Need for Speed: Shift - Review

Added September 25th, 2009 by Kenneth Rathburn

The last couple Need for Speed games haven’t exactly been what one would call stellar. After the pathetic quality of Pro Street and Undercover, most felt the series couldn’t go any lower. This year alone we’ll be seeing the release of three separate entries to the series, the first of which is Need for Speed Shift, developed by Slightly Mad Studios. Once again the series has been taken away from the streets and back on to closed tracks in hopes of delivering a simulation oriented experience. Has this finally managed to bring the series back on-track or is it still on a crash course to the junk yard?

When starting the game’s Career mode, you’ll be put behind the wheel of a BMW for a couple events to determine your recommended difficulty/assist settings and how much cash that can be used to spend on your first car. After that you’ll be open to a small number of races which will initiate your drive to the NFS World Tour-the primary Career objective. However, in order to quality for this you’ll need to race through enough events while upgrading and purchasing cars in order to keep up.

You progress through the game by winning stars in events, with up to three being available depending on your finishing position. Bonus stars can also be obtained by completing certain objectives, usually revolving around racing actions (drive a clean lap, spin out other opponents) or reaching a certain number of Profile Points. The latter of these are gained by your behavior on the racetrack; whether precise (staying with the race line, not hitting anything) or aggressive (drafting, blocking and crashing into opponents). Whatever Profile Points you earn are added to determine your Driver Profile, which has up to fifty levels to reach. The driving style you earn the most points towards in a race will contribute to whether you grow as a precise or aggressive driver. What’s nice about this is that the game opens the ability for you to choose how you want to race; you’re encouraged to drive how you like.

Shift’s Career opens up a good chunk of events to take part in, with more becoming available as you earn additional stars. While there might be plenty of accessible races, you’ll only have to take part in a chunk of these in order to unlock them all. There are a total of five tiers of race events, but it’s very possible to have all unlocked before finishing the first two. What also helps adding stars become easier are Invitational Events, races that have you drive pre-selected cars for a variety of occasions, which are obtained by increasing your Driver Level. On a positive note, this means you don’t have to take part in every event in order to reach the end (go ahead, skip the lousy ones). However, this also means the game can potentially be completed in a few quick hours; making the time spent in the Career solely dependant on how much the player is willing to race.

With that in-mind, the key question is just how fun the game is. Fortunately for us, Shift turns out to be a fairly entertaining entry. A key reason for this is the highly emphasized cockpit view. Though we’ve all seen (and experienced) games with their own attempts at replicating vehicle interiors, this is easily the most immersive to date. From the in-car details becoming blurry while accelerating to the colorlessness and shaking when in a nasty collision, Shift manages to create a very strong driving experience while in the cockpit. Add an adrenaline-inducing sense of speed to the mix and we have an installment that, for the first time in a good while, finally lives up the series’ name. Other camera views are available, but none deliver the potential excitement found in the cockpit (not to mention racing in third person feels very imprecise).

A variety of modes are available to try in Shift, with standard races, time trials, Duals (pitting similar cars against each other) and Drifts being among the inclusions. The driving model for non-Drift events is solid, though players will want to tweak the sensitivity and control settings to acquire a better feel. Once this is addressed, the game can be very exciting and fun; arguably the most intense the series has felt since Most Wanted. As for drifting, the entry level is quite high with the slide physics being rather exaggerated. Frustration is highly probable at first but with enough time, this mode can become manageable and quite fun. However, as you put more time into the game, shortcomings will begin to show and become fairly prominent.

One of the primary issues comes from the racing AI. Although Slightly Mad made a wise choice in ditching the much-loathed rubber-band AI, this hasn’t prevented it from impeding the gameplay. Once past Tier 1, my experience with the in-game racers became very bitter; with blocking, shoving, ramming and spinning out being amongst the common actions I faced. There were also points the AI would hit my car as I passed them (turning my Clean Overtake into a Dirty Overtake) and side-swipe me at the very beginning of a race. Needless to say, the AI doesn’t seem too bothered by being intrusive. While this issue isn’t too prominent on the Easy difficulty, it’s quite noticeable on Medium. What also made things annoying is how on Easy, the challenge is essentially nonexistent but anything higher feels over-demanding.

Another disappointment comes from the car selection and customization options. One of the few things previous Need for Speed games handled well was the car collection. Unfortunately, Shift has a modest-at-best selection. Nearly every vehicle is a recently released model with the only old cars being tuners such as the 1972 Skyline 2000 GT-R and the Toyota Corolla (no classic muscle to be found here). As for customization, most of this comes in the form of performance and tuning. One nice touch to this is how if you give your car every upgrade you can convert it to a Works vehicle to realize its full potential and compete in higher level contests. However, those hoping for a good assortment of visual options will be disappointed as the paint system doesn’t feel so smooth and the vinyl options are condensed and barren.

Then there’s the driving model and overall gameplay which, as mentioned, is solid yet also conflicted. Although Shift tries to be a simulator it ultimately doesn’t feel like one. Instead, the game finds itself stuck in-between simulation and arcade styles. While you’ll need to be wary of your position and control on the track, cars won’t endure any dire consequences for getting involved in a severe collision or being put throughout rigorous standards. The worst that will happen is your car will start turning one of two ways on its own, but as long as you stay on the track and keep up, anything goes. Having the option for aggressive behavior alone indicates the game isn’t nearly a full-fledged simulator. And when you can practically drive right under a car without taking any strict damage it only becomes abundantly clear. Despite this the game can still have its great, fun moments, but they don’t occur very consistently. Those who are more concerned about a game that offers a good driving experience in-general likely won’t mind this gameplay predicament.

If you ever get tired of playing by yourself you can always hop onto online races with up to seven other players. Even though you can’t race with as many people online as you can with the AI, it helps keep races from being too chaotic and the experience is mostly lag-free (save for when I got hit twice by an invisible car). While playing online can be fun, the entire interface is very limited, with little beyond joining and creating races being available. It would’ve been nice to have a way to view or exchange car tuning set-ups or be given more than just races themselves. Sadly, what we have is barely enough to keep most players interested unless they want to race for a higher Driver Profile rank with their friends.

From a visual standpoint Shift is quite pleasing to the eyes. The car models are replicated well enough and usually look quite sharp so long as you don’t get into a nasty wreck. Damage modeling in the game is mediocre at best, with bumps and scrapes being given dull, almost laughable detail. Environments generally look good as well, regardless of whatever time of the day you’re racing (though the amount of tracks is on the short side). Shift’s framerate manages to stay consistent as well, with minimal choke-ups even during the more chaotic moments. Unfortunately, the game has a fair share of glitches, some of which made the game literally unplayable. These can range from anything as small as grass appearing on the track to something odd like parts of the HUD disappearing to the game getting stuck in a replay leaving you to head to the Dashboard or restart your Xbox to resume playing.

On the audio front the game really hits the ball running. Engine noises when speeding or revving are highly emphasized and given an ambient echo-like sound when in the cockpit view. The sound of driving a Lamborghini or Works BMW over 150 MPH can almost be compared to the sound of a jet plane taking off. Other sound effects such as loud tire screeching and your driver groaning and panting when in a collision also help liven the experience. About the only possible downside to the game’s overall sound is the music, which features a forgettable selection of tracks that ultimately don’t stand out except when in the menus. As for the game’s announcer (who alerts and gives you advice), he essentially sounds like someone who’d become the target of a “Why so serious?” joke.

Need for Speed Shift sets out to try and accomplish a number of goals, with the primary two being to deliver an authentic racing experience and potentially revitalize the series. Although it doesn’t quite manage to fully accomplish either of these, this is still a valiant effort that, had it given some more development time, could’ve been a far superior package. As it stands, Shift offers up some exciting race action that is definitely intense and fun, but hampered by a number of flaws. The cockpit view and sense of speed help give this game a much needed edge to be worth a shot for die-hard fans of the series or those who don’t mind a sometimes unforgiving racer. One can only hope the series will head back uphill from here.