by GrathiusXR:

©2009 Arthur Kotsopoulos

It wasn’t too long ago when we found out that the Need For Speed franchise would be no more.  Now it seems that three new iterations of the franchise are set to hit consoles in the next year with Need for Speed: Shift being the first.  But is it really worth reviving the Need For Speed?

I feel that Need For Speed: Most Wanted was the best in the series up to now. If you’re wondering why I make such a bold statement, well because the game was fun and exciting. It was a mix between sim and arcade and handled both elements well, offering what I must say was the best cockpit view in a racer in the past few years.

• Developer interview

Need For Speed: Carbon when released, was an abysmal racer of a game alongside Need For Speed: Pro Street which felt like driving a boat in enclosed tracks whilst earning enough money every 10 races to only be able to upgrade 1 part.

Undercover looked to change that and go back to the Most Wanted days but unfortunately that also disappointed greatly and made everyone lose faith in what Need For Speed could offer as a game.

Having heard the worries that the game would be another Need For Speed: Pro Street and fail, I must say ever since seeing it in action at E3 and giving it a spin for myself, I knew that many, if not all, the doubtful would be left silenced and have their minds changed with such a great game.

Need For Speed: Shift puts the pedal to the metal on almost all aspects of the game: the graphics are amazing, the sheer sense of speed when doing 200+km/h in the exotic cars is there and the excitement of perfectly executing a corner to overtake your opponent only to get taken out by a dirty nudge is also there.

It’s a racer that challenges yet still manages to not frustrate to the point where the game in unplayable and the controller is thrown on the ground. What it does is manage to show you to never judge a book by its cover.

While it may not feature the 400+ cars that Forza 3 may provide, it still allows the gamer to race in some of the most expensive cars available on the market today, and gives them a sense of weight whilst driving them on the road to boot.

Some may argue that NFS: Shift’s physic are absolute horrid compared to that of Race Pro etc.. as they receive too many death wobbles whilst driving which is unnatural, but to me I’ve only felt death wobbles in certain areas where the track goes all bumpy.

It certainly is apparent when trying to control a Tier 3/4 car maxed out with upgrades though as the sheer speed of the car is absolutely crazy and racing on tight corner tracks trying to get the best lap time is almost impossible but challenging.

And in terms of challenging, the Career Mode of Shift follows the same staple path as Pro Street minus the annoying commentator always yapping off about everything, except this time around you have 4 different tiers you must unlock by achieving stars which are achievable within each race.

You gain stars for achieving a podium finish, stars for achieving a set number of points and usually a star for achieving a special accomplishment within the race at hand. On top of that are the driver levels in which you gain points for almost everything you do within a race.

Overtake or dirty overtake an opponent and you receive points, perfect a corner or slide around it and you get points. It’s a nice feature to have as it rewards the gamer depending on what their driving style is and never discourages you to have to race a certain way.

If dirty is your driving style- then so be it.

What also surprises me in Shift is how the AI has been re-vamped and now actually fights for the win as well as you. They’ll bump you off the track, try to spin you out on a corner and dirty/clean over take you when possible.

A good job has been done to ensure that the AI is always up there with the gamer to ensure that every race is always different and always challenging, so there is never a really dull moment within the game.

What’s even better is how amazing the cockpit view for the game is. Whilst other races feature this view, Shift has to be the one game that executes it perfectly.

Why you ask?

Well on every corner you take the driver’s head will sway corresponding to the force in the corner.  If you crash your vision goes blurry and the driver starts to heavily breathe; drive 200+km/h and your vision of everything in car goes blurry.

The list goes on and on and it is all good.

This adds another whole dimension to the level of immersion within a video game in ensuring the gamer gets the best experience possible and Need For Speed: Shift does it beautifully. With it being Slightly Mad Studios 1st real venture in to making a game specifically for consoles/PC, they have done a wonderful job.

Graphics, online play, immersion, AI- everything runs as it should. Sure some time the loading screen can take a while and the grid girls may occasionally glitch within your car at the start but there is nothing that really holds this game back.

Maybe if career mode was a little more fleshed out, there were a few more cars to choose from, money wasn’t so easily attainable it might be better, but these all these are niggly things I have wrong with the game and they don’t detract from the overall experience too much which is good.

It’s a solid re-entry into establishing the Need For Speed name in the racing genre of gaming and proves a point that whilst it may have been down on its luck as of late it’s back to show everyone it’s the king of the racers!

©2009 Arthur Kotsopoulos

”9/10

Please share us around

Filed under: Console gaming, Racing, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 3rd Party Games, Xbox 360 News, XboxLIVE Playdates Tagged: | EA, Electronic Arts, need for speed, need for speed review, Need For Speed reviews, Need For Speed: Carbon, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Need For Speed: Pro Street, Need For Speed: Race Pro, NFS, NFS: Shift, pro street, Racing, Slightly Mad Studios, Undercover