Need for Speed: Shift Review

Saturday, 07 November 2009 23:14

Reviews - XBOX 360

Edgy and gritty, the Need for Speed series has typically given fans a game that encompasses the underground side of racing. With underground races, police chases, and options to customize your car that would make even Exhibit's jaw hit the floor. The latest instalment in this series, known for satisfying the driving deviant in all of us, has taken a step in the other direction. Bringing racing back to the track, where police have no authority, and completely customizable body kits are simply uncalled for, Need for Speed: Shift is developer Slightly Mad's attempt at reviving publisher Electronic Arts' floundering series. So, has the result been sink, or swim?

 Slightly Mad is a complete newcomer to the Need for Speed series, and the change to the gameplay has been just as dramatic as the change to the developer. Bringing the action back on the track, Shift has embodied many of the characteristics one would expect to see in a serious racing simulator.
As a Most Wanted, and Carbon fan myself this was quite a blow to my initial expectations when I first set out to rent this game and give it a chance. Considering the fact that the series had a huge fan base, all of whom were completely satisfied with the over-the-top arcade style gameplay, the change to a title that provided players with an authentic style of racing was a huge shot in the dark for EA. With the overwhelming success of previous titles this change came as a shock to most fans. The only remaining question is did this shot in the dark pay out? Or was it the nail in the coffin to a series that may have just needed a little 'something else' in the direction it was previously headed.

Presentation

The first thing I noticed about the layout of Shift was how much better the menu's looked. The menu soundtrack was superb as well, but that's another story. This time around options were mostly globally available. Whether from within the race, campaign, or from the main menu, the grounding options such as; sound, controls, and settings were readily available to be tampered with.

The style of the menu's was awesome. Fluid, simple yet elegant, the menu's showed off the beauty of whichever four-wheeled beast you've chosen. Seemingly simple things like the linear background, or the reflection on the floor made the menu's that much more visually appealing. As if looking at your customized, decked-out Dodge Viper was hard on the eyes anyways.

Presentation Score: 19

Graphics

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the developer change, but the graphics in Shift are a great improvement from previous instalments. Stunningly realistic down to the smallest detail, although not Gran Turismo standard, Shift can definitely hold its own in this category.
One of my favourite things about the game is the crash screen. Upon severe contact the screen gets blurry, similar to the result you see on a camera mounted inside a car that crashes. I felt that small detail made the game that much more enjoyable for me.

More than likely you will notice the very long and frequent load times throughout the game, if you can get over these then you'll likely agree that the extra wait was well worth it to see such stunning imagery, detailed cars, and not to mention intricate details all over the tracks.

Graphics Score: 18

Sound

The sound in this game has to be broken up into two categories to accurately score it. Soundtrack, and game sound. The soundtrack is the Need for Speed usual mix-up of hip-hop, rap, and the odd rock song. Featuring mostly unheard of artists, it is actually pretty good if you're into that kind of music. Kanye West actually took time out of ruining MTV awards and accusing presidents of racism during fundraisers to allow a track of his to land on the game. The soundtrack worked well with the game, and gave some decent listening during races.
The game sound in my opinion was very well done. The revving of the engines was precise enough to be different for each type of vehicle, and the screeching tires seemed to always sound accurate with the sound that may come from the car on the screen.
After a while I began to think of the guy talking to me via radio in the car as an old buddy, and I enjoyed his encouragement and heeded his advice.

Sound Score: 18

Gameplay

As I had mentioned previously, I am a fan of the Need for Speed series. One thing I constantly found myself missing was the 'Speedbreaker' function I had grown to love. With only breaking to guide my missile-like vehicle around bends and hairpin corners, I often was left cussing at a blurred screen, thirty feet off the track in the grass.
I should mention also, I did not like the effect of the grass or dirt on the vehicle at all. It felt magnetic, as if it was pulling me off of the road an into the hazard just for slipping a wheel off the road during a turn. That being said, the collision detection seemed a bit out of whack as well. There were times I could flat out ram a car, with enough force to kill the driver and it wouldn't even slip off-road. Other times the slightest brushes would send myself or an opponent careening out of control into the wall.

At the risk of sounding like a complete loser I will say that I was not impressed with the difficulty jump between Tier 1 and 2. Out of the 4 Tiers in the campaign the last 3 felt closer together than 1 and 2. The jump was pretty significant. I went from easily winning every race, to having to retry every other race. I felt that the Tiers could have been levelled out better.
That being said this Need for Speed is just like the rest in the sense that you are competing to be the best. This time it is on a track though. There are your drift races, your time trials, lap races, rival races, and several combinations of all in the many series events available.
Unlike other games in the series, the only criteria to advance in the campaign is stars. No more bounty, or anything like that, just stars. You achieve stars for completing races and ending up on the podium, collecting profile points for sweet driving moves, or sometimes for more specific tasks such as race one clean lap.
Profile points, since I have mentioned them, are collected all throughout the game for you driving moves. Perfect launches, drifting, following the line of best fit, speed, and contact are all areas that can give you profile points. The more points, the higher your level goes up, and each level gives you bonuses ranging from cash to rims or decals. The profile points are further divided up into two specific categories, precision and aggression. Your specific style of driving is determined by the category where the majority of the profile points you've accumulated fall into. This just lets you know what kind of driver you are. It serves little for the game.

Gameplay Score: 14