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TechJunkeez PS3 Editor| September 2009
The Need For Speed series hasn’t been all that great recently. EA
tried to mix it up with “ProStreet” but that didn’t work, then they tried to get
back to basics with “Undercover” which was terrible as well. Everyone knew the
franchise was going downhill at an alarming rate, and it would need a group of
miracle workers to make Need For Speed a title taken seriously again. Well…
Those miracle workers call themselves “Slightly Mad Studios” and they have
developed one of the best titles in the series, Need For Speed: Shift. Read on
to find out what sets this game apart from the competition.
For starters the game has no stupid NFS story that would appeal to
an 8 year old. This game is pretty much straight forward and more focused on
getting you as close as possible to the racing experience rather than throwing
you around supposedly badass characters that previous NFS games have been
plagued with. Shift is a title that is stuck between a simulation racing game
and an arcade racing game which apparently played out in an excellent way. It
has the style and graphics of games like Forza or Gran Turismo but the driving
mechanics of more arcadey games like Midnight Club or the previous Need For
Speed titles, this makes up for easy controls which would seem great for
audiences that like simulation games but hate their driving mechanics.
Shift is a
great mix of arcade gameplay and simulation graphics
The creators were focusing on the dashboard view and did an
awesome job doing so. The dashboard camera feels great and the driver’s head
responds to collisions in a great fashion. So you’ll have the camera getting
closer to the windshield when you hit something or move to the sides when the G
forces start hitting you on the corners and so on. And when you get yourself in
some proper impact with other cars, the whole screen gets blurry and discoloured
which makes you feel a little dazed by the accident you just made. The
dashboards are also pretty detailed in the cars but you won’t be amazed if you
played Gran Turismo 5 Prologue which does a slightly more superior job in that
section. Another great aspect is the sense of speed which this game nails almost
perfectly. You’ll always “feel” the speed you are moving at and you’ll get
discouraged to keep accelerating at some points, and other effects like motion
blur help the experience look better.
Dynamic
head camera makes your view go near your steering wheel when you brake hard
Shift features 67 cars from 27 manufacturers ranging from SEAT and
Toyota to Bugatti and Koenigsegg. All the cars look and feel great but you don’t
get the real life alternative feel. That is to say you don’t feel the cars
handle like their real life counterpart which is something Polyphony Digital had
implemented in GT5 Prologue.
The Pagani
Zonda in all its glory. This game looks fantastic
You also get 18 tracks to drive your cars around. The tracks are
based on popular existing racing tracks and offer a great experience for the
game and the environments look fantastic as well.
As I mentioned earlier the game doesn’t have a storyline but that
is by no means a disadvantage. The career mode is simple and engaging. You have
4 ranks to finish and each rank has its own cars and events. It goes without
saying, AI gets tougher as you go higher in rank and this game offers pretty
smart racers to play with. Unlike the opponents offered by some other racing
games where racers have predefined routes to go through, in Shift, the drivers
try to overtake you in smart ways and sometimes even ram you.
Shift also offers great sound effects to go with the fantastic
visuals. The engine roars sound authentic and powerful. Tire squeak when
breaking sound right and everything offers a great atmosphere to simulate what a
real racer hears while racing. This is a game you’ll want to play on a surround
sound system if you have one.
The
interior is greatly detailed, almost as good as GT5
To sum things up, Slightly Mad studios has revived an almost dead
franchise which is something very hard to do. The angle of approach on
simulation racing was done greatly and this game features the best dashboard
racing view I’ve ever experienced in a game. I am very certain that NFS: Shift
is going to give Gran Turimso and Forza a strong run for their money.
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