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[Review] Need For Speed: Shift

Posted by

Mihir Patkar

357

Posted on: Oct 03, 2009 17:03:30 IST

All put together, Need For Speed: Shift isn’t the wild ride that we have come to expect from the franchise. It’s an emperor trying out new clothes, while still trying to make the followers accept the change in garments. Taken in the context of a game that is meant to build a franchise of simulation-based racing games, NFS: Shift is the perfect introductory point for arcade racing fans to get into this new groove. Race Driver: Grid was the only other game that made the transition as simple as this. In a way, this is EA’s attempt to make another slow transition, buoyed by the success of changing the super-fun FIFA 2006 into the now super-serious FIFA 2009 and FIFA 2010, which has seen Pro Evolution Soccer quaking in its boots. All indications point to this new game doing the same for the Need For Speed franchise, as it courts arcade racers to simulation gaming, and serious sim racers to the world of NFS. The title almost sums up the message of this review: Shift!

Pros

pros

Cons

cons

The Need for Speed series zoomed to popularity with the breath-taking and ultra-fun NFS II, garnering a position as the premium arcade racing game over the years. When it switched tracks with Porsche Unleashed and ProStreet, it was met with mixed reactions: the first was a hit, the latter was the darkest moment in this fine franchise’s history.

The idea of an NFS game with simulation racing doesn’t go down well with most people, with the common refrain being: “When I play NFS, I want to bang into other cars and get that arcade feel; if I wanted realistic racing, I’d stick to the F1 and GT series.” But not many know that the NFS series actually started out as a realistic simulation racing game.

Since NFS: Most Wanted, the franchise hasn’t seen any game that has been a major hit. With the widely different tastes of its followers, Electronic Arts (EA) decided to trifurcate the series into a simulation racer, an arcade racer and an online component.

Shift is the first of this new lot, where NFS is going back to its roots and giving sim racing one more try, undeterred by the calamity known as ProStreet. And surprisingly, they’ve almost pulled it off…

TEST LAP

In many ways, Shift is an attempt to convert the arcade-racer to the world of simulation racing. There is a lot of focus on making the transition easy, with the game providing several driver aids to start off. Of course, it is difficult to realise what driver aids you would need and what you wouldn’t; but NFS has you covered there.

Kicking off your campaign, you first need to figure out how good a driver you are and equip your car with driving aids accordingly. Taking a test lap around a circuit, your team’s engineers figure out your driving style (‘casual’ or ‘pro’) based on the mistakes you made, and give you a few driving aids accordingly. The Pro drivers, obviously, have no driving aids and will be on their own, while casual drivers will get help when it comes to braking, handling, etc.