14 DAY TRIAL // What it is: Electronic Arts has given its Need for Speed racing series a new lease on life, with successful entries into the simulator genre (NFS Shift 1 and 2) as well as the action genre, with last year’s NFS: Hot Pursuit.
Now, the company, together with EA Black Box studio, is working hard on Need for Speed: The Run, the newest entry in the series that takes it back to the adventure genre.
Promising to deliver a high quality experience, thanks to the use of the all-new Frostbite 2 engine from Battlefield 3, a thrilling story focused on an illegal race across the USA and even portions of on-foot chases, The Run seems to finally confirm that the Need for Speed series is back in a great way.
How it is: The Need for Speed: The Run demo showcased by EA at Gamescom 2011 covers two races, one set in the desert around Las Vegas and one that goes through the famous Independence Pass, offering two very different experiences, from the sandy and long strips of highway to the snow-covered twists and turns filled with major dangers.
The actual game, as you can imagine, looks stunning, with the Frostbite 2 engine showcasing what it can do, even when it’s not used for first person shooters like Battlefield 3. The team at EA Black Box says it wasn’t all that hard repurposing the engine, and it shows in the demo which is extremely smooth even when giant boulders or snow is falling onto the road.
The cars feel great, as NFS: The Run maintains the easy to get into arcade style, instead of opting to go full on simulator like the recent NFS: Shift 2 Unleashed. While it may be easy to lose control on the road, especially in the ice-swept Independence Pass, the game is quite forgiving, depending on how you set the difficulty.
Opponents are also pretty intelligent, most of the times sticking to the perfect racing line, forcing players to either use a boost of NOS or engage in riskier overtaking maneuvers. The opponents still make a few mistakes, however, but they’re few and far in-between, so The Run will certainly test out the racing skills of passionate gamers.
Overall, Need for Speed: The Run is an extremely exciting experience, which looks and handles great, while offering a pretty interesting story, even if we don’t know a lot of details about that.
When and on what: Need for Speed: The Run is scheduled to appear on November 15, for the PC, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, but will also appear on platforms like the Nintendo Wii or 3DS, as well as Apple’s iOS (meaning iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad).
We have a special page with all our Gamescom 2011 coverage.