Shifting Directions
Mr.Untouchable
EA has finally brought Need For Speed back to its former glory! Need For Speed: SHIFT has taken the series back to what a racing game should be about-RACING. Gone are the corny FMV’s and stories about street cred and illegal drug trade. This is a straight up racer, where racing earns you money. The money buys you better cars so you can race in better events for more money. Also, the open world environments have been scrapped for closed circuit tracks, mostly which are real-world locations in America or Europe. Who knew simplicity would be a stroke of pure genius?
It doesn’t hurt that the games visuals are something to behold. Slightly Mad has recreated the cockpits of all 65+ cars in the game so that you can race from a first-person perspective. Very cool. And although we’ve seen it done before, it seems as if SHIFT does it with a level of detail unseen. The option to race in third-person is available, but give the FPR a shot. As odd as it sounds, it actually works. Your vision will narrow at top speeds creating an exhilarating experience. Your perspective will rock back and forth as you hit bumps, and hitting a wall or the brakes hard will cause you driver to lurch in his seat, blurring your vision momentarily. You’ll never get tired of seeing opponents in your side or rear view mirrors. It actually is a nice touch, injecting a new level of realism into racing games.
There are several modes in the game to increase the replayabilty of the game including a robust career mode with over 200+ events, and an excellent multiplayer component. You and up to 7 buddies can go online and hit the tracks, with no speakable lag whatsoever. The career mode is as you would expect, starting off with a low class car and working your way up the ranks. The star progression system kind of reminds me of Burnout: Takedown. You’ll earn one, two, or three stars depending on your finish, and bonus stars for doing stuff like running cars off the the road. What makes the system so good is that even if you don’t get a podium finish, you can still earn stars to move along. Also, if you want to do a race over to gain some extra stars, you can do it to your hearts content.
All in all, Need For Speed: SHIFT is an awesome game. While it’s still not a true racing sim like the Forza’s and Gran Turismo’s of the gaming world, it does hold its own. EA has done a wonderful job bringing one it’s storied franchises back to what it was meant to be. Definitely a must have for any fan of the racing game genre. Cop It Now! PS3 X360 PSP
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