Need for Speed Shift – Xbox 360 Review

Reviewed by Liam Pritchard on December 13, 2009

Need for Speed Shift - Xbox 360 Review  | read this item

The Need for Speed franchise is suffering yet another identity crisis. After the closed circuit disappointment of Pro Street and the technically poor return to open world racing for Undercover, EA have decided to take the series in yet another direction by turning the latest game in the long running franchise into a fully fledged simulator in the mould of the Gran Turismo’s and Forza’s of this world – well, that’s what they sold it as anyway. The fact is, EA and Slightly Mad Studios have actually combined to make Shift’s gameplay something of an uncomfortable halfway house between simulation and arcade sensibilities.

This of course could have been a complete disaster, but to EA and Slightly Mad’s credit, Shift has actually turned out to be a very playable, extremely polished racer. The thing is, while it may be good at just about everything it does, it doesn’t quite excel at anything. The racing is good, but doesn’t quite match the precision of Gran Turismo or the fun of Grid, the damage model is decent, but has been done better Dirt 2, the customization is extensive but not in the same league as Forza…..the list goes on – Shift has turned out to be the jack of all trades but master of none.

To be honest, regardless of Shift’s quality, EA’s move to a more simulated experience seemed like a strange one from the off. With so many games to compete against and such high quality across the board, it seems bizarre that EA wouldn’t stick with perfecting their less competitive sub-genre of open world racing. Ok, so Undercover was a bit of a technical disaster, but get past the framerate issues and the strange design choices and gamers were left with a throwaway, but nevertheless, extremely enjoyable bit of racing action – The perfect yin to Forza and Gran Turismo’s yang if you will.

Nevertheless, EA decided not to make the game everyone has been clamouring for since 2005 (namely, Most Wanted 2), and have instead committed, for this year at least to garnering respect and critical acclaim for a series that has always sold well, but often failed to impress the critics in the same way that the racers Shift is trying to emulate have in the past.

In fairness to EA, if respect and critical acclaim is all that they desire this year, then I’m sure they will get it – Shift is a very good game and hard to fault despite its lack of a unique selling point. Regardless, I honestly don’t think that EA believe they can reap the same kind of financial rewards that they have in the past – there’s just too much AAA competition for EA to garner the same kind of success they’ve had in the realm of open world street racing, and it looks like EA knows it – hence the many nods towards the series arcade sensibilities.

The more you play Shift, the more you notice the contradictions that run through the game, but upon starting up, Shift initially feels every inch the simulation originally promised by EA. To determine the difficulty setting you start with, you are asked to complete a flying lap. This “Trial by Fire” as it’s referred to in the game is a simple lap with no other racers that rates your skill level and sets the default difficulty accordingly. Of course, whatever set up is determined can be changed, but it is a nice idea to put players on the right path before they start.

Even from this simple trial, it is easy to see how much NFS has changed this year – breaking early is all but essential, finding the gravel slows you to a crawl and the basic steering setup is extremely unforgiving. However, move further into the game and the inconsistencies start to appear – drifting, trading paint, aggressive driving and even spinning out opponents are all encouraged – all of which feel somewhat at odds with the more precise handling model. Sure, Shift attempts to back up its contradiction via a Profile Point system that, based upon your driving style (‘aggressive’ or ‘precise’), contributes towards the unlocking of new cars, but in all honestly, it feels tacked on to cover up the fact that EA have failed to commit to either side of the fence

Speaking of profile points, these are just one of the many awards lavished upon the player as you progress through Shift’s career mode. Seriously, I’ve never encountered a game so eager to pat you on the back. Win, lose, whatever; come the end of any race, it’s very surprising not to be greeted by an array of achievements, awards and Profile Points.

Career mode is made up of 4 tiers, each representing a different standard of car. You begin in tier 1 with the eventual aim of unlocking and winning the NFS World Tour. Essentially, your journey to the top is made up of 150 or so events that although masked with different restrictions (specific model races etc) are generally made up of basic races and drift events. To add a bit of variety, Invitational events are also unlocked as you progress, adding car specific time-trials and one-on-one battles to the mix.

As you complete races, you are awarded stars based upon your basic performance – podium finish, drift points and lap time (depending on the event). You are then awarded a bonus star for completing extra objectives that include mastering corners, reaching a certain speed or spinning out an opponent etc. The final stars are then awarded, like the profile points, based upon how aggressive or precise your driving was in that event. The extra challenge star works well in that it encourages you to take notice of your driving style for certain events. It also adds longevity to the career mode by encouraging repeat performances – if you’re like me, 4 stars out of a possible 5 just won’t do. Problem is, the game is so eager to dish out stars that the fourth tier and even the NFS World Tour can be unlocked extremely early in the game by those eager to pick up every star available in each event.

To add to the array of treats lavished upon the player at the end of each event, Shift also provides a plethora of car specific, race specific and even course specific awards to unlock. From mastering every corner on a certain course to finishing in the top 3 in 6 consecutive races in a Japanese car, there is always something to achieve for those who want to get every last drop out of Shift’s sizeable, but regrettably repetitive career mode. Of course, to get your hands on these extra awards or simply enjoy a bit of practice, you can always jump straight into Quick Race which essentially offers all the tracks and events that make up the Career mode.

Although the Career mode does suffer from a repetitious structure, you will be happy to hear that the mostly excellent on track action makes it a lot easier to bare. It may be awkwardly placed between sim and arcade, but once you customize your cars handling (they’re far too twitchy on the default setting), Shift becomes an extremely enjoyable and often visceral racing experience. While entertaining from any view, Shift comes into its own when played from the cockpit angle. The sense of speed (especially in some the higher end automobiles) is fantastic and the blur effect that channels your attention towards the horizon all work to expertly immerse you into the driving experience.

Sure, even with the handling customized, Shift’s basic driving model doesn’t feel anywhere near as precise as Forza and not quite as natural as Grid’s, but add the notoriously brutish AI into the mix and races become edge of your seat affairs from start to finish. Be warned though, anyone expecting vicious crashes might come away disappointed. Even with two options for car damage available – visual only and full effect – even head on crashes will see little more than a few bumps and a potential bit of over-steer. It may be solid enough, but after playing Grid for over a year now, the damage model does feel a little lightweight in comparison.

Even without the fear of excessive damage, for those who have become accustomed to Codemasters rewind feature, Shift will prove unforgiving at times. To lose a long race on the last corner because of a particularly aggressive piece of AI driving is hard to take, but for me at least, this constant fear of attack only adds to the overall experience when out on the track. As fiendish as the  AI can be, it never feels unfairly aimed at you – cars will often spin off and crash and first corner pile-ups certainly aren’t uncommon. Ok, so it can be annoying to get spun off on the first corner, but between the simple option of a restart and the subtle rubber banding that never leaves you too far from the action, things never get too frustrating.

With the general racing model proving so entertaining, it’s a shame that the same can’t be said for the games other events. Time Trials, while compelling by design, are certainly more vulnerable to the games twitchy handling model. The same goes for Drift events – although potentially addictive, drifting is nearly ruined for all but the most patient thanks to the extremely unforgiving tuning of the 11 cars available – put in the practice and make the effort to find the right car and Drift events eventually reward persistence, but for those looking for a quick blast of right angle racing, it might be better to stick to OutRun instead. Luckily, if you do find these events a bit of a task, you can still get through the majority of Career mode without partaking in any of the Drift events along the way.

As with any game of this ilk, Shift is also home to a bevy of customization options for your cars. The readymade livery designs and custom made bodykits available for each of the games 55 cars look great – it’s just a shame that adding custom vinyl designs proves such a chore. Although plenty are available, with many more unlocked as you progress through Career mode, applying them with any sense of precision is all but impossible. Simply changing the size of an image or duplicating an image on both sides of your car is made a lot harder than it should be due to the customization modes awkward interface. It also doesn’t help that everything seems to take just that little too long to load – be it applying vinyls or simply scrolling through cars, Shift does tend to make things unnecessarily awkward at times.

When it comes to its online functionality, Shift is a lot more user-friendly. Races rarely suffer from lag and setting up events is a breeze. Basic race and Drift events are available, as are Driver Duel tournaments that pit racers against each other in identical cars that are randomly selected before the race. Just watch out though; races have up to 8 players in each event and things can quickly get messy. Don’t expect mercy hear – spin-offs, smashes and dirty tactics all seem to be fair game online. If you don’t mind a bit of rough and tumble though, Shift does offer up some extremely exciting online match-ups.

Like pretty much every other aspect of the game, Shift’s visuals are impressive across the board – the car models look great, the environments are detailed and the in-car view looks exceptional and offers a tremendously exciting sense of speed. Still, as good as the game might look, the fact of the matter is, it just doesn’t look quite as good as the genre heavyweights it is now competing against.

As for the audio, well, that’s a bit of a mixed bag. On the track, the cars sound utterly fantastic. I couldn’t tell you if each cars engine effects are as accurate as Forza or Gran Turismo’s, but they sure do have a pleasing grunt – get some of the tier 4 cars up to speed and the growl they deliver is tremendously pleasing on the ears. Sadly, off the track, Shift is a lot less successful – Shift offers up a strange combination of race talk and engine sound effects that accompany your trawl through each and every one of the games menus. Needless to say, it’s a choice that proves both bizarre and annoying in equal measures.

Despite its shortcomings, Shift is a very good game. Problem is, Shift is a very good game with some truly exceptional competition. Seen in its own right, Shift is more than worthy of a successor. However, in light of the current market, it might prove more financially viable for EA to put an end to their recent schizophrenic attitude and return the franchise to its roots for the inevitable 2010 release……Most Wanted 2 anyone?

Tags: EA, Electronic Arts, Need for Speed, Need for Speed Shift, Nfs, Racing, Shift, Simulation, Slightly Mad Studios, Xbox 360 Review