Over its 15-year history, EA’s Need for Speed series has tried, with varying success, to use stories to jazz up its racing and create a richer experience. Need for Speed: The Run promised to be one of the more interesting attempts, being built on the stunning Frostbite 2 engine (as used by Battlefield 3) and using a fairly appealing premise — to save your character, Jack Rourke, from being whacked by the mob, you’ve got to win an epic illegal street race that spans the American continent from San Francisco to New York.





