NEED FOR SPEED THE RUN

Need for Speed: The Run is a racing video game, the 18th title in the Need for Speed franchise, and developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. The 3DS version is being developed by Firebrand Games, the team behind Undercover and Nitro (both DS versions). It was released in North America on November 15, 2011 and will be released on November 18, 2011 in Europe.
The game is described as "An illicit, high-stakes race across the country. The only way to get your life back is to be the first from San Francisco to New York. No speed limits. No rules. No allies. All you have are your driving skills and sheer determination"^[5]
Producers Jason DeLong and Steve Anthony have stated during an interview that Black Box is aiming to obtain critical acclaim after their last game received universally poor ratings.^[6] The Run has been in production for three years even though previous Black Box titles have had much shorter development periods.^[7]

Gameplay

In The Run, players will participate in an "underground world of illicit, high stakes racing," in a race from San Francisco to New York, with stops through Las Vegas, Denver, Detroit, and many other locations, making it the first title in the series to use real locations. The cops aren't the only ones after the player though, as the player "blows across borders, weaves through dense urban traffic, rockets down icy mountain passes and navigates narrow canyons at breakneck speeds."^[8] There are over 300 km of track, three times more than Hot Pursuit, making it the biggest Need For Speed game.^[9]
The Run is powered by DICE's Frostbite 2 engine, making the game the first non-shooter and one of the first console titles to use the engine, which provides visuals and car physics that "hug the road even at top speeds all built around a gripping storyline." Additionally, Need for Speed Autolog, the Need for Speed franchise's social competition functionality, which was introduced in Hot Pursuit and was previously used in Shift 2: Unleashed, is also back as it will continue to track career progression and compare game stats.^[8]
The game features quick time events, with the player for the first time in Need for Speed history, exiting their car and traveling on foot. These events won't always be about harsh success or failure states. In some sections there are branching outcomes, so if the player mangles a certain button press, they'll get another chance to pull through.^[9]
The driving model of the game is described as "sit somewhere between Shift and Hot Pursuit", not as arcade-styled as Hot Pursuit, but neither as simulator-styled as Shift. The Run employs a large range of real-world vehicles, seemingly taking in the usual mix of muscle cars, street racers and refined exotics, described as "each car presents a different driving challenge for the player."^[9][10] Exclusively digitized for the game is the 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S and the Pagani Huayra.^[11][12] The damage system will be similar to that seen in Hot Pursuit.^[13] The cars can be altered with performance upgrades and visual upgrades, such as paint colors and body kits. There will be cosmetic body kits known as Style Pack kits and Aero Pack kits, which will affect aerodynamics as well as performance.

It was revealed at Gamescom 2011 that an XP system will be used for unlocking cars and events. The game will also feature a Rewind option to allows the player to restart an event to their last checkpoint if they wreck their vehicle or rewind their vehicle from a collision or missed opportunity. Rewinds will only be available in limited quantities as their amount will dependent on the difficulty level that the player has selected; Easy will have unlimited Rewinds, Normal will have five Rewinds, Hard will have less Rewinds and Impossible will have no Rewinds as well as the most difficult AI opponents.^[14]