Need for Speed: The Run (Nintendo 3DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

It's looking incredibly likely that the 3DS will follow in the ageing DS's footsteps by spawning hundreds of puzzlers and, the old favorite, racers. You only have to look at the systems short history and already we've bee treated to Ridge Racer, Gameloft's Asphalt, Driver Renegade and now Need for Speed. The franchise has appeared on Wii and DS for some years now but EA's decision to leap into the next dimension, with the 3DS, was a bit of a surprising one. You also have to remember that before the days of Call of Duty this was the 'must have' game for quite a few years on the trot but is this a potential Christmas number one?

Gameplay

The Run takes place across America Starting in San Francisco with the finish line in New York. It's important to state here that during your journey the only other city you'll encounter is Las Vegas with the rest of the locations best described as 'State to Sate Nothingness' although if you've ever driven across the US, that's exactly what it looks like. The game is split into sections (or States) with an incredibly weak story linking the different challenges. The best of these are the straight races and takedowns with the latter requiring you to ram a certain number of cars off the road before reaching the end of the course.

The set pieces are a lot less satisfying and seem to appear out of nowhere. During one of these you'll be transported from a third person view to directly behind the cars steering wheel where you must dodge oncoming traffic or even negotiate narrow gaps in-between police blockades. Not only does this severely slow down the games overall pace but your car also handles very differently making the whole experience feel both redundant and somewhat frustrating. Outside of the lengthy single player mode, there's also a few Multiplayer Modes available both on-line and local. There's two options here: first across the finish line and Cops vs. Robbers where one team attempts to take down the other over one of the previously raced sections.

Controls

The control actually works very well here with accelerate activated with the R Shoulder button and breaking with the Y Button. This only becomes a problem when you'll be forced to leave these in order to pull off a so-called 'Heroic Action'. These are scattered about the game and usually require you to build up your speed in order to pull off an impossible jump or even forcing your car into a full 180-degree handbrake turn to escape the police.

Graphics

While the visuals here are passable The Run does little to demonstrate just what the 3DS can do. The environments are sparse and you can drive while sections without seeing anything at all. Even the cities are reduced to a few recognisable landmarks although most of these appear like cardboard cutouts as opposed to anything resembling 'real' locations. The cars are a little better and at least reflect the serious damage that they take as the race progresses but there's still far better looking races on your average phone these days. There's also a collection of comic book style cut screens and while these look much better that those featured on Driver: Renegade we'd still prefer some of that flashy FMV as featured on the consoles.

Sound

The sound effects work perfectly fine and there the usual generous amount of music tracks we've come to expect from EA although none of them are particularly memorable. They do though perfectly fit the 'high energy' theme of the whole game which does help you 'feel the need for speed' to quote a famous film.

Special features

The 3D experience here is pretty good but we did find that, once switched on, it had some effect on the frame-rate, which simply doesn't work in a racer. Ridge Racer still has the best 3D effect so if you don't have that yet, it's well worth checking out. Anyway, on with the review. We've talked a great deal, in the past, about mini-games that feel 'bolted on' and while the developers have done their best to make all your interactions relevant to the story, activities such as changing wheels or tuning in radios simply slow down the action. There's no way of skipping these either and some of the episodes begin with these chores (meaning you may replay the repeatedly) which can be infuriating.

Final comments

While The Run plays and looks good enough the touch-screen elements and poorly implemented set pieces spoil what could have been a great racer. It's a shame too as the developers have managed to pull off a real sense of speed with the impressive graphical engine. It's still great fun, especially when dodging oncoming traffic or taking down enemy cars but the annoying mini-games and poor storytelling stop it from being a Ridge Racer beater.

Pro: Great Arcade Racing
Con: Poor Mini-Games, Bland Scenery, Boring Story
Final score: 6.7

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