections. 10% of the game?
Glad I cancelled it.
e8
This article has raised my hopes & anticipation. The hot pursuit demo didn’t quite grab me, can’t put my finger on why & i’m still unsure, but tempted at the same time to pick it up cheap.
MadJunkBoy
u should pick it up=) its one of the best NFS games IMO… but u know, thats just what i think! =)
moshi
The demo was a bit.sluggish but once you get into the faster cars it turns into a whole new beast of.a game.
R4U Eldave0
Once you get into it its the best NFS title out there no question. Its currently 4quid for the 360 version on game.co.uk if that helps?
e8
Thanks all, was hoping for some positive feedback. I’ll buy it, once I find the best deal for the ps3 ver.
Forrest_01
Yeah, personally i think it’s brilliant.
Certainly the best NFS on PS3 anyway (IMO).
Must get back to finishing it at some point…
bg
‘Certainly the best NFS on PS3 anyway (IMO)’
Hot Pursuit is the only NFS on PS3 that doesn’t completely suck balls! Though I guess Carbon was passable.
MadJunkBoy
after i read this some questionmarks have been stretched out, and it looks like i will probably buy this one too (FUCK I DONT HAVE TIME!!!)
will be fun to see how th final game looks like=) driving through th US sounds like fun! =)
TSBonyman
I’m not a huge fan of open world racing games but this does sound and look promising. I’m a bit concerned about the QTE gameplay though, will have to wait and see.
nofi
It’s not open world.
MadJunkBoy
ohh so The Run will not have freeroam??
TSBonyman
Ah, i misunderstood, thanks for pointing that out :)
e8
Wish it was.
bunimomike
“Jason DeLong is executive producer on The Run, and a genuinely nice chap to speak to.”
That may well be but I can’t take a man seriously when he’s wearing a vacuum cleaner dust-bag on his head.
No dice.
Sympozium Pawa
I wonder if it’ll be good….
Kennykazey
I just can’t get excited for this game, there’s really too many NFS games coming out all the time. I feel they need to take a break and support their games longer (last years Hot Pursuit had great potential for awesome DLC, expansion and longlivety sort of like Burnout Paradise, but I felt that it never fulfilled it’s potential in that manner). And make a worthy sequel to Most Wanted please, that game was ace.
Smallville2106
+1 for Most Wanted sequel.
Sympozium Pawa
We already did experience Most Wanted 2 with Carbon and MAYBE Underworld? I like how its moving beyond that.
Ehlectric
What really got me is the Frostbite 2 engine in this, I don’t know why but I got all giddy when I read that.