Need For Speed Shift – Review
By Saurabh “Nemesis!!!” Rajeeva | Monday, December 07, 2009
There is no denying the fact that any racing game fan, unless born yesterday, would have played atleast one ‘Need for Speed’ game during his / her gaming career. Die hard fans would have spent more time with NFS than with their girlfriends in the past and while those girlfriends have had a gala time with the debacle of recent NFS titles (guess God never helps those who scorn females!), NFS Shift begs to differ, albeit very politely. While Shift is poised to cause a few heartaches, it’s still quite far from causing absolute heartbreaks like Underground or Most Wanted did. Here’s presenting the dissection of the latest NFS iteration.
The First Impressions….
The opening movie (which is usually the best part of any NFS!) looks like NFS Underground styled vehicles racing across a mix of ProStreet and NFS 2 tracks. The blatant difference, however, is the emphasis on cockpit driving views, with most of the action including high-speed driving and crashes, unfolding from the first person perspective on realistic tracks & recognizable locations.
The movie gives way to a slick title menu followed by the first career mode assignment of evaluating your driving style through a test. As you wait for the green light in the BMW provided for the purpose, your first reaction will be “hmm, splendid in-car design indeed!†There’s no denying the fact that car cockpits are detailed to an ultra superior level & will strike a cool first impression. But wait! Even with assists on, the road moved away from beneath my vehicle at the first turn itself and the car hurtled towards the railing. Despite a few restarts, the Beemer’s handling was not as expected (based on my previous so many car racing game experiences) and my feeling of ‘awesome-ness’ was neutralized by the realization that completing NFS Shift might be a slightly uphill ride.
So what’s the setting this time?
None, so to speak of! It’s pretty simple here. Playing solo means either the career mode or quick races. In career mode, the driving test will conclude whether your driving is ‘precise’ (adhering to racing line, good launch, corner mastering, clean overtakes etc. – basically good boy driving!) or ‘aggressive’ (slamming into opponents, corner slides – basically true street driving!) and will earn you some cash to buy your first ride with. Rest is straightforward – just race and gather stars to unlock tougher events till you reach NFS World Tour – the ultimate challenge in the game. Stars are awarded based on primary criterion of podium finish (1st, 2nd, 3rd) as well as secondary criterion like mastering all corners, or raking up a certain number of points through driving style etc. The stars unlock further races, which are divided into four tiers. It is possible to re-visit any racing event to collect all the stars that event has to offer. The game also rewards you with profile points that add to your driver profile and offer various accolades like cash or car customizations upon driver profile upgrades.
The racing tiers – Tier 1, 2, 3 & 4 (in descending order of car performance) specify the class of vehicle qualified to enter the race. Within a tier, there are various races like time attack, lap, drift, series, manufacturer competitions & ‘vs’ events. Besides tier racing, there are a host of invitational events that allow you to occasionally hop into more powerful machines for high-performance racing like clocking the best lap time or winning ‘knockout’ eliminator races. By putting super-cars directly into your hands without the need to own them, these invitational events ensure you do not feel power hungry and enjoy most of the cars in the game as fast as possible. Win all races in a competition, and you may receive ‘Rival Challenges’ from veteran drivers for a one-on-one race series.
In short, there are no punk racers to beat, no ‘reclaiming the crown’ story and no Mia to the rescue this time! It’s simple NFS 2 style racing on the next-gen consoles. However, unlike titles like Dirt, where lack of plot is supplemented by huge race & vehicle variety, Shift’s races are executed through the same type of vehicles across various tracks for different trophies, thereby making the game appear relatively shallow in comparison to other rival titles.
