Need For Speed The Run Was A Bite-Sized Masterpiece

Need For Speed The Run is a dynamite-fueled escapade from the more traditional and conservative racing game. With no expense spared on chaos, explosions, and... quick time events? The Run is one of my favourite games in the series, however, it is certainly not without its faults. In this video I go over The story mode, challenge Series, as well as why The Run never took off commercially and the unfortunate circumstances around the game's main direction. If you would like to see more Need For Speed reviews from me please consider subscribing as I have much more coming in the upcoming weeks and months!

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Music Used:
Various selections from The Run's OST composed by Brian Tyler

chapters:

0:00 Intro
0:50 What Is The Run?
2:30 Campaign Overview
15:09 Challenge Series And Why Did The Run Fail?
17:31 Final Thoughts

[Rayz]

I had a roommate who never played video games and was the college topper. One night he saw me playing this and wanted to try out. I gave him the game from the beginning running on my laptop. He Pulled an All Nighter playing the game and completing it by next morning. I was awake till chapter 2-3 but then i gave up. Dude was soo immersed he completed it with no prior experience of playing Video games. Can you believe that. That's why The Run was truly amazing.

[thehuntr]

IGN said that this game is too hard? They should play mario kart instead. This is why i don't trust game journalists nowadays.

[lds_drive]

By far, my favorite NFS game. The concept of cannonball run really hasn't been done much at all in racing games.

[TigerChamp]

Respect for featuring Brian Tyler's amazing OST in the background.
Brian Tyler also composed the OSTs of Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag and Far Cry 3.

[c.s.charles]

The plains should have had a tornado. I was expecting it, and was surprised, given the kind of dramatic situations that happen in this game, that a tornado never came.

[Witcher]

Black Box was the dev team behind the best titles in the NFS series. EA shutting this studio down was downright criminal.

[dwightk.schrute]

You can feel the weight of the cars in this game. It's awesome

[that_camo_bronco_guy]

I remember when this came out, the dude behind the counter told me to not even bother, takes 4 hours to beat, I didn't care, it looked cool, and it was, and online was great! Unlocking cop cars and taxis was fun

[mostlyjovial]

The Run, Motorstorm Apocalypse, even Split Second.
There was some awesome arcade racers with wild set pieces.
I miss that wild era of racing tbh.

[Frightenerd]

I became a fan of The Run back in my old pc, and I was always amazed at how good the places looked and how dramatic the racing was through it all

[samuelpierce.]

One way that I think Black Box could’ve *potentially* improved The Run is by letting the player choose between multiple routes throughout the game, with all routes converging on the various big cities (for obvious story purposes).

For example, let’s say you just beat the first major race in the game, and have managed to escape San Francisco…when you play through the next stage, you will be given the chance to pick which route you take via off-ramps on the interstate highways. Each route allows you to experience a variety of unique destinations and challenges as you progress through the game; From tense seaside cliff driving in the Pacific Northwest against handling-focused Tuners (obviously going from Washington to Wyoming), to blasting through ancient Pueblo and Navajo ruins while fending off off-road-capable Muscle Cars in the American Southwest (going from Arizona to Texas), to weaving your way through the industrialized marshlands of the Deep South (Louisiana to Northern Florida), there’s tons of potential for interesting challenges and set-pieces. All of which can be experienced by the player at their own leisure.
Add in the huge roster of cars available in the base game, and a reworked progression system where you can unlock cars by completing various sections of the different routes, and well…you have a recipe for what could be one of the best NFS games Black Box ever created.

[spektacles]

imagine how insane it would be to have over 100 players online battling to be number one in a race like the Run, would it be a nightmare for programming yes, but it would be insane

[FastCarsNoRules]

NFS The Run actually made me interested in learning more about America. Before the game came out, the only thing I knew about the US was places like San Francisco, LA, Vegas, Texas, and New York. I learnt about Yosmite National Park, Death Valley, Colorado, the Badlands in South Dakota, Chicago, and the Big Run State Park in Maryland because of this game.

[adlibbed]

Fun fact, Michael Bay (yes *THAT* Person) is actually made a trailer for this game

[ProduccionesFleko]

One of my favorite NFS, a roadtrip coast to coast (cannonball style) is something i've always wanted to do

[AliAlhussaini]

During some cutscene before a race, Sam tells Jack “no more casinos” or something like that, I believe that is the reason why he’s in debt to the mob

[littlebigparardise]

unlike most other need for speed game, the run is one i continuously come back to every so often, because it's just so engaging

[Generik]

I didn't really like The Run back when I played.

But yet i'm really nostalgic for it now.
The sound design was amazing.
The sound track slapped.
The environment design was amazing.
And I actually liked the camera and how close it was to the vehicle.

[MrFrazer]

something everyone seems to forget was the unbareably long loading times after you crashed on ps3 and consoles at that time. it could take up to 3 minutes to respawn you after a crash while that rewind logo was shining

[byjameslewis]

9:10 my sentiments, exactly. it is one of the best creative scenes in a racing game ever. Based upon, that is why we need more racing games like the run. I would love to see need for speed to come out with the run too, and I would love that to be a challenge for other racing genres