For some reason EA thought it was time to try and move away from action based racers to more of a simulation style like Gran Turismo and Forza. Their USP was that ‘Need For Speed: Shift’ was cross-platform unlike its rivals which were console exclusive.
Personally coming straight off the back of ‘Need For Speed: Undercover’, this next game in the series was a real “shift” in tone, pun intended. The hectic faced paced races I was completing a day earlier were replaced with slow meandering drives round a track which felt like navigating an elderly person round an icy path. The cutscenes didn’t help either, depicting cars roaring by generating excitement only for the early races to be slow and boring.
After a few hours of playing I thought “right I have seen enough of this game, now onto the next”. 3 hours later I was still playing. I was yet to discover the best part about this game…
Unlike previous entries, not only does Shift allow dirty tactics to beat opponents it actively encourages it. My cars were shaped in such a way that if I rear ended someone my car would act as a ramp and they would go over the top of me. I would also take great pleasure in flipping other cars onto their roofs during races. I would jump for joy as I threw my rivals in the air, especially the ones I had just lapped.
There are a handful of race types such as your standard lapped race, versus battles and drift matches. These will either be completed in your purchased cars or ones provided which is good as the game allows you to have a try of every type of car without purchasing it. I was not a fan of the drift races so was delighted when I realised I didn’t need to do any to complete the game as the other races gave me enough stars to progress to the World championship.
The soundtrack takes a backseat in this game as there is no music playing during races. This is it for the soundtrack paragraph.
I played this game to completion as it wasn’t that long and unlike ‘Undercover’ there is a clear sign of progression which helps you figure out how close you are to the championships. ‘Need For Speed: Shift’ was a good driving sim but in my opinion, EA should just stick the NFS franchise to what it does best, action driving games with epic soundtracks, car modifications and fun rather than something a little more serious like a driving simulator.
Personally coming straight off the back of ‘Need For Speed: Undercover’, this next game in the series was a real “shift” in tone, pun intended. The hectic faced paced races I was completing a day earlier were replaced with slow meandering drives round a track which felt like navigating an elderly person round an icy path. The cutscenes didn’t help either, depicting cars roaring by generating excitement only for the early races to be slow and boring.
After a few hours of playing I thought “right I have seen enough of this game, now onto the next”. 3 hours later I was still playing. I was yet to discover the best part about this game…
Unlike previous entries, not only does Shift allow dirty tactics to beat opponents it actively encourages it. My cars were shaped in such a way that if I rear ended someone my car would act as a ramp and they would go over the top of me. I would also take great pleasure in flipping other cars onto their roofs during races. I would jump for joy as I threw my rivals in the air, especially the ones I had just lapped.
There are a handful of race types such as your standard lapped race, versus battles and drift matches. These will either be completed in your purchased cars or ones provided which is good as the game allows you to have a try of every type of car without purchasing it. I was not a fan of the drift races so was delighted when I realised I didn’t need to do any to complete the game as the other races gave me enough stars to progress to the World championship.
The soundtrack takes a backseat in this game as there is no music playing during races. This is it for the soundtrack paragraph.
I played this game to completion as it wasn’t that long and unlike ‘Undercover’ there is a clear sign of progression which helps you figure out how close you are to the championships. ‘Need For Speed: Shift’ was a good driving sim but in my opinion, EA should just stick the NFS franchise to what it does best, action driving games with epic soundtracks, car modifications and fun rather than something a little more serious like a driving simulator.