My Need for Speed Shift review

Ok guys heres my Need for Speed Shift review



The game is a EA product developed by Slightly Mad Studios and they have done a very good job in bringing you a great combination of racing sim together with an arcade racer.

Note this game is not a street racer but instead brings your racing back to the track where you have a variable of events to participate and develop your driving skills in including races, head to head, time trials’, drifting, manufactures events etc.





Also note I’m playing the game using the Windows 360 controller and love it, if you can, id highly recommend using a controller for this game, the vibration effects are top class and bring a whole different aspect to the game play.

The gaming options available are career, quickrace, and online and all three of them add to your stats and star collection.

In the career mode you start off taking a drive around the track and based on your performance you are given recommended settings which you can adjust to your liking, after that you are introduced to the goal of the game which is to make it to the NFS world tour in order to make it you have to progress through tiers earning stars which accumulate and eventually unlock more events as well as higher tiers.

The gameplay is fantastic giving one a real feeling for driving at high speeds especially if using the Driver POV (point of view) which is a fantastic in cab view in which to race, of course the other views are also available but I highly recommend using the driver POV.



I really like the different feeling one gets depending on the different situations like breaking you really get the feel of the heaviness of the car as it responds to the breaking, likewise when at high speed the game does a fantastic job of making one feel like they are at the threshold of the machine,



but perhaps the most enjoyable of them all is when you crash, the vision blurs or blacks out and gives one a real sense of loss, The game offers up damage to the cars and depending on one’s difficulty settings they can affect the performance of the car.





Cars can be brought by earning money through varying aspects of the game as well as money one earns driver points based on either precision or aggression aspects of ones driving, these also can allow one to earn stars which is a nice feature as it keeps one in the game even when you are not leading the race, this is for me when the arcade aspects of the game kick in, things are flashing up on the screen as one completes the various goals of the race for example: clean sectors, racing lines, trading paint etc.

As well as that you have an option to have a arrowed line on the track showing you the perfect racing line, when you may be going to fast etc I personally prefer it turned off but it’s nice to have the option especially if you are new to racing games, the are other newbie options like breaking assistance etc.

As you buy cars they are stored in your garage and from there you will be able to access stats of the cars, sell them and also have the ability to upgrade, The car customization options include cosmetics as well as performance mods, affecting aspects such as alignment, aerodynamics, tires, brakes, differential, and gears, Nitrous will also be an option for tuning, although may not be as complex as some racing sims does enough to keep on happy. There are a total of 72 fully licensed cars available.

I really enjoy the tracks and they vary a lot giving one a wide range of racing experiences in total there are 18 tracks.

I have to bring up one of the only faults I have found with the game and that is the drifting events…….they are a nightmare, I don’t like drifting events in the first place and NFS shift does nothing to want to make me change my mind, the handling is a nightmare and I haven’t cleared one event yet, personally I avoid drifting at all costs and would much rather force an egg up my nose than participate in these events.

Online mode has a variety of options but due to my connection I haven’t tried them out yet, and there is also support for Lan races with the first patch update.

The sound effects are top class with a real feel given to all aspects be it the engine, gear changes and the various other elements of any given race and as always the EA music sound track is also very good with a total of 24 odd tracks.

There is also playback modes, photo mode replays etc

Well all and all I rate this game it does the sim side of car racing very well with a great DPOV option, and it adds it well to the arcade side of the game leaving one feeling like just one more race before bed……

I give this game a solid 8/10 and think it is a good option for both beginners and experienced alike.

System Requirements: OS: MS windows Xp SP2 or Vista, CPU: intel core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz or faster, AMD X2 3600+ or faster, Ram: XP: 1gb Vista: 1.5gb, Disc Drive: 8x speed or faster, Hard Drive: at least 6gb free space, Video: Directx- version 9.0c compatible 256mb video card with pixel shader 3.0 and Nvidia Geforce 7800 or better ATI Radeon X1800 or better, Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card, multiplayer requires one disc per PC and a 512khps or faster connection.

Im playing the game with the notebook in my sig and get very good FPS (min 50) at max settings and native resolution with Vsync off.
well thats it folks a short review to give you a taste of the game hope it was helpful and feel free to ask any questions.