Anytime you hear the term "rubber band AI" you should immediately think of Electronic Arts. Their AI has been doing that forever, and by "forever" I'm talkin back to the days of Road Rash on the Sega Genesis.
That being said I cant help but still enjoy "Need For Speed: The Run". Its a racing game with no circuits, it's all variations of point to point racing. Certain stages require you to pass X number of cars before the finish, in others you need to beat a certain rival or two (or three!), and yet in other stages you just have to hit all the checkpoints before time expires. I'm not super far in but there is plenty of variety and I cant say that I haven't had a blast playing. But to reference the rubber band AI above its really frustrating when you pull an EPIC dick move and wreck the #2 car into an 18 wheeler, get an 22 second lead then see that same car pass you right at the finish line.
One of the things that really seems to be missing is an upgrade system. It'd be nice to earn points/money/whatever to change out transmissions (or at least gear ratios), motors, turbos, nos, tyres,etc. Its feels very incomplete that car you get is the car youre stuck with until you hit a gas station or story marker and the game makes you swap out cars instead.
Speaking of swapping out cars, I cant imagine how much money Shell paid EA to make every gas station in the game a Shell Station , like with V power logos and all. I mean I guess its ok since gas stations on a road trip make sense, even if your car never runs out of gas. You'll just be racing along then you can pull into a gas station and change cars. My only gripe with this is, THAT'S THE ONLY TIME YOU CAN SWITCH CARS. You have to start a race, then go into a shell station and change cars. There's no pre-race menu and thats just dumb.
Speaking of dumb, the story is pretty terrible. Now dont get it twisted I wasnt expecting a heart wrenching tale of love and and overcoming obsticles, but this story is cheese to the extreme. You play a racer who got into debt with the mob and they tried to kill you..... by duct taping your hands to the steering wheel of your Porsche. Why not club you in the noggin and dump your body in a station wagon, then sell the Porsche? Guess that's why mobsters get caught doing crime (and they leave their keys in the car and dont shoot their guns at you till you get in the car and drive away)
Im not racing through the game for the story, even though some cut scenes aren't skip-able and for some reason EA thought it'd be a swell idea to put quick time events in the cut scenes. Overall I cant say this game wasnt worth the 25 I spent on it in hell, I mean EBGames. And I lucked out, the online pass in the game was still valid, which unlocked some cars I cant use, but was still neat.
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