NFS Shift user reviews

2009 Need for Speed SHIFT
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SP4RCO
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by SP4RCO »

should have been titled 'NFS bowling':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESO26fQeRik
Still rolling my eyes :roll:
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Summ »

^I was just editing my post while you were writing yours :P. See if what it says now makes more sense to you, though I doubt it. It seems our opinions differ on the subject, which is fair enough, obviously. Personally, I don't give a damn about crashes, because I really don't pay attention to them. The moment I spin out, I usually just hit escape and go for a restart, because I already know I've lost. I don't give a damn about crashes because in all honesty I strive as much as possible to see as few of them as I can, so I really couldn't care less what they look like.. because they are not supposed to happen!

Sure, the other things you mention - track detail, graphics, sounds and AI especially matter for the wholeness of the game, but they are meaningless if the foundations are bad. If the foundations (the driving model) aren't there.. then the rest is meaningless. To me, at least.

Either way, as always, I respect your opinion, but feel differently =). What's more, from my perspective, for the things that matter to me, Shift delivers better than GRID.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Hydro_PT »

Hehe, I just read your edited post, it doesn't add much more so I won't edit mine in response. :P

Well I care about crashes. I love crashes tbh. For example, on the other day I went to a local race track to see some old Porsches, Austins and even a Lamborghini fighting with each other in a 15 laps race. The track is small, yet very challenging, specially the first corner after the 900 meters straight and the chicane. I was seeing the cars racing near the chicane (about 15 meters from the cars - safety level = 0) and I was hoping for one of them to crash lol. None did, but one of them lost a bit the control of the car and the back was swinging while the driver was struggling to gain control. It was enough.

Then another race started, and I was near that dangerous first corner. And to my amusement, the BMW performed a PIT Maneuver to the Peugeot and boom, the Peugeot went right in the tires. He was out of the race and really pissed off. It made by day. :)

Anyway regarding the game, I care about crashes.

"I don't give a damn about crashes because in all honesty I strive as much as possible to see as few of them as I can, so I really couldn't care less what they look like.. because they are not supposed to happen!"

Hmm... this doesn't seem realistic coming from you. I mean, I also don't crash on purpose, but it's realistic, isn't it? I mean, in any race, of course that no one wants to crash, but if it happens, it's just normal. For example, once in GRID I was making my way up to 1st place. I was in 7th, and the car ahead of me popped a tire (it was an endurance race). I immediately reacted to avoid a crash, but while I braked hard and tried to avoid the car, the opponent behind me touched my rear (he wasn't expecting such a move, for sure) and well, you guess what happened. I lost control of the car and I hit the wall really hard, and the guy that hit me also lost control. Then another driver crashed on me. It was absolutely stunning to see what a popping tired caused on the track. Wasn't that realistic? Of course it was, and I loved it, specially because I was driving in the cockpit view at the moment.

My car wasn't totalled but it was pretty much destroyed, so I couldn't complete the race. However, I really enjoyed the crash, it was so realistic I even watched the replay and recorded it with FRAPS. I showed it to my brother and he loved it. That's why I say that realistic and nice crash physics matter for me, even if I'm not going to crash on purpose. I guess it's a matter of perspective, though. :)

Yes, if the driving model is bad, you can't make the game much better, no matter what you add. Still, they aren't that important or singular for me. Even though the driving model of GRID is arcade and unrealistic, everything that was build on top of that is great, and everything combined makes an excellent game. I never look at a game individually. I might analyse each aspect individually, but a game is either good or bad or medium when I sum up the whole experience. That's why I say that GRID is better than SHIFT overall. It's better in some things, worse in others, that's true.

Well it's just a question of opinions, I see. I respect your opinion of course. What I hope now is that we both buy the game and maybe play a bit online hehe. I'll buy mine at the end of this month, and if you manage to make yours work, we should meet online sometime for a race. :D
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by peterfaj »

This game reminds me of grid, except it's worse. After I ran the game in Win98 compatibility mode and turned v-sync off in the config file (other than that it's not very buggy, it's actually pretty stable), the first thing I noticed is bad graphics and worse framerate (no longer I have to choose between the two). You can then improve the graphics, but it makes the framerate worse. And AA doesn't work for some reason, so graphics aren't even comparable to other modern games. There's still NOS and performance tuning. And the driving is very frustrating. As frustrating as driving a Koenigsegg in heavy rain with 25 opponents in GTR Evolution, except it's not rainy, the car's supposed to be stable and there are 9 opponents. The first tier was easy and fun, but the second one is impossible even on easy. It's all okay, until an AI car decides it would be hilarious if it hit you and when it does, you're firetrucked. No matter where you are, don't let AI cars near you, because if they hit you, get ready to hit escape and restart. I can do it without looking with impressive speed. Escape->down->enter->down->enter. Sadly you have to wait between steps, otherwise it doesn't detect the keys you press. I hate that! And once you restart you have to wait while the game shows you your car every firetrucking time. I just play tetris on my cell phone while it does that. And it also loads long enough for about a whole game of tetris. When you decide to stop before you punish your keyboard or something your choice is encouraged by the gigantic QUIT button. It seems they expected people to get pissed and they made the QUIT button firetrucking epic to remind you to stop. Too bad it doesn't fit the screen and is hidden, so it doesn't really help.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by zedex »

peterfaj wrote:This game reminds me of grid, except it's worse. After I ran the game in Win98 compatibility mode and turned v-sync off in the config file (other than that it's not very buggy, it's actually pretty stable), the first thing I noticed is bad graphics and worse framerate (no longer I have to choose between the two). You can then improve the graphics, but it makes the framerate worse. And AA doesn't work for some reason, so graphics aren't even comparable to other modern games.
I can run it perfectly fine... but don't worry, you're not alone... but if you get it all working out, it's STUNNINGLY good to look at... i'd say GRID pales in comparaison... GRID has too much of that "cloudy" feel to it... makes everything a little blurry, but SHIFT's graphical detail is quite impressive!
peterfaj wrote:There's still NOS and performance tuning.
but the new NOS is a LOT more "realistic" as in it isn't as "super boost" like older series and doesn't regenerate
[
peterfaj wrote:And the driving is very frustrating. As frustrating as driving a Koenigsegg in heavy rain with 25 opponents in GTR Evolution, except it's not rainy, the car's supposed to be stable and there are 9 opponents. The first tier was easy and fun, but the second one is impossible even on easy. It's all okay, until an AI car decides it would be hilarious if it hit you and when it does, you're firetrucked. No matter where you are, don't let AI cars near you, because if they hit you, get ready to hit escape and restart. I can do it without looking with impressive speed. Escape->down->enter->down->enter. Sadly you have to wait between steps, otherwise it doesn't detect the keys you press. I hate that!
I have to agree, in the beginning it's quite annoying spinning out ALL THE DAMN TIME! and that bounciness just got on my nerves... and some races are outright impossible because of the instability... but some cars are fine... for tier2, go with Nissan GTR =) oh and the restart thing, in all the racing games I play, I know the keystrokes because i do them waaayyy too much
peterfaj wrote:And once you restart you have to wait while the game shows you your car every firetrucking time. I just play tetris on my cell phone while it does that. And it also loads long enough for about a whole game of tetris.
Actually I noticed ever since i got myself an XBOX360 controller to play the game *because keyboard's automatic on/off switch is quite annoying and impossible in some instances, so I needed that middle-throttle and half-turns a trigger and joystick offers* *back to the point:* pressing X on it can skip that cutscene =) I guess it's just another error from porting, like how mouse doesn't work at all..
peterfaj wrote:When you decide to stop before you punish your keyboard or something your choice is encouraged by the gigantic QUIT button. It seems they expected people to get pissed and they made the QUIT button firetrucking epic to remind you to stop. Too bad it doesn't fit the screen and is hidden, so it doesn't really help.
I think the reason it's so big is because quit is so short... the size is anti-proportional to the length of the word... those like career or even options are extremely short, because they want every word to be of the same width... I actually find this menu quite good-looking! reminds me of the new Zune HD's interface somewhat
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by peterfaj »

Yes, yes, I know that QUIT is large because it's short. But it still is huge. Right after two small buttons I think.
The design is somewhat nice. It looks good because all buttons are the same width, but they should also be the same height. That way more of them would fit the screen without the need for scrolling.
I forgot to mention that when you're choosing a body kit, you can hardly see your car.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by zedex »

yeah, i usually wait for it to turn around so i can peek through the little space how it looks like on certain parts of the car
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Summ »

^^It's just a stylistic choice. Some love it, some hate it =). I don't really care one way or the other. I do care about car stability, though. Coming from GTR Evo as well, I can only agree that the Shift cars drift way too much in straight lines and are probably a bit too oversteery.

EDIT: Damn.. lately someone's always posting something between the post I'm referring to and mine, before I can commit my post! :P

@Hydro - buy GTR Evolution ;). I'll gladly take you on there in my Gumpert :D. No crashes, though! :P I'm all about clean driving.

I don't really understand your fascination with crashes and I can't help but find you a bit cynical to want for a real pilot to risk injury and huge expenses for fixing the car for your own satisfaction of watching the actual crash. Oh well, I guess we all get our kicks from somewhere.. and that somewhere doesn't have to be the same place.
Obviously it is realistic that somebody will crash in the race - never said that the crashes should never happen no matter what. What I meant was that if I drive well enough, I won't lose control and spin out. Ideally I should be so good as not to crash. Also ideally, the AI will be good enough to know my position on the track and, if possible, to swerve and avoid me. So you see.. ideally, I should never experience a crash. That's what I meant =).

Btw, I do see and concede your point that there is more to games than just the driving model. I do agree that the whole point of racing should be to feel that intense adrenaline rush from leading the pack and having them breathe down your neck up until the last turn of the race. I'm all for that in a race. I guess where you and I differ is that I take pleasure from just learning to know my car and tuning it to run on that particular track. I spend a lot more time doing that than actually racing, so, to me, that element is more crucial than the actual race. I've spent literally hundreds of hours in GTR Evo and GTR 2, but funny enough, I think I can count the races I have actually had in those games on the fingers of my two hands =). I don't live for the race. I live for the driving experience. I guess you're the opposite =).
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Hydro_PT »

Hey, I don't want to see injured people, no way! I just like to see cars crashing. For example, I love crashes compilations of Rally or Nascar. I find them amusing, that's all. And live crashes are spectacular for me, and I've already enjoyed some in that track I was talking about. The best so far was a car going so fast cutting the corner that rolled over 4 times before landing on its roof. The pilot was OK, the car was... KO. :P

I don't think it's something that abnormal, but ok. My friends also enjoy seeing crashes, and if you check those YouTube videos, there's a lot of people who enjoy them, specially when no one gets hurt. As for the game, it shouldn't happen, ok fair enough. But if it happens, you might at least get a good and realistic crash, other than a weird broken bumper and some odd physics. I just accidentally crashed a Lamborghini Murcielago in Laguna Seca (SHIFT) at about 150 km/h. The screen turned black and wait, I heard the pilot's heart beating and when I checked the car, it was half in/half out in the barriers, jumping like a kangaroo with only a few broken parts of the body. I mean... WTF? I crashed because I lost control, that can happen, so at least they should give me a realistic crash, not that.

Yep, that seems to be the main difference. I don't really care about tuning a car to perfection and keep trying the same track over and over until I master it completely. It just doesn't fit me, I find that quite boring. I like adrenaline, action packed racing, from start to finish. Battle for the 1st place, keep all the others behind, race on the limit, don't crash, win everything, break records, try different cars and tracks all the time! That's my style. :D

Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I don't drive in real life (yet). Maybe when you start driving for real, you know you can't do stupid stuff on the real road, so you see racing games from a different perspective, specially if you have the chance of playing with a stock car in a game that feels equal to your true car. You can fine tune it and take it to some laps around the track, knowing that even if you crash, no one is going to be hurt and well, you can just restart. I don't know, I'll get my driver's licence soon (I hope hehe) and maybe then my perspective will change a bit and I will be able to enjoy solitaire laps on The Ring with a Volkswagen. :)
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Koenigsegg_Rox »

I pay no attention to crash physics. Partly because I come from the world of Gran Turismo where they've only just released damage for the first time in the series in GT5, but also partly because I DO drive in real life. Yes, I do have a couple of bursts of the accelerator where there's nothing to crash into and nobody else around, but I, like most sane people, drive carefully because I don't want to crash. It's the same with my racing games, just at a whole lot faster pace.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Stereo »

The game is fun, graphics are great (I don't know what peterfaj is on), but the crash physics are complete shiznit. I tried to do a Veyron race where every car was a Veyron, and every time I was bumped by the AI, my screen blurred. You could say that for the first 20 seconds of the race, I didn't know what the f**k was ahead of me. Second, when you ram into another car to overtake it or use it as a barrier so you don't end up in the sand, your car starts teleporting all over the place. It's quirky.

I don't like the customization too much because you have to apply vynils to specific regions of the car now, and there is no way to look at your car fully unless you race. Also, when choosing a bodykit, you don't see the car fully, which is F**KING STUPID.

Otherwise, I like the vynils in the customization and it doesn't take a load of time to apply one vynil like it did in ProStreet and Undercover. It moves/scales instantaneously, no special 5-second loading time for each little modification.

Choice of cars is really appealing, and I chose the tC as my first car because that's the car I want to get. Sadly I sold it for a Murcielago, but it was worth it. :D\

Oh yeah, the handling does feel like the car is a boat, much like the first 240SX you drive in ProStreet. >_>

So yeah I'd give SHIFT a 8/10. Good game, fun, a little bit annoying with customization/physics.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Summ »

For the record, I agree that the damage model in Shift is pathetic. I don't know about the crash physics, though. Aside from the fact that cars are soooooo easy to flip, the whole feeling of slamming into a wall at 150 km/h feels authenti enough from within the cockpit (to me, at least), but I agree that the outcome should be a totaled car and the engine in the passenger seat next to you, rather than a tiny curl on the bonnet. But then again, implementing full-blown damage and realistic crumpling/deformation and realistic impact on the performance would make this game FAR too simmy for its community. Trust me, everyone is whining about how little damage there is right now, ok? But if they turned it up to GTR levels, the net would be FLOODED with crybabies cursing the game for being impossible.. because the first time they would drive into the AI, their car would maybe bend a wheel axle or directly have an engine fault.. whatever, something that could cripple the car. And then where's the whole 'aggressive' part of the game? Where are all the duels and the door-to-door action, which all the kiddies so love? It's gone, really. Touch a few cars in GTR and you're K.O. The consequence? Nobody plays it. Everybody plays NFS - because the masses want quick and easy entertainment. They don't want realism.. albeit they whine about it from time to time. They want accessibility, quick fun.. which Shift delivers in spades because you are basically at the wheel of a tank.. just like any other NFS game =).
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Kaerar »

I do find it funny how people compare the 'simminess' of SHIFT to GTR and GRID. First All are very different games and the only thing linking them is the Racing genre. Pro Street is actually a closer comparison than either of those games.

Second the handling in SFHIT is nothing like realistic. I have raced an Elise 111s professionally and a few other cars non-professionally. NO game on the market comes close to real life. Not one. GTR feels like a plank of wood is on the tarmac, GRID feels like you are racing a tonka toy and SIFHT feels like you are in a boat, albeit a boat that loves to oversteer and understeer randomly. Pad's help a little but the underlying geometry involved is CRAP. TBH there hasn't been a game since Flat Out 2 that has come close physics wise and that was exaggerated for the sake of the gameplay and style of game.

The type of steering in STIFH is well stiff. Using the gradual method they implemented it fails to work on a keyboard because you cannot use analogue metering to get that perfect corner. Also the turn angle is incorrect compared to the amount of turn applied. Acceleration and deceleration are as bad if not worse and the auto braking just drives me insane.

STFHI should be condemned to the bargain bin in weeks unless they alter the steering method on keyboard and fix the whole physics issue.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Summ »

^You do realise that Flat Out 2 and realism are about as far from one another as the moon and the earth, right? And that after a statement like that, nobody in his right mind is going to take anything you say on the subject seriously?

I don't argue with your assessment of the ulterior games you list, but I do take issue with your claim about Flat Out 2. As far as Shift, GRID and GTR goes, I am inclined to agree.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Hydro_PT »

Actually FlatOut has some pretty good driving physics. Specially the last one, Ultimate Carnage. I've been playing those games since they were released, and they have excellent physics IMO.

I can understand when Kaerar says that about FlatOut, I feel the same. I can't explain it though...
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Summ »

I have played the first flatout a little bit, before it bored me to death. What I remember from it was a lot of crashing, over the top speeds and cars that handled a bit like the old NFS games.. didn't leave a memorable impression at all.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Hydro_PT »

FlatOut? Boring? :O

Eh ok... you should play the other games, but of course it's all about crashing and playing dirt. That's the fun of the game, make your opponents crash so you can win. One of the best, if not the best, destruction racing games. There are few, and FlatOut stands atop of them all IMO. Love those games. :D
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by peterfaj »

I didn't know this is a flatout review topic
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Hydro_PT »

No it isn't, but we're not reviewing FlatOut either, we were just talking a little bit about the game. It's a racing game after all, like SHIFT.

We also talked about GRID and GTR2 and other games, yet you didn't say anything...
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by peterfaj »

That's because GRID and GTR2 are good games.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Hydro_PT »

And FlatOut games are good too. Unless you can't recognize their quality...
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Summ »

^It's a matter of opinions really, based on one's own personal taste and standards on the matter. Personally I never enjoyed destruction games. Really not my cup of tea. Doesn't mean other people aren't allowed to find they are good games. It's their business really. It's not a debate on whether or not Flat Out was a good game however, but rather on whether it offered some elements in its physics, which can be called simulation.. and a comparison to how these elements work in Shift. So, although at first sight it might sound as if we are off-topic, we really aren't.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by g u c c i »

Thank you for the reviews guys. You just saved me from wasting my time and money on this new installment of NFS. I had the feeling that it might be just like Pro Street from the first time I heard about it, a huge disappointment for me that it indeed is. :|

It makes me think now if I'm just tired of racing games. :?: Whatever. COD: Modern Warfare 2 and NBA 2K10 FTW! =P~
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by peterfaj »

Why do people write 2K10? Isn't it a lot faster like 2010? And it also looks nicer.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Hydro_PT »

Well after playing SHIFT for some good hours in the last days, I'm ready to make a final review and give my solid opinion about this game.

Good stuff:

- Finally we have a game without a stupid story or crazy cops behind us. Even though we already knew this, I'm still amazed EA didn't make a story of a former street racer turning into legal racer. Thank god.

- The graphics are nice overall. The car's design is quite good, but it doesn't reach the magnificence of GT5 or Forza 3. The decals on the cars are low quality though, they seem to be imported directly from Undercover. The tracks are also good, they have vibrant colours and are close to their real life counterparts. They should have done a better work representing the "outer" world though, it's pretty much empty, no "life" at all. The cockpit camera is excellent, nice crash effects and motion blur when you're going really fast. It's the first time I'm pleased with the motion blur effect in a NFS game (since Underground era). The game looks good when you run it at the highest settings, and it isn't really hard to do so, you don't a super computer to run this game maxed out. The only problem is that EA somehow forgot about doing a nice port, so lots of people are suffering with glitches, crashes and low framerate. My advice is: try the game before to see how well it runs. I didn't have problems at all, though.

- The sound is phenomenal! Nothing to say here, I love the sound of the engines and everything else, it's well done. I hate the music when racing, but you can turn that off.

- The car list and track list is very good IMO. I didn't know SHIFT was going to have so many tracks, including Oval Tracks for some Nascar-type racing. I was surprised.

- The career has lots of different and interesting events to choose from, and if you want to skip some type of event you don't like, you will still be able to unlock the next Tier and other events. They made this a bit too easy though, if you win a few events you can already drive some Tier 4 cars, which is weird. I found myself going back lots of times to complete other events before advancing to the Tier I had unlocked two days ago. I specially like the Car Battle (very challenging).

- The stars is something I found cool. Having certain milestones to fulfil in a race IF YOU WANT is good if you like extra challenges. Instead of trying to beat the opponents, you can also try to beat certain speeds, or master corners, or stay ahead of everyone for one lap, etc, etc. I like that, so I think it's something good, specially because you don't need to win those stars, it's optional.

- The game can be very challenging and hard if you decide to play without assists. Remember that this game is meant to played with a wheel, not the keyboard.

Negative stuff:

- The whole driver profile thing is like fireworks: pretty nice but useless. You get points for almost everything you do and also for things that you don't do. Being aggressive or precise determines what kind of driver you are, but since when drafting an opponent is being aggressive? And when the AI hits you, why do you get points for being "aggressive"? The badges thing is also pretty much useless, unless you like those type of challenges. If you do, then there's tons of badges to win. I personally don't care about this.

- Drift. The whole drift mode sucks so bad I could only play it for 2 minutes. Really, even Carbon's drift is more amusing and less frustrating than this one. Avoid this mode as much as you can. Really.

- Physics. The physics of this game are buggy as hell, and very weird. The crash physics suck bigtime too. This department needs a lot more work if it wants to compete against the best racing game when it comes to realistic crashes and physics overall: Race Driver GRID. The cars can lose a bumper or so and have some dents, but overall they keep pretty much intact, no matter how hard you crash. There's no mechanical damage either... pretty weird for a game that aims to be a simulator.

- The AI is weird. They can drive really well and be challenging, but they also attack you without mercy. They don't mind going at full speed to crash hard on you, like if you were their enemy nr 1. I already lost a bunch of races because the AI decided it was time to knock me off.

- The visual tuning is poor. You can have 3 or only 1 bodykit for a car, and this bodykits brings spoiler, hood, etc. You can choose some new rims but there are few, and the vinyl section is a step back from the previous games. Even though you have a 100 layer limit for various parts of the car (1000 vinyls at all), the way you "autosculpt" them sucks. The best to do is choose an already made livery and apply it to your car. If you're looking for tuning on this game, you'll be disappointed. At least the racing parts are official, so you can expect some nice bodykits that look like the real ones.

Neutral stuff:

The driving model. This is a key thing on the whole game. At first I found this game much more simulation than arcade, but after playing some more time, I changed my opinion completely. This game is not a simulator, and it doesn't even come close to it. It's an arcade game disguised as a simulator. Period. So, having said this, you can expect... well I can't really say. I find the driving pretty good, challenging and amusing, not too difficulty but not too easy. I think it depends on what kind of settings you use. I have a lot of fun driving around "The Ring" in my Carrera GT or practising some laps with my Honda S2000 at SPA. Overall it's much better than the one in ProStreet. The cars don't feel too heavy or too light, they seem to have less grip than they should, but ok. I like it, but you should try it out before, you may not like it.

I think I referred everything I wanted to. Or maybe I forgot something... well it doesn't matter. Final opinion:

SHIFT is not a bad game. EA finally put some work on the NFS games, so we can all hope for better games in the future. I like SHIFT, it's a change from the already boring free roam and cop chases. It's like a "ProStreet 2", but much better. They could have done a better job on some places, particularly the physics, but ok. This game is much better than Undercover or Carbon, which were shiznit games. Is it worth the money? Well it's definitely worth 32 euro in my case. I'll buy it in October and I can honestly say that EA finally did something good. It's not perfect or very good, it's not a flawless game, but compared to other NFS games, it's much better. It can't compete against Forza 3 or GT5, but it gave some fight to its direct opponent on the PC, Race Driver GRID. Still I don't find it better than GRID, but that's my opinion.

Final note: 7/10

Just one advice: try this game before buying it, really. Just because it looks nice or IGN gave it a 9.0, it doesn't mean you will like it, so spend your money carefully.
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