Need for Speed: Shift Review
To get a sense of the game, remove the blur effects and pay homage to the wonderfully jagged edges of PS2 graphics
Every year about this time we get an unreal amount of game releases. It’s the biggest time of the year for selling and buying video-games. Now while we get our AAA class act big gun titles, we also get our vacuous muck. And every year, almost without fail, EA produce one of those awful titles in Need For Speed, a franchise that should have been killed off years ago. But somehow, retards who like flashy colours and eating plastic keep buying into this crap in the same way some idiot keeps giving Vin Diesel work.
And so this year, knowing damn well what a pile of manure they produce each year, EA decided to take a FIFA-esque approach to developing their new Christmas blockbuster racing game. No, they didn’t can it and make something else; they gave it to a new developer who might actually do a good job of it. Slightly Mad Studios in conjunction with EA Black Box developed the game. This developer has a history of good PC sim racing with the likes of GTR2 and GT Legends.
So what did they do with NFS? Well, a lot. A complete overhaul of the engine means it’s more racey then previous titles, but it still maintains it’s arcade roots. Too much so, in fact. At high speeds cars are completely unmanoeverable, no more so apparant then in Spa when ploughing your car up one of the worlds most famous racing lines at Au Rouge the game indicates you should be breaking… hard. Any mongo could tell you that the whole challenge of that portion of world famous tarmac is to try to not even lift off the accelerator.
Damage in this promo shot has nothing to do with the in-game damage
Turning is even worse then the sad excuse for accelerating/braking in this game. So much so that it often feels like your giving helpful suggestions to the car rather then actually controlling it, and when you’re viewing perspective is not the much-touted helmet-cam style and you view from the rear in traditional style, the car looks like all four wheels turn, not just the front ones.
To appease the morons who enjoy Vin Diesel films, EA have also slapped in fancy graphics and video’s at every single moment of the game. Pick your car and see a video, join the race and hear a mongo talking in a stupidly offensive American accent, etc. etc. etc. On top of this, the game will give you stars for doing mundane things like going at 200mph. It’s trying to include MMO style rewards in a game series that needs to be stripped bare, and in a genre of gaming that figured out how to reward players in 1995.
Looking at images and video’s online will make you think this game looks pretty good. These images are lying to you. Sure, all promo shots are lying. GT and Forza shots are touched up a bit. But only a bit. This game looks completely different in-game to the stuff you’ve seen. Blur is added everywhere to, well, blur the fact that everything looks like a sprite from a 1995 PlayStation 1 game. It looks decidedly average. It’s not bad by any standards, but for a game that has been in development for essentially 5 years, it really should look like Killzone but with cars.
What it looks like when you strip away the effects
Crash damage is fun but gets old once you ram someone from behind once. Damage modeling is pretty dire, as expected when you see the rest of the game, but it’s covered up with a slew of effects to immerse you in the experience of smashing a car at 250mph on a hairpin bend in an exotic race car track and continue driving as if nothing happened. Slight scrapes and scratches will look fairly decent, as overall the developers have done a good job of keeping the car models pretty solid. But once you smash your car up properly, you’ll see why Polyphony Digital haven’t touched damage. When it looks bad, it looks really bad.
What this game does have going for it is a really impressive array of tracks and cars to race with and on. It’s a shame that the racing experience is dire and feels like a procession lap rather then an exciting, unique experience every time.
What this game also has going for it is that it comes after years of insults to the racing genre. It is this fact that means it’s been getting somewhat positive reviews. Luckily for you, I have no shame and am willing to slate muck if I have to play it. Given this game is coming out a week after a pretty solid PSP effort and a week before the eagerly anticipated advent that will be Forza 3, EA really should have canned this one. Yes, there is room for arcade racers, but no one has managed to beat Burnout in those stakes just yet. If you can’t beat them, why bother?
There is an impressive array of cars
To say I didn’t like this game would be to say that tea should be enjoyed when warm. This game is a stinker. Yes, it’s far superior to other titles in the series, but it still falls far short of anything either the developer or even publisher are capable of. Given these few months coming will give us important car-racing releases, it’s saddening to see EA release such tripe in an era when they’ve been fixing all of their other problems.
The game is available to try out on XBL or PSN and the full retail release is out now. But don’t bother until you’ve confirmed what I just wrote.
Here’s 10 mins of gameplay.. and just like the game, most of that is FMV sequences.
9 Comments
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- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit | Shoryuken.ie - [...] After a break, EA returned with a proper developer who developed Need for Speed into an actual racing game. ...
lmao
Oh no he didn't!! 'Tea should be enjoyed when warm', line of the decade.
It still stormed the charts, perhaps the average gamer now isn't as refined as your goodself
Your Review Sucks, that what sucks. Below is review scores from Reputable websites and blogs who are constructive not just stuck up their own ass. You will see everyone of them gave a reiew over 80%
You Havent a clue about gaming mate, and maybe you should get some other people who know about games to do reviews rather than just having your period and posting this rubbish.
100
Gaming Nexus
EA has turned a corner with their development of Need for Speed SHIFT. While it retains some elements of the traditional console game style, it also raises the bar for realism in a console-based racer. Budget for a steering wheel, though, to get fully benefit from the vastly better physics modeling.
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100
GameSpy
If you're a number-munching automotive aficionado with a penchant for judging games the way an accountant judges a financial portfolio, know that this is a racing game dedicated to the act of racing rather than the actors, more intent on refining the experience of driving rather than celebrating car culture with scads of vehicles.
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100
GameShark
What EA has done here is reinvent a bloated franchise, and turned it into a product that the hardcore and the more casual among us can enjoy equally.
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94
Gamers' Temple
Need for Speed SHIFT managed to hook me to the point where I was looking forward to my next session with the game. Not all games can do that, and especially not all racing games, and that tells me that the designers did something right with this one.
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92
GameFocus
The Need for Speed franchise has grown up. Dropping the street racing concept and moving to be a legit racing “simulation” was a good move. Not only did they name the game Shift, but I think they shifted into a new and exciting direction for the Need for Speed franchise.
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92
Game Chronicles
Need for Speed: Shift is named well, as it marks a monumental shift in game design for the franchise.
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91
MEGamers
Did we mention your speakers will enjoy every single bit of this game as well?
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91
GameTrailers
Need for Speed Shift is a surprising turn for the series, pushing away from flashy street racing to compete with the likes of Forza and Gran Turismo. Its feature-set still has room to grow, but the tight driving experience stands up with the best.
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91
Gaming Age
So what is there left to say except, if you call yourself a racing fan, even if you have passed on or hated the last few outings this Need for Speed series had to offer, this is a whole new game that feels fresh. To put it in simple terms, you “Need” this game in your racing library.
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90
Game Over Online
Overall, Need For Speed: Shift is a welcome change of pace in the long-running series, and a welcome addition to the sim racing genre as well.
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90
MondoXbox
We expected an overly simulative game, but Need for Speed: SHIFT revealed to be half-way between sim and arcade racing: nevertheless, we found id very entertaining and exciting. If you're looking for a proper sim you'll have to look elsewhere on the market, but if all you want is feeling strong and satisfying emotions, this game could be the one for you.
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90
PGNx Media
Need for Speed: Shift is a compelling racing game that does an admirable job of balancing its simulation side with its arcade side. The combination of fun events, varied tracks and a solid racing engine make quite a convincing package.
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90
Total Video Games
It's both a genre leading racing sim and a mass market EA game at the same time, which is a particularly difficult balancing act to pull off. Shift is easily the best driving game so far this year and will certainly be in amongst the likes of Forza 3 (and possibly GT5, if it emerges) when the brake dust from 2009 settles.
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90
Cynamite
Go, NfS! I had serious doubts about this one, but it delivers like a Porsche.
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90
SpazioGames
Not without its light flaws, this great Need for Speed return is an exciting new point of view on the world of Turismo racing, mainly thanks to a well-crafted driving model. If you like the races, and you’re not a simulation fanatic, it’s the game to have.
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90
IGN AU
With so much provision for purist racing as well as arcade thrills, it's a delight to report that Shift strikes a fantastic balance between the two. From a thoughtful introductory race that helps define your style and skills through to a compelling career mode and constant back-patting, Need for Speed Shift is a delight to play.
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90
IGN
A glorious return to greatness (and even excellence) for EA's seminal racing franchise. Slightly Mad Studios has delivered a driving experience that, while not completely accurate in terms of its simulation aspects, is practically dead-on in terms of what it's like to race around some of the world's best racing circuits.
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90
Official Xbox Magazine
Shift is hugely entertaining, but remember that it’s not about the sillier fun of its Need for Speed predecessors. It’s about the nail-biting intensity and challenge of hanging on to your car at high speed, and as long as that’s how you like your racing, you’ll disappear into this game.
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90
TeamXbox
Need for Speed: Shift is excellent in concept and flawless in execution. It’s nothing less that the next great racing simulator to grace the Xbox 360.
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90
GameDaily
Need for Speed: Shift is a wonderful re-imaging of Electronic Arts' classic series and one of 2009's best racing games. The combination of exquisite graphics and hardcore crashing delivers an adrenaline shot to players who drool over squealing tires, burnt rubber and exotic muscle machines.
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89
Games Master UK
Shift may not have snatched the yardstick from Turn 10, Polyphony Digital or Codemasters, the damage model might not be the best in the genre, and nor is it the absolute, final word in realistic driving. But it has reignited our affection for Need For Speed – and that alone is a real achievement.
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89
Vandal Online
Need for Speed reinvents itself with a game very different to the series tradition but that results in an excellent racing game, with the right dose of simulation.
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89
ZTGameDomain
Need for Speed: Shift is a large step forward for the genre. The balance between arcade and simulation is nearly flawless, not to mention the graphics are jaw-dropping.
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89
XboxAddict
If you enjoy simulation racers you definitely need to give Shift a few test laps, once you get past the fact that it’s not a street racer, you can settle in and enjoy it for what it is…a commendable tier racer with more under the hood, where it counts.
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89
Play.tm
Taking all things into consideration, and despite some dodgy gameplay balance issues, wonky supercar handling, and ill-fitting drift events, much of Need for Speed: Shift is undeniably impressive and EA's work is done with regard to breathing fresh life into a decaying series corpse.
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89
etc…etc…etc
Hi, “Suk Myass”… Thanks for your reply. My first comment would be to ask if you go around every website that gives EA games a bad review posting reviews from other sites that gave it positive reviews?
Second is that this is my opinion. I didn't like it, at all… and gave it a bad review. I also said try before you buy. If I have to sacrifice this site's integrity to keep internet keyboard warrior trolls like yourself happy, then I will end up shutting the show down.
Frankly I couldn't give a damn if you liked it, or if other websites gave it a positive review. I'm not up my own ass what-so-ever. If disliking a title and posting a review of my discontent means being up my ass, then you, my friend, have to check yourself.
In future when I don't like a game, I'll be sure to check what other sites thought before posting my own opinion. Happy?
…
Crikey that was a long comment.
I've not played it so can't comment and to be honest I don't use reviews from any site as the primary reason to go buy a game.
It is fine to disagree but hey let's have a bit of decorum
Do you use meta critic to prove all your points? It's like you ran home and told your dad about the bold boy who didn't like EA's latest chav simulator except your dad would be meta critic………walk out of your fathers shadow SukmyAss be a man and make an involved intelligent argument. you fail-grenade.
enjoyed the review. played the demo and ur right. it is a bit bland especially with forza coming out so soon.
the long comment guy is a douche.
most reviews are paid off by publishers anyway to be positive. nfs needs a positive review because it stinks the room up. also reviews will be more positive because this is the only playable nfs in years, most were absolute trash.
how anyone can actually go online and try to defend a turd is amazing