Need For Speed: The Run

This title causes a multitude of frustrating moments… And not in the sense that it may be a difficult game. There are several dangers in buying this title:

First of all, there is the fact that the DVD itself is largely irrelevant… It just saves time on the installation as the title copies from the disk instead of downloading 15.5 Gb off the internet. The thing you are really paying for with this title is the Product Code that is printed on the rather scant documentation. For those that are buying from a walk-in retailer, there is the very real possibility that some random ratbag has already walked in, opened the case, copied the code onto their hand, walking out and using the code. As the Product Code is single-use and links the title to an online Origin account (rather than to the disk), it becomes completely useless to anyone but the FIRST person to enter the code. The title will not install if the code has been used by someone with a different Origin account, making it unfit for resale while leaving the physical media without defect (so stores will not refund your money).

Second, let us assume that the Product Code has not been used before, and Origin (the online client program that the game requires, and installs, before the title installation) accepts it. The installation proceeds to 100%… And Origin will show that completion of the installation is 3 seconds away… For as long as it takes for you to take to your computer with a 12-pound sledgehammer. Getting Origin to recognize that the installation is complete involves manually moving files around, and in some instances, playing around with the system's registry. Of course, in order to find this out for yourself, you will have to use the single-use Product Code that renders the media unfit for return and refund.

Third, let us assume that you have poked around, making changes to the registry and risking the stability and future usefulness of your expensive computer hardware, and have managed to get the title running. EA programmed this title, as do so many other developers these days, to a standard that is governed by the need to get something out into the market by a certain date, rather than producing a stable product and getting it out there a little late. Expect to be a beta-tester (perhaps even an alpha-tester) who has been expected to pay for the privilege of doing the job that EA's Quality Assurance department should have been doing and getting paid for.

If you buy this title, you run the serious risk of throwing your money away. Because of this, my rating is 0 stars, and would be less than that if giving negative stars was an option.