Need for Speed: The Run (3DS) Review

There hasn’t been a decent Need for Speed game on a Nintendo system since the Wii launched with Need for Speed Carbon. It wasn’t perfect, but instead of getting better at making Wii versions of its most popular racing franchise, EA went backwards. They’ve just got progressively worse until we ended up with the rubbish that was Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. But this is 2011 and we have a new system to play with in the Nintendo 3DS. Does a new system give Need for Speed some life or is it left at the lights after pulling the clutch out too far like a L Plater? Let’s take a look.

Racing so far on the Nintendo 3DS has been slim. There’s been Asphalt from Ubisoft, Ridge Racer from Namco and Mario Kart. Not that if you’re a racing fan you’ll have just a Nintendo 3DS to play on, but it is nice to have options. I went into this one blind. I picked it up on a whim, hoping that I’d get some good arcade racing action, just like the Need for Speed name promises. For the most part I got what I wanted. It’s just there’s plenty in there that I didn’t want. Firebrand have previously worked on not only the Need for Speed franchise on Nintendo systems, but other racing games, including the excellent Trackmania Wii and DS ports.

Need for Speed: The Run has the same story no matter what console you play it on. It’s your duty or some-such mission, to race from San Francisco to New York City and your life depends on it! You’ll want to crawl your way up ’The Run’ rankings board to get to number one. The game’s story is very B level. It’s told through comic panels and even though they’re voiced, you will be hard pressed to care much about the story. It doesn’t last too long however so don’t stress yourself on it, after all you’re here for the racing. A challenge mode is also included which gives a boost to the single player part of the game. These challenge missions are either races, time trials or take down challenges.

From the first race this game feels like a Need for Speed title infused with some light Burnout action. Those series these days are almost interchangeable, however. Racing is fun, fast and responsive on the 3DS. There are cops, jumps and even take downs to perform, with damage on the licensed cars as well. Dangerous racing like in Burnout is rewarded with nitrous, drifting, driving onto oncoming traffic and near misses all topping up your boost meter. Along the way you’ll need to perform ’heroic actions’ as small interludes to the racing. Some of them aren’t too complicated like avoiding police and boulders (even though it is distracting), but some of them such as rubbing the touch screen as much as possible for a boost and flipping your car just get in the way of the fun stuff – the racing. Throughout the story there are also tiny mini games like changing wheels, which usually happen between chapters and while the first few are alright but again like the herioc actions get in the way of the real fun.

Outside of the story mode there is a ton of great multiplayer content. Sadly all the local multiplayer action requires multiple cartridges, as there is unfortunately no single card play. However if you do find someone else with the game there are Sprint and Cops & Robbers modes to partake in. These modes are also available online and if you can find anyone, the game works well. The game also contains the Autolog, which is the always connected and watching Big Brother tracking system for Need for Speed games. You can check what your friends times are on any part of the game and race against them on the leader-board for more money to unlock more in game content. It would have been better if outside the separate ranking section that you could race against the world with the Autolog. I’ve only got one other friend who’s played the game so it’s only a boring two horse race. The game also reqires a constant connection to the internet for the Autolog. This is understandable considering what it does, but it will kill the connection of the system goes into sleep mode, so remember to turn it back on. If you can’t find anyone to race online you might be able to find someone via StreetPass and add them to your Autolog this way. However I’ve had the game a few weeks and haven’t found anyone as of yet.

Firebrand have done an amazing job on the graphics of the game, however as I mentioned earlier is has come at the expense of the frame-rate in 3D. Slide that 3D off though and the game at least holds a stable frame-rate. It’s not like it drops to a slideshow in 3D but it is a noticeable drop. Excluding that little bug bear the 3D effect looks great and adds to the sense of speed. They use their own engine for this one and the game looks exactly the same on the Wii; hopefully with more tweaking they can get 3D and a stable frame-rate working well together next time around. The game’s soundtrack isn’t anything too exciting unfortunately, with generic rock and pop-like tunes filling the game.

I really enjoyed this one despite the obvious technical problems I’ve discussed. The quick time events have either got to go or be worked on a little as they get in the way. Let’s hope Firebrand get their hands on the franchise again for next year and are able to use The Run as a platform for a even better Need for Speed instalment. Worth a shot though if you’re a fan of Need for Speed and want some portable racing action.