E3: Need for Speed: The Run Exits the Vehicle

[Andy Chalk]

E3: Need for Speed: The Run Exits the Vehicle

Need for Speed: The Run [http://www.amazon.com/Need-Speed-Run-Playstation-3/dp/B003O6ECOM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1307395989&sr=8-2] is going to take Need for Speed drivers someplace they've never been before: out of the car.

If there's one thing driving games have taught me, it's that you never - never - get out of the car. So I'm naturally a bit baffled by the upcoming new Need for Speed title, which for the first time ever incorporates extra-vehicular activity into the gameplay. That's right, you not only can get out of the car, you're actually going to have to.

[video=3424]

Executive Producer Jason Delong described a narrative moment in the game's story mode, which is based on a coast-to-coast race across the U.S. Apparently your character has some sort of history with the Chicago mob, which is none too pleased about your presence in the city and thus decides to fill you full of lead, with the aid of a helicopter.

"The character gets out of the car, he's being chased by this helicopter across the rooftops of Chicago, being shot, he has to 'procure' another vehicle from the local police force, shall we say, and is essentially just racing for his life to get out of Chicago, avoiding this helicopter firing at him all the way along while he's trying to race through the city in a cop car," Delong explained.

In case hoofing it around town in a Need for Speed game doesn't sound awesome enough on its own, "Quick Time Events" will also be a part of the experience, and we all know that nothing takes a game to the next level like a heapin' helpin' of QTEs. The E3 trailer for Need for Speed: The Run showed off a QTE in which a player was trying to escape a crashed car before it was hit by a train.

I don't want to be too harsh on a game that's still months away from release but I do wonder what it was that possessed the guy at the design meeting who said, "You know what would be fun to do in our driving game? Not drive!" And of course, what was going on in the heads of everyone else at the table who nodded and went along with it. Maybe it won't be as silly as it sounds but I gotta say, I buy a Need for Speed game, I'm not buying it so I can run across rooftops dodging gunfire from a mob chopper. I buy it so I can, you know, drive.

Need for Speed: The Run comes out on November 15 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC Wii and Nintendo 3DS.

Check out more on EA's presser here. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110705-EA-E3-2011-Press-Conference]

See all our coverage directly from the show floor. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/conferences/e3_2011]

Permalink

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

If the outside of car sections were action parkour sections in the vein of say.. Mirror's Edge, I would've enjoyed that much more. QTE just makes me not want to bother with the game, especially when half of it was pressing triangle.

 

[Distorted Stu]

All i want 9and im sure a lot of you would agree) is a NFS that focuses on customisation! Like a NFSU2 but with more details and a new shiny engine (oh oh! puns)

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

...so its starting to become something like... a wannabe GTA?
Then again, it might be one or two parts. So... depends on how much time you actually spend out of the car...

With that said... quick time events? WHY?

 

[RanD00M]

The Run was a name that I would have thought to be like Mirrors Edge type game, but it is not so. A man can dream though, a man can dream.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

You want to get back to the race as soon as possible, so you run around on rooftops while helicopters shoot at you. Does that sound strange to anyone else?

 

[razer17]

That's almost like making a free running game, where most of the free running is actually removed and replaced with linear corridors and boring gun fights...

 

[Electric Alpaca]

Dear oh dear - I like how he describes exiting a vehicle as innovation.

I really don't understand why developers do this. I was genuinely excited by the concept of an East to West run - even with some scripted action sequences in places. However, knowing that on foot sections are in this now turns this into a no purchase for me.

It is guaranteed that the outside of the vehicle sections will be lamented upon come review time.

Hurry up and do Need for Speed Underground 3 already.

 

[Vrach]

QTE bullshit. Not impressed.

 

[Sentox6]

Someone really should have put the breaks on this idea.

Shouldn't that be the "brakes"?

 

[Je Suis Ubermonkey]

NFS is the only racing franchise I ever bother with, and I shan't be bothering with 'The Run'. Running? Gun helicopters? WHY?

This has made me angry, and anger makes me antagonistic, so...

Someone really should have put the brakes on this idea.

Corrected.
Sorry.

Edit: Damn, ninjas. I feel insignificant now.

 

[braincore02]

Their desperation for new advertisable gimmicks has me thinking everyone is finding the series just as tired as I do. Maybe if they didn't release a new one every year I could give a little more of a crap about the NFS franchise, then again, maybe not.

 

[funguy2121]

I always fantasized about an F-Zero game where a scripted event forced you to jump from your craft before it explodes and finish the race on foot. Yes, this preceded Ricky Bobby.

 

[EHKOS]

Well, this was dead after Carbon anyways. I thought the Hot Pursuit reboot was nice but now they're just dickbutting around again.

 

[andreas3K]

I was wondering when this would happen, and now it's here.

If shooter games have vehicle sections, why shouldn't driving games have on-foot sections? Because those usually end up being complete shit, that's why. Remember that driving mission in that shooter game? Didn't that suck? Of course there are games that can do both, but in those games both are important, like in GTA.

Just focus on what's important, dammit. When they do this, the on-foot parts had better be fucking excellent, because half-assing it would just waste everyones time.

 

[Eveonline100]

I was wondering when this would happen, and now it's here.

If shooter games have vehicle sections, why shouldn't driving games have on-foot sections? Because those usually end up being complete shit, that's why. Remember that driving mission in that shooter game? Didn't that suck? Of course there are games that can do both, but in those games both are important, like in GTA.

Just focus on what's important, dammit. When they do this, the on-foot parts had better be fucking excellent, because half-assing it would just waste everyones time.

it seemed like 1 long QTE everything else has promise also if they made it say a 3 person style mirror's edge then that would have worked sadly they didn't

 

[Antari]

Need for Speed's makers have been making horrible decisions for years. This is just yet another one. They really need to stop making NFS if they want to change things up that much.