Need for Speed Shift
I wasn’t sure about pre ordering this years Need for Speed title as I’ve not been overly excited by the last three titles:
i.e. Need for Speed: Carbon, Need for Speed: Pro Street and last years flop '*' Need for Speed Undercover. (I’ve been ‘trying to play Undercover for the last few days, but it’s always been uninspiring – I gave up on it after the first day when I bought it on pre-order last year and to be honest still feel the same about it now) I wanted something that gave me a real racing ‘feel’ without it being too hard again, which last years nor the previous years didn’t give. Carbon was okay, but it still didn’t deliver what need for speed aficionados were expecting, well I’m pleased to say I think NFS is back in the driver’s seat.
When I booted up my pre ordered copy of Shift, which I always get at least a day before the official released date - at least with games bought from Game UK), I was greeted by an English sounding commentator who led me through a trial run. It turns out the first race enables the game to adjust the AI of the single player competition so that you aren’t going to lose all the races when you first play. That's a definite plus in my books. :)
I don’t know about everyone else out there, but most racing games I’ve bought over the last several years (which amount to nearly 40 racing titles) always seem difficult to win. For example with games like Race 07 , Live for Speed, Grid, Colin McRae: Dirt and GTR 2, I always come last or near last when I first play the game and hardly ever manage to attain top spot for more than just a few races. I’m not a dedicated racing fan, nd don't have a working Wheel and pedals that most of these games require for a decent ride; so they may have something to do with it, but I do like the occasional single player race despite having to use the keyboard or in some cases an X-Box controller. This games default controls are the controller, but these can be changed in the options menu to keyboard if you wish.
The car handling in all those games is super realistic, but the AI of the bot racers always beats me. This title is different. The better you play in that first race, the harder the bots are to beat. I played a reasonable round in that first test race and consequently had some excellent races against the bot opposition but, more importantly I was able to win a lot of the races. Not easily, with only a second or two between myself and the rest of the pack.
The graphics, the car handling, the menus, in fact most things about the game I like. I’m not sure about the commentator though; however, he has been useful with advice during game play. He even compliments you when you make certain moves. Another thing I wasn’t sure about was the arrow markers you get on the race track to show you the best line, though after I got used to seeing it I actually really liked the idea because when you’re driving at the correct speed or slower the arrows are green in color, when you reach the optimal speed with maybe the need to take your foot (or finger) off the accelerator it turns yellow, and when braking is needed the arrows change to Red. This really helps to get you around corners without crashing into the sides; which I was notorious for such as in games like the ones I mention above.
You earn stars from each race, with a maximum of 5 stars per race; which are awarded for speed, driving skills such as taking the correct line around a corner, position in the race, plus you are awarded skill points that go towards levelling up. There are 50 levels to attain. I’m presuming that as you level up, the AI becomes a little harder; much like an RPG game such as Oblivion or Fallout 3. (I’ve raced a few races and am still on level one). There’s a lot more to explore before I could give a full review. I wanted to post a first impressions befoe it was officially released, hence the rushed review.
Here’s a couple of videos of the game. Click HERE and
Reviews:
Read a few reviews of the new game HERE and HERE
