NFS SHIFT Review at OXM: 9/10

[Skyline_man]

Shift is hugely entertaining, but remember that it’s not about the sillier fun of its Need for Speed predecessors. It’s about the nail-biting intensity and challenge of hanging on to your car at high speed, and as long as that’s how you like your racing, you’ll disappear into this game.

Read the whole review here.

[Hydro_PT]

I'm starting to be happier and happier with these marks. Keep them coming... I just need to try this game so I can happily buy it.

Thanks EA and SMS, you guys finally made a good game.

[TRANSFORMER]

"...You’ll disappear into this game..." What

[elie8]

Well, I've seen IGN and OXM give NFS SHIFT a 9/10 !!!! So ... SMS ... EA ... Thanks for giving us a Blockbuster Game !!!! 3 more days ...

[driverx15]

video preview at gametrailers

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/previ ... -for/55818

[TRANSFORMER]

Good Video - Thanks 4 the Info!

[KammyworldRacerGT4]

2 for 2...

[Sursion]

Drift looks kinda weird. But I don't like drift that much, so it's fine.

Two reviews, two 9's. It's lookin good.

[arabnight]

this is sounding better by the day. Everyone is Pretty much on the same level when they review the game

[Summ]

Decent review, I guess. It talks to you people for sure. Personally I can't take it seriously and I will reserve judgment until someone, who is not 12 and has seen a bit more of the world of racing games, makes a review based on hardcore simulation - which, to me, is all that matters - and actually flatters the game. I am afraid however that any such person is going to pull it apart. We'll see.

[elie8]

Talk To The Hand !!!! Will ya !!!!

[Summ]

^Did I say anything to you? Personally or otherwise? No, so please move on, ok? Quit contesting anything I write just because it's me.

[TRANSFORMER]

Talk To The Hand !!!! Will ya !!!!

I wanted to write the same to him, but then thought NO let him do that, because he'll never stop!

[Summ]

What should I stop with, exactly? Not sure why I even bother explaining myself, but here goes - I'm the first to say I believe Shift will be a great game. But I doubt it will be TRULY great for the sim community. It will be super for you people, who like something between arcade and sim. The reviews I have seen of it so far have clearly been made by people, who have NOT been around the block a few times and do NOT know the ins and outs of real simulators. As such, seen from a sim-point of view, I don't TRUST these reviews. Understand? What's wrong with that?

[TRANSFORMER]

^The ONLY one thing I want to say to You: If You don't like NFS SH!FT, then go and play outside, without us!

[Summ]

^What part of this line did you not get?
"I'm the first to say I believe Shift will be a great game"

[TRANSFORMER]

I believe Shift will be a great game... but I doubt it will be TRULY great for the sim community. It will be super for you people, who like something between arcade and sim. The reviews I have seen of it so far have clearly been made by people, who have NOT been around the block a few times and do NOT know the ins and outs of real simulators. As such, seen from a sim-point of view, I don't TRUST these reviews. Understand? What's wrong with that?

Need For Speed is NOT a Simulation - I hope You understood that, too, meanwhile...

[Summ]

^It's aiming to be.

[Hydro_PT]

Well Summ, I have to disagree with you here. As far as I remember, they never said that SHIFT would be a hardcore simulation game (like GTR2). They always said it would be a mix between arcade and simulation, and for what I've read so far, they managed to do that very well (IGN's review point exactly this). It has the arcade feel of a NFS and a touch of simulation. So this means that you can easily step behind the wheel of any car and drive it without any trouble, but at the same time, if you want to push the car to its limits, you'll have to practice and be really good.

I don't exactly remember a racing game like this, but I might give you the example of Colin McRae DiRT. You can easily win all the events without being a great driver. However, when you push things to the hardest level, you really have to be a great rally driver to win. When I started, I had no trouble winning the events, but when I started to play with manual gearbox, no driving helps and higher difficulty levels, the game became hard, really hard, and very challenging. That's what I think SHIFT will be.

My main concern so far with SHIFT is drifting (it seems to be very bad, and here GRID owns it completely). Otherwise, the game seems to be everything they would say it would be. So if you were expecting a true simulation game, you can't say it's EA or SMS fault... they never said it would be a simulation game.

[Summ]

I did not say it would be a hardcore sim, mate =). I said it aimed to be one. As in, it aspires to simulation, but does not necessarily reach it. Now, as my first statement would have it, I would like someone, who has played plenty of real simulators, to review the game and put it in perspective to those games, so as to give an impression of how it varies from a real simulator, how simmy it actually is. That's all =).

I understand the opinions these reviewers have tried to highlight on the matter, but with all due respect, I don't think they know what they are talking about. Being enthralled by the cockpit camera and g-effects (nothing new) and claiming that pgr pioneered the cockpit view (when in fact one need just look back to EA's own inhouse F1 series of games from 2000 to find racing games with a cockpit view, just to make an example) just tell me that all they have been playing is mainstream games from recent years. I want a more matured view on this game from someone, who has been around a little longer and knows his pedigree. =). I don't see the harm in that.

[Hydro_PT]

Well after reading your posts, it looks like you want SHIFT to be a simulation game. Specially when you say this:

"But I doubt it will be TRULY great for the sim community. The reviews I have seen of it so far have clearly been made by people, who have NOT been around the block a few times and do NOT know the ins and outs of real simulators. As such, seen from a sim-point of view, I don't TRUST these reviews."

SHIFT was never intended to be a simulator, so I don't understand what you mean here. Looks like you want someone to review the game from the sim-point of view, right? This is a bit weird since the game doesn't aim to be a sim, so why would someone review a game based on something that the game isn't?

I'm not sure if I'm making myself clear here (again, English is not my native language ), but I'm also not sure if you understood the reviews. Specially the one at IGN... they don't say that the cockpit camera is new, they mention that such a detailed cockpit (all those effects) have never appeared in other games, so yes, that's new. Even GRID doesn't feature such effects in the cockpit. I believe the reviewer already played lots of racing games, so I take his opinion as valid. Unlike you, I don't think he's a a 12 years old that only played recent racing games.

I wouldn't mind reading a review that would focus a bit more on the driving part/physics of the game, but not from a simulation point of view. I think it's just not "fair". The game is not meant to be a simulator, it's meant to be a mix between arcade and simulation, so when reviewing this game, you shouldn't take an arcade point of view nor a simulation point of view, instead you should take a mixed point of view. Otherwise, the game won't satisfy you and you won't be able to tell where it failed and where it succeeded. If you review it from an arcade point of view, the game will look bad because "it doesn't fit well in the arcade genre". If you review it from a simulation point of view, the game will look bad because "it doesn't fit well in the simulation genre".

I hope I made myself clear.

[Summ]

Well, in my world things aren't that black and white. How simmy something is depends on several factors and points of view. For instance, the GT series is widely acclaimed to be the top within driving simulation, when in fact the people in the know claim that the GTR/Race series make for a better and more accurate simulation. They don't deny that GT is a simulator, but for a host of minor details, they find it inferior to the competition. If GTR is 100/100, GT5 is maybe 95 or 97/100. You get the picture.

EA themselves claimed that Shift does aspires to be simmy, rather than arcadey. Perhaps it won't be a full-blown simulation, like GTR and GT5, but it will lean more towards the sim side of racing. One need only read any early statements from the various producers and developers to notice how they highlight the whole driver's experience, accurate tyre physics and all, which is all technical stuff for saying that it tries really hard to simulate.. therefore it aspires to be a simulation. If that wasn't the case, I would agree with you, it would not make sense to compare it. But since it is.. then I'd just like to place it on the scale and see how it measures up against the stiffer competition.

Do I want it to be simmy? Of course I do. Aside from GT5, Shift's graphics are the best I have seen. The reviewers have promised the same quality in the sound department, which makes for a very interesting presentation altogether - far more impressive than GTR, I'm afraid. I love GTR, but it makes for some dreary visuals. I have been waiting for the whole package for many years now, and Shift promises to deliver a good percentage of what I want. I'm intent on finding out just how high that percentage will go with no aids and the hardest difficulty. That doesn't mean I expect it to be simmy. Time will tell.

[TheStig]

EA did say they want it to compete with GT5 and Forza 3, and as far as I know they are known as Simulators, and thus Shift has to be a sim to compete with them.

I don't really care if Shift isn't a sim, cause to be honest I don't want NFS to be a Sim, NFS never was a sim and IMO it should never become one.

But I do think that if EA want a nice mix between a arcade racer and a sim, they should not want to place it against GT and Forza, sure GT and Forza now both will have several extras to make it easier for everyone to play the game even if you are not a sim player.
Not much is know about how accurate Shift will be when on high difficulty,
Sure you can make even a Arcade racer very hard to play... (remember NFS Underground.... it was somethimes damn hard to win a race, but it was a pure Arcade game)

I sure hope Shift will be a good game, entertaining to play and have decent physics... if it is a big version of ProStreet I might very well like it... but I do hope some parts of the physics engine will be better... like understeering RWD cars and oversteering FWD cars that go into understeer when letting of of the trottle.... (wasn't it the other way around...)

But I'll wait for the Demo.
I will not get a NFS game without trying it beforehand... cause the last NFS was not worth a penny

[Summ]

^Agreed with your last statement. UC was positively horrible!

As to the "NFS should never become a sim" bit.. why not? I mean, GT and Forza prove that it's possible to make a rather hardcore product and then implement mechanics that take the difficulty down as many notches as needed for it to cater to all audiences. Why not make the same for NFS? Why not strive to include ALL layers within the same game? =) The sim community would sure appreciate it! People, who don't like pure simulation could choose a 'Normal' category and be happy with that, while the enthusiasts could choose 'Real' or whatever and go with that - everybody happy =). I know Shift will be like this, but from what I read, it won't quite reach GT levels.

[arabnight]

Im pretty much gona get the game cause i buy all the NFS games but this time im not buying it right away i want the hype to go down and all that before i will.

And for Summ..Dude NFS must stay arcade its what it grew up as and i like how it has some sim stuff but if its GT then whats GT gona be?