Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Mixed reactions"

OK, for those who don't want to look at my past reviews and ratings:

Burnout Paradise- 8.5; NFS The Run & Shift 2- 3.5; Hot Pursuit- 8.0

Now, for those who have had a brain hemorrage and believe the Shift games are 1) full sim games and 2) better than GT and Forza, now is the time to try and fling crap at your screen, because you won't like anything I have to say. As for anyone who is looking at buying this, pay attention and you might find some things that help. With that done, how about a little background.

Need For Speed had, V-Rally games aside, been an in-house EA production. If memory serves right, all the PS1 games were made by EA Canada. When the jump to PS2/Xbox came, EA Canada made, depending on sources, nothing. Some sites credit them with all but Hot Pursuit 2, But most say that Black Box made all the console games, NFS Most Wanted being the biggest of them all. Here is where I split from the world. MW was GOOD. Not great, GOOD. NFSU2 was VERY GOOD. Moving on.

Now PS3/360 era and...bugger. Black Box must have fired whoever wrote the games, because while the flight leveled out with MW, it started nosing over with Carbon, began accelerating with ProStreet, and stalled with Undercover, a game that made me rethink ProStreet and Carbon, and The Run, which good base concept aside gave solid evidence that anyone who still knew what they were doing at Black Box either left, were fired, or weren't allowed to touch the new games. Slightly Mad Studios, in the first attempt at outside help, made Shift, a game in which the only redeeming quality was the menu screen, and Shift 2, which was only slightly less frustrating thanks to the removal of Shift's Morality grading system.

Now, Criterion is an odd duck. Despite the EA ownership, they do as they please, They made the RenderWare engine used in untold numbers of games, made a shooter, and then proceeded to rebuild what Black Box destroyed. NFS Hot Pursuit (2010) was a good game, much better than anything since Underground 2 (yeah I said it), and gave me hope that maybe Criterion could pull the series out of the grave. When EA released The Run, I was just hoping the series wasn't encased in concrete.

Now all of this, brings us to now, looking at the latest offering the plucky Brits have for us. While it is a GOOD, fun game, it feels too much like Hot Pursuit and Paradise were merged. Now that's not a bad thing as some issues from both were addresed, but it still doesn't feel right somehow. Let me try to explain because it will get complicated.

The Bad:
-Crashes- Nowhere near as visceral as Burnout games, probably due to manufacturers not liking to see a metal ribbon wrapped around a power pole that used to be their car.
-Physics- Very loose, very unresponsive when first driving any vehicle.
-Loading times- Dear lord, hasn't anyone figured out a way around this? Can be abysmally long some times.
-Cops- Annoying when free roaming, no challenge up to level 3.
-Cinematics- Something Criterion has always had issues with. After running a race more than once, you may still have to sit through the pre-race cinematic as the game is still loading.Also if you crash in race, cinematic camera, you get reset no matter what. Crash in free roam, land on lid during cinematic time limit, get reset. Problem is, most of the time, you crash, cinematic activates, land on all four wheels, start from there, end up screwing yourself as you are turning and gunning the throttle in anticipation just to spawn mid race back on course, steering into a bollard at ramming speed.

The Meh (new category for me, just means not to my liking, but not enough to mark it down as bad. Someone out there probably likes it):
-In Game music- The system is similar to Paradise's, but the tunes themselves just aren't my cup of tea. One thing I'm glad is included, personal playlist.
-The mood- Something that mimics Black Box's Most Wanted very closely, darker, somewhat dingy, a sense that no matter what you do you cannot truly own it.
-The City- Fairhaven must have been one of those "Just build everything wherever it fits" cities because you NEED the map and the mini-map to go anywhere. Case against it, Paradise and NYC; Case in favor, Rockport and Bayview (U2). Not the best, but could be much worse.
-Blacklist Concept- I don't know why, but it always seemed like a weak gameplay concept, because in theory you could beat most of them straight up in MW(BB) if you weren't forced to do all the extra BS.

The Good:
-Action- You are always doing something, and most of the time It's productive, even if it's just driving in free roam.
-The Racing- The buildup may suck, and crashes always foul up plans, but it's better than Hot Pursuit. If the AI does rubberband, it isn't much, and easy are easier, but the hard races take some work.
-The Billboards- They return, but don't look for Most Wanted ones. Hey ME fans, do you want to show BioWare what you think of them? Well, go find a BioWare Billboard, and turn it into wooden confetti! While you're at it, why not take some of the other studios down a peg too!
-Upgrades- They are needed, and they are actually usefull.
-Cops-Level 3 and up- HERE's where the challenge is. At this point, getting away may be difficult, as they are looking for you. Level 4 introduces Corvettes with, returning from HP, rear mounted spike-strip launchers, and Now the SUVs that had been in roadblocks in level 3, try and ram you head on. Level 6, do you know about the armored truck from Fast 5, called the Gurkha I believe, well apparently Fairhaven bought a lot of them, as they are now the road wall and will ALSO try to ram you and cut you off.
-The Cars- The select few SUVs and Trucks is a bit of a let down, but the rest of the car list makes up for it.
-"Jackspots"- When I heard most cars would be unlocked on go, I was concerned Criterion may have lost their minds. But then I started playing and all was explained, now I wonder why no one thought of this sooner.
-Immersion- If my experience is normal, don't play this unless you have no plans for the day. I started playing my first night at about 9 p.m., and didn't stop playing until about 3:30 the next morning.

So what we have here is good game, not great, that pulls you into it's world as long as you're willing to run with it. Not as focused as Hot Pursuit, but, maybe a little more replay value comes with that.

Final Verdict: Again, if you like Shift, get some help. If you like The Run, get a lobotomy. Everyone else, try it out first, then buy accordingly.