Before proceeding with the review, I recommend that you throw away your preconceptions about the NFS series. Shift is taking the series in a whole new direction, more or less. In fact, if NFS wasn't on the box, I would have never guessed this is a NFS game. Although that's not necessarily a bad thing...with the quality we've had in recent games. Resident Evil 4 was nothing like the RE games that came before it, and now it's considered a classic.

So, obviously, the Fast and Furious theme that the series has adopted since 2003 is now gone, which I think is an excellent change. The only other character besides you is your crew chief, and he is a dead serious Brit who is calm and professional at all times.

Yeah...older NFS games tried to take themselves seriously too, but it was impossible for the player to do the same since...once again, the over the top and ludicrous F&F vibe was too funny. But in Shift, you always have a grim, serious look on your face, just like your crew chief probably would if you could see his face. But that's okay...it makes it a lot easier to respect the game instead of just poke fun at it.

Going with the serious vibe is a serious physics engine. With the exception of Pro Street, most recent NFS games have always been pure arcade. Not so with Shift. You have to brake hard and take it easy through turns. On long, straight sections where you're going very fast, any small mistake can cause you to spin out and crash. You go faster by drafting your opponents. All that good stuff. However, you can turn up or down the difficulty of the AI, and there are various driver assists you can activate to help out.

The only noticeably unrealistic thing I spotted was the fact that these cars like to slide around a lot...even if they're AWD or FWD. You really have to be cautious about accelerating in turns, or you may find yourself spinning before long.

The cockpit view is breathhtaking. Now, I know a lot of other racers these days have great cockpit views too, but Shift does a few things that are really good ideas and worthy of imitation. If you run into things, your vision will distort and maybe go to black and white, to represent whiplash when you hit things in real life. You can even hear your driver grunt. Your vision also distorts as you go faster and faster. Everything except the track in front of you just blurs. The car also shifts and bumps around you as you turn or hit things, and your HUD moves with it too. It's a nice touch after too many games where the cockpit view is pretty much static around you no matter what you do. And all gauges in the car work too...even the odometer.

Trust me...unless you get motion sickness, do not play in third person...play it in first person. The game is a lot more thrilling this way.

The AI is quite good. I haven't tried Hard mode yet, but they put up a very good fight for me on Normal even when racing is far and away the genre I'm best at. They do make mistakes though. You will see them spinning out or going too fast in a turn and into a sand dune. But still, the difficulty is only suitable if you are very serious about your driving.

I should also mention the Driver Profile. You build your profile by acquiring points...and they're split into two categories: precision and aggression. You earn precision points by passing opponents cleanly, sticking to the racing line, mastering corners, and things like that. Aggression points are earned by hitting opponents, blocking them, and drifting around turns. I will say though that it doesn't really matter which ones you do...they both count towards the same total and it doesn't change the game much if you are considered a precision guy or an aggressive guy.

As for racing modes...you have standard races, time trials, drift, manufacturer races, and car battles. The first three are self explanatory, so I'll stick to the last two. In manufacturer races, everyone is driving one specific stock car. Fortunately, you don't have to buy it. It's given to you automatically for that event.

And car battles have you racing in two cars that are considered rivals in the car world...Evo VS STI...Audi RS4 VS BMW M3...those sorts of things. So after you pick your car, you have three heats. You can win any heat by crossing the finish line first or getting five seconds ahead of your opponent. And to even things up a bit...you start in the lead on your first heat...then your opponent starts in the lead in the second heat...then you start evenly in the third heat if it's not decided in the first two.

It reminds me of the canyon duels in Carbon. I really wish there were music during these bits though. What made the canyon duels awesome was the theme music for them. It really lended a sense of drama to them. These car battles could really use something like that.

Oh...hehe...I should mention too...these battles are actually pretty easy to win if you don't mind being a cheap *******. Let your opponent get in front...then slam him off the track. In this game, it's really easy to do. Then while he spins out in the sand, it'll be super easy for you to get that magic five second lead.

GT is realistic, yes...but the series always had a very clinical, scientific feel to it since everything was always so shiny and clean and all the cars may as well be being driven by robots.

Shift...however...just feels real because of the pure visceral experience it provides. Most everything in the game feels very serious, exciting, and fun...between the little nods to realism both in physics and inside the cockpit. I would say it does this even better than GRID, thanks to the shaky cockpit...which makes you really feel like any small mistake could blast the car to pieces.

So yeah, GT is more realistic, while Shift just FEELS more realistic... You know...it kind of makes me wonder which one would be technically better. Just makes my head hurt thinking about it.

To be honest though, I think this is more of a rental than a buy. I'm blazing through the game very quickly even though I've only played it for a few hours....and I don't think it'll be much longer before I finish it.

thanks for the eyes hurter

This game sounds very good, dont like the fact that FF's oversteer from acceleration, should be deceleration that causes tail sway in an FF.

Oh, you know...I think I should mention this too. There's drifting, but it's ASS.

First, they change the physics for the drift events, which messes up your driving rhythm. Although that's nothing new. EA's always done that because they think we're too dumb to set up drift cars.

The second...and much worser thing...is that the drifting is way too spastic. Either you're going in a straight line, or your car is spinning out. It's extremely hard to find the middle ground between the two. I can't do a single run in any car without slamming head on into barriers or trying to drift but the car just goes straight. I just wonder if there's something I'm missing...

Fortunately though, drift events are rather uncommon in this game, and it looks like it's quite possible to finish the game without playing them anyway. You need to acquire a certain amount of stars (Mario 64!) to advance to the next tier...and the game gives you tons of other events to collect them in.

Aha! Just got this game the other day and it's pretty good, I like the drifting but i would prefer to set the car up myself instead of this default slick ass tires on an oiled track stuff. But the drifting is better than pro streets impossible to spin stuff, i also like the judging system with the smoke, angle, speed and clipping point. Now onto racing, as soon as i went into the game i slammed all the settings to hard, full and off, then got pwnt, so i put it on medium, adjusted my controller dead zones and huzzah! It rules, no tc, abs or any of that stuff. I find that cars are completely uncontrollable when fully tuned because they just seem to fly off the track. Thats all for now because i just farted and it smelt like burning trash, i think i'm gonna hurl.

Say...you know, I change my mind about the drifting. After spending some time getting used to the physics, I'm actually having a great time doing it. So far, the best drift car I've found would be the BMW M3...the middle one. I guess it's because it's easy to get into a drift and then make adjustments as you go around the turn...because it's not so herky jerky as the Japanese cars.

And you are so right about when you fully tune one of those cars. I decided to give the Camaro SS a Works conversion, to see what it was like. Laguna Seca was a hellish track. Even though my stats were lightyears ahead of everybody else, it was just too powerful. I couldn't get a substantial lead even with my huge edge because of that.

just a little note on this game
it was developed by Slightly Mad Studios, the co-developer of GTR2.
Thats prob why it doesn't feel like a NFS game.

Heard its a great game but haven't played it.

i wonder why they make it into a 1/2 sim. Every1 thinks of NFS as an arcade game based on illegal street races and cop chases. It's probably not the best marketting idea. if they wanted to make a sim or 1/2 sim, they probably should just make a completely new game with a completely new title.

some douche already modded it ;D

If they gave NFS Shift a completely new title, it probably wouldn't have sold as well. A new game means they would have to invest a lot more money and time into advertising. Because first, you need to make people aware the game exists, and then you have to get them excited enough to buy it. It's not easy or cheap to do that with a new IP, especially in the oversaturated racing game genre.

Compare to just slapping NFS on the cover. You already have the attention of NFS's built in fanbase, especially people who always buy the new NFS game every year (like me). Even if you aren't a hardcore fan, NFS is an easily recognized name when people talk about racers. You just get a bigger return on investment for your advertising dollars.

Yeah, it does piss off fans of the series, but EA knows those fans are hooked and aren't going to say no to buying the next game. A lot of people who declare they're not going to support their favorite series anymore end up coming back, because they discover they can't say no to their addiction.

Honestly, I think NFS Shift would have become a sleeper hit at best if it didn't have the NFS name. So all in all, it was a good move on EA's part to retain the NFS name, despite this game being very un-NFS like. But hey, I'm glad this game's part of the NFS series. It's the best entry in years.

I like Shift. Nice change and thanks to Real Mod 2.0 and another mod I forgot the name of I'm loving the physics. Except drifting is a pain in the arse.

my bro got the game for pc and apparently he says that u cant customize your car (i.e bodykits, spoilers), the gameplay is shit and the graphics arent too good. i havnt seen it yet but will play for myself and come up with a conclusion

This is true...although you can customize your paint scheme.



If he was expecting classic arcade NFS gameplay, I can see why he'd be mad. I guess NFS Nitro would be more his speed. But if you come to Shift with an open mind, the half sim half arcade gameplay is really good. Personally I thought the NFS series was going downhill so I'm totally okay with the change in tone.

The cockpit view is also amazingly breathtaking, and makes the game several times more exciting than it is if you played it in third person.



I can't see why he'd say that. It's quite comparable to Forza 3 and even better in some regards. Like for example, there may be fewer cars, but those 80 or so cars have a hell of a lot more detail to them than Forza 3's cars...especially in the interior.

he said that they were ok, but he'd played better racing games with better graphics

and another thing, i also would like the game a shitload more than i do if u could customize your car.

its been a thing in all the nfs games, and to take it out is sort of like making a cake without flour

im not bagging on the game, and i know its supposed to be more lifelike (as in, what kind of FIA World Championship driver would race in a 500 HP Nissan Skyline GTR R35 on Nurburgring drifting all over the place)

btw yes i have to agree that nfs shift has better cockpit graphics than forza, but getting rid of that tuning part of the game sort of gets rid of a nfs tradition

all in all, i like it, but i like how forza has race cars and stuff, but you can also turn off all the driving aids and drift on Fujimi Kaido (thats the funnest and funniest thing ive played in my life)

so yeah, a few complaints, but it is a good game.

btw they totally stuffed up when they made nfs undercover, i was disappointed. the graphics were shit and i sort of didnt like the jumping to cutcenes.

I think the best one will be NFS: World when it comes out.

yes. that sounds epic! i mean, read the title NFS: World

wouldnt it be awesome if NFS made a planet and had like 205 countries that you could race in, and they made cars that no one has ever heard of and make them drift at the speed of light lol

and it had one big hairpin that spans though whole earth and u just sit there drifting for like, 21 weeks lol

Dude, that'd be boring.
It's already online and is fully customizable, so there is no need for that.
It'd be interesting though.