[360/PS3/PC] Need for Speed: Shift Review

[DoctorFinger]

Need for Speed: Shift Review

Title - Need for Speed: Shift
Platform - Xbox 360; Also on: Playstation 3; Windows; Playstation Portable.
Developer - Slightly Mad Studios
Publisher - Electronic Arts
ESRB Rating - E (Everyone)
Editor - Michael "DoctorFinger" Chauvet
First in-game car - Nissan 200SX
Current favorite in-game car - Ford GT

What's Hot: Great graphics, sound and presentation. Smooth, engrossing gameplay. Tremendously scalable difficulty levels.

What's Not: The shift from the street racing scene of the past decade worth of NFS games to a more traditional track & circuit racing makes the game a bit more generic.

The "Shift" in the title of Need for Speed: Shift is not just a racing term thrown into the title. It does in fact refer to a philosophical shift for the franchise. For the last decade or so Need for Speed had been all about the amateur street racing. Now the cop chases and the fictional open world are gone, replaced with more traditional pro track racing. But does the back to basics approach produce a great Need For Speed game, or was the change for naught? I can say with a lot of confidence that this switch is a resounding success.

First off, let's go over what's missing from the game. There are no cop chases. There is no open world for you to explore. The goofy FMV cut scenes starring ex-Baywatch babes are also gone. The cars you drive are less common and more exotic. Rather than race on the streets of a fictional metropolis, Shift instead sees you competing on actual race tracks; some real, some fictional.

One of the best features in the game for me is the scalable difficulty level. When you start your career you're immediately given a test race. This quick little run around the track lets the game evaluate your skill level and tailor the difficulty to your skill level. You can adjust the difficulty at any time, and after a little while with the game you'll likely want to ramp up the challenge a little. But for someone like me who frankly is not that good at racing games, the scalability is a huge plus. It makes the game almost instantly accessible to any skill level without shutting out anyone.

On the lower difficulty levels there is a dynamic "race line" along the course. This line shows you where the ideal racing line is, and what you should be doing: green means put the hammer down, yellow means ease up, red means start breaking. As much as any racing game I've ever played Shift actually works to make you a better racer. That's something I appreciate; even after I shut the dynamic line off in the game, the lessons I learned from it stuck with me.

There are many other elements to the difficulty scale, too. In addition to just better opponent AI, you can adjust the car damage models, making damage from a crash go from purely cosmetic to actually affecting the performance of the car. As you progress from Tier 1 up through Tier 4 and the eventual Championship Tier, the vehicles get more powerful and the races get more difficult. Tier 1 was a breeze, Tier 4 more or less killed me once I unlocked it. Thankfully the races never crossed the line from challenging into frustrating. The one real discordant note in the game is the Drift racing. The tracks you drift on feel less like asphalt and more like ice coated with ball bearings. You also get precious little instruction on just how to drift properly. I got the hang of it eventually, but it wasn't as fun as it should be, or as fun as it was in previous Need for Speed titles.

In addition to taking the game back to the track, Shift also adds the new "Driver Experience" system, which tracks your driving style and alters the game around it. Every race you run, you're rated on both "Precision" and "Aggressive" driving, with points awarded for each. Precision driving includes things like a perfect racing line, clean overtakes and perfect corners. Aggressive racing includes drafting, drifting and trading paint. The points you get for each are essentially experience points, which increase your driver level. As your driver level increases you'll earn new sponsors, open more races and get access to more car customization options.

The game also utilizes a Star system. Every race you enter has a number of stars you can earn. Get a 3rd place finish and you'll earn 1 star, while a 1st place finish gets you 3 stars. Stars are also earned for hitting points thresholds in races and completing some special goals, like leading for a whole lap or spinning out your rival. The more stars you earn, the more races and tiers of races you can enter. You can only earn any given star once, but you can replay races to earn more cash and driver points.

Overall Shift gives you a ton to do. In addition to the regular 8-12 person races you also have more exotic competitions such as Lap Eliminators (whoever is in last at the end of a lap is eliminated), Versus Matches (a best of 3 drag race where one car leads and the other chases), Time Trials (race against the clock, not other racers) and Endurance Races (more than 10 laps). As you race you'll earn minor badges for different achievements like trading paint with opponents and driving clean laps. Each of these minor badges stack up, eventually becoming Major badges in either bronze, silver, gold or 'Epic' states. Working towards these little sub-achievements is a little thing, but it adds to the whole experience. You'll also be spending your time buying upgrades for your car and choosing how to paint and decorate your vehicles. For the real gear-heads you can even tweak your cars' settings to adjust and improve performance. Certain cars are even what they call "Works eligible", which opens up a whole other set of adjustments when you've bought all of the available upgrades for those types of vehicles.

Presentation wise, Shift stacks up with the big boys of sim racing. For the first time in quite a while the franchise employs a cockpit view, which really immerses you in the experience. While there are a few other external views you can use, I found the cockpit perspective to be the best of the bunch. But regardless of which perspective you choose, everything in the game looks and sounds great. The cars are, as expected, richly detailed and a joy to watch. Each car seems to have it's own audio profile, from the tinny hum of a Honda Civic to the leonine roar of a Bugati Veyron (on a side note, I cannot see the name of that car without hearing it in my head as pronounced by Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson). As good as the presentation is, there's really nothing innovative or new to it either.

As someone who, to be honest, stinks at racing games I was a little intimidated by the thought of entering the multiplayer modes. While I did get well and truly smoked in most of the online races I entered, the experience was great. There was not a hint of lag to be found, and there are a ton of different modes and difficulty levels to be found. EA also implemented a bit of gamesmanship in the career mode, surrounding each race you complete with either a red or green border to let you know if you or one of your Friends has the best time in that event. This leads you to try your best to beat your friends' times, even if it has no direct bearing on the game itself.

EA took a chance a couple years ago when they decided to revamp the once popular but then flagging Need for Speed property. EA had acquired an even more fast and loose racing franchise in Burnout, so they wisely tasked Slightly Mad Studios with making it into a more sim-flavored racer. While not quite as hardcore as Forza or Gran Turismo it is still a deep racer with a lot of tuning and tweaking options.

Score: (4.5 out of 5 Cogs)


Michael says, "Need for Speed: Shift is just a flat out fun racing game to play. It strikes a just about perfect balance between simulation difficulty and arcade-y fun. The shift from the street racing of the last decade to more traditional racing venues may be jarring for some, but in the end it produces an entertaining and fast paced game."

[Wilkz07]

this is one of the best NFS games since Hot Pursuit 2 and Underground. I was a little apprehensive about this one going back to sanctioned racing but after a race or two I really liked it. The option to play aggressive or precision is great, and i'm often torn between scoring high points for finesse or just smashing the other cars around. I'm still trying to get the hang of drifting though.

Great game, worth a buy and plays like a Forza 2.5. It will keep you company until Forza 3 is out.

[Karmakin]

I don't really like the sim racing genre, and I REALLY liked the demo for this. The in-cockpit view really worked well.

[menage]

I'd rather play this than either Forza or GT after the demo. More about fun than anal stat fiddling.

I love that shit when I'm fiddling a knight, not cars

[J Arcane]

Eh. It was alright, but the physics were godawful and annoying. I'd rather play Forza over this.

It tricks you, for a bit, until you realize with the assists on the damn thing basically drives for you which quickly gets irritating, then you turn them off and you realize all the cars handle for balls without them.

I wasn't sold. GRID was better. IT was rage-inducingly hard, but the physics never felt genuinely wrong like this.

[bapenguin]

The nice thing about Shift is it has options for everyone. It can be an arcade game as much as a sim game.

[Digital Outlaw]

All I want from Need For Spped franchise is Underground 3 and then EA can retire the franchise...

[ElektroDragon]

Originally Posted by Digital Outlaw

All I want from Need For Spped franchise is Underground 3 and then EA can retire the franchise...

I agree... or something Hot Pursuit flavored. I really don't care for racetrack based sim racers... at all. I'll take PGR and Burnout any day. Only DiRT did sim racing right. Forza, NFS: Shift, Grand Turismo, etc, are all absolute borefests. Midnight Club DUB was also excellent, too bas they ruined it for current gen. Looking forward to Split/Second.

[Digital Outlaw]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

I agree... or something Hot Pursuit flavored. I really don't care for racetrack based sim racers... at all. I'll take PGR and Burnout any day. Only DiRT did sim racing right. Forza, NFS: Shift, Grand Turismo, etc, are all absolute borefests. Midnight Club DUB was also excellent, too bas they ruined it for current gen. Looking forward to Split/Second.

Midnight Club Dub was one of my all time favorites, but yes they have ruined that series and NFS this current gen.