Review: Need for Speed: SHIFT
by Steven Wright - January 8, 2010
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I have dipped in and out of many different driving game franchises, with PGR being the only one that gripped me on the Xbox 360, but somehow I have never graced the tracks of a Need For Speed game.
What attracts me to the PGR games is the casual gameplay with the option of hardcore customization. I like a racing game that I can zoom around the track without worrying about gears and ratios.
This is where NFS: Shift works really well, giving some very helpful options for newcomers. It has the standard difficulty modes for the AI and it builds upon that by including a whole heap of options. The two that I started with, but dropped very quickly, are steering assist and braking assist.
Although very helpful, they can make you feel like your just a passenger, as the car brakes and aligns itself on to the racing line. It was great for the first few races but as my confidence built I felt as if my car was one of the opponents. When you decide to take the stabilizers off the car there are still a few options to help you out.
The campaign is spaced out to offer the same support, with the challenges coming in five tiers, each one containing faster cars and bigger challenges. There is the standard race mode along with time attack, car battle, endurance races, race series, drift and even country themed tournaments. Basically, enough to keep you busy for sometime. Each individual race awards you stars, 3 for finishing in first place and bonus stars for completing bonus challenges. These can range from completing a clean lap to getting 2000 profile points.
Anyone who has played the earlier games will know what profile points are. They come in two forms – precision and aggression – and can be gained in many different ways. My personal favourite is smashing the opposing car off the track (maybe I have played too much Burnout?). Once you have collected a certain amount of stars you unlock the next tier, where you are greeted with faster cars and more races.
The actual driving feels good with some impressive physics that help give you a real feeling of high-speed. I had no real qualms with the handling until I unlocked some of the faster cars and found out how touch sensitive the hand brake can be. I know you should not need the hand brake if you follow the racing line, but sometimes when you are really hammering around the track, desperately trying to get into the points as the last few corners approach, then you really need to just swing that back-end around.
The first few light presses of the button greet you with a little movement, but when you have to get that extra swing, and you increase the pressure, then the back-end just spins out.
This is where another problem comes in, when you are spun around (which happened a little toooften) it is so hard to get back in the race. Switching from reverse to forward gear, and vice versa, takes absolutely ages. Seriously. If I am driving a top of the range Porsche then I expect to be able to spin that bad boy around and charge after the little dot on the horizon, not execute some awful three-point turn like a Volvo driving granny.
If you are unhappy with your car and its poor handling, then there is a ton of new ones to buy. However, this is where another of my major annoyances occurs within the game . You can buy the cars with your hard-earned in-game money or buy them with MS points. I am not a fan of this. It seems to be a recurring theme in modern gaming – especially on EA games – why can’t you just do it the old-fashioned way? It’s not as if it’s hard to earn money as there is an endless amount of challenges to complete
You can improve your handling, as well as other stats, the cheaper way by purchasing upgrades for your car. I have no real clue what I am doing when it comes to upgrades and tuning, if I’m honest, I just buy everything possible for my favourite car. The real enthusiasts would be in their element and even Forza car designers can have fun designing their own decals.
Once you have your car perfected (or bought) you can take it out and test your mettle online. NFS has unranked and ranked events and seems to work really well. The games I have played have been lag free and mostly sporting. A few games were marred with the standard idiot-in-a-racing-game either taking you both out the race or just generally dicking around. The real fun would be playing with friends online as competition can be quickly fused with much hilarity.
Sadly there is no offline multiplayer, why? I have no idea. Racing games used to be one of the go-to genres for competitive fun. Developers should still include offline multiplayer even though online gaming is on the rise.
The presentation in NFS Shift is beautiful. The menus and pause screens are a typographers dream, beautifully laid out and slick to use. Graphically the game does not disappoint with some lovely surroundings for you to smash into. The damage effects are minimal but enough to show how clean your driving is, some mud and rain effects would have been nice.
Need For Speed: Shift does do a lot of things right, it’s just a shame that it’s marred by a few handling errors, lack of offline multiplayer and dodgy DLC.
You will have good times but there will be plenty of bad times. In fact, this is the only game that made me kick a controller across the floor. Make of that what you will.
