Review: Need for Speed Shift Racing Game

There are many different kinds of games out there to play, but for me the ones I'm usually most interested in have to do with - you guessed it - cars! It also happens that I usually perform pretty well on racing games. Good at what you like I guess. Shooting games on the other hand? Ouch pretty much describes it.

So while the whole world (ok, gaming world) waits for Gran Turismo 5, there has been an effort on the part of other games to step things up. Need for Speed: Shift is one such game.

Need for Speed is a huge gaming franchise that spans all the different consoles and includes PC titles. In the past it has primarily been focused on games with storylines and racing in normal driving experiences (highways, city streets and the like). Shift takes a different tack than its predecessors, delving more into simulation, and featuring racetrack-only gameplay.

At the beginning of the game, you start out with two options - Quick Race and Career Mode. Career is obviously the best way to experience the game. After selecting, the game starts you out in a modified BMW M3. With it, you lap the track while the game analyzes how you drive.

At the end of the lap, it offers recommended game settings based on the way you drive. I would recommend doing a restart of the lap before the end and giving it another go around once you become a bit more acclimatised to the way the car handles in the game. Anyway, it allows you to change the settings it recommends afterward.

For instance, traction control, stability control and other settings can be turned on or off, as well as being set to varying degrees. I tried racing different ways. With electronic aids set to high they can be quite intrusive, with automatic braking and the traction control system cutting out engine power to help you go around a turn.

From the very beginning it is clear that things are a lot different in Shift than in past Need for Speed games. Graphically Shift is very realistic. The camera circles around the vehicle at the beginning of each race. The standout part though is the in-car view. I know the tendency in driving games is to race using the third-person car overview, but EA have really put a lot of work into very detailed interiors for each of the cars in the game.

When driving, you can see the driver shifting gears and a real overall sense of speed is imparted out of the windshield. That brings me to another part of the overall gameplay - some of the elements that set it apart from other games. Ahead of a crash, the driver will gasp and upon impact the entire screen view will blur. It is incredibly effective and helps to emerge the gamer in racing realism.

Playing in the Career Mode, there are 4 tiers of vehicles, and you start out in Tier 1. The vehicle I went for first is the Renault Megane RS, a car that I have posted about here on CarThrottle and know well - particularly its specifications, with the car offering 250 horsepower and 250 pound feet of torque.

The Megane RS served me well, even when I was racing against some higher tier vehicles. In the process of racing you garner points to advance to the next set of races in the game, and also higher-end vehicles. Points are obtained for various things like drafting, a clean lap, aggressive driving and the like.

I unlocked Tier 3 in my time with the game. My second vehicle was an Infiniti G35 coupe and my third a BMW M3. I modified the color on the M3 to be very similar to the special orange paint on the recently introduced M3 GTS.

I also had a brief stint in a Porsche Cayman - and I say brief because the car was quite difficult to drive. I raced with it a bit but found that I didn't like the way it handled. Needless to say, I quickly sold it. I haven't had a similar difficult driving experience with any of the other vehicles I drove in the game. If a bit more time was spent with the car I probably would have gotten used to it.

Shift offers a variety of different race types in addition to your traditional group race that results in a first place position across the finish line as the winner. Time Attack pits two different cars head to head - to win you either have to be ahead by 5 seconds (can be a tall order) or go across the finish line first. Hot Lap, Time Trial and Elimination are a few of the others.

During the process of Career mode, you are also invited to manufacturer-sponsored events.  With these, you can get to drive some supercars that you wouldn't normally be able to until later stages of the game. For instance in one race, I was pitted against the Lamborghini Gallardo in a Lamborghini Murcielago. It is also a good way to make money - that never seemed to be too much of a problem through Career mode though.

Drifting was one area of the career game that I did not enjoy, and it probably had something to do with me being no good at it. The cars were each setup differently and as such were very difficult to control.

On the drifting laps, I did notice something that was lacking in the rest of the game - music. In Need for Speed: Shift,  in-game music is set to off while you drive, allowing you to concentrate on a real-life racing experience. Everything that has to do with sound in the game is just top notch - car exhaust notes, tire squeals, crash sounds - you name it. Clearly a lot of work was put into this.

If there is a criticism of this game, it would have to be a relative lack of vehicles to choose from. For instance, no Ferraris? Some would consider that a racing game crime! However, the smaller car selection doesn't stop Shift from being a great racing title.

It is refreshing to see some focus on the simulation, track-centric genre of racing games from Need for Speed. As such, I think Shift takes things to a whole new level - it's a fantastic extension of the Need for Speed franchise. If enjoyment is the measure with which these games are judged, count this as a rousing endorsement.