Need For Speed: SHIFT PC Review page 2

24 Sep 2009 at 13:54:59 by John Robertson
Systems used to review this title: (PC)

If the gameplay itself was good enough you wouldn't need any extra incentive but, despite being a perfectly playable track-based racer, it doesn't excel enough in any specific area to provide a memorable experience. The handling of the cars is certainly more simulation than not, but it doesn't shun its arcade roots entirely. SHIFT doesn't feel as realistic or serious as a thoroughbred sim (Gran Turismo, Forza and the like), providing a handling model that plays with a slight twitchiness, placing it somewhere between a true simulation and something like GRID. It's this straddling of the middle ground that leads to the game's downfall, never quite fulfilling the lofty demands of a racing purist while at the same time not pandering enough to those who enjoy a more laid-back experience - especially when it comes the learning curve, which is very unforgiving.

In all honesty though, this is pretty much what was to be expected. To completely change the course of the franchise from a city-based, street racing game complete with cops, civilian road users and extended bursts of NOS to hardcore racer simulator over the course of just one game was probably too big of a leap; if only to give the public a chance to digest the new tri-game approach.

On the plus side, the A.I. does a good job of making it feel as though you're competing against real-life opponents. They'll

 block the line when you try to overtake, attempt to drive within your slipstream and, if you happen to accidentally knock them off the track, they'll hunt you down and return the favour. At times it feels a little too much, the other racers a little more aggressive then you'd expect for a professional, but otherwise it's a job well done.

As far as the vehicles go there's a decent range of the usual suspects on show, from the Nissan Skylines and Volkswagen Golfs of this world to the high-powered, lightweight race cars, the likes of which you'd see during a Le Mans race. In terms of numbers you're looking at a significantly smaller figure than we've seen in other games, meaning that those out there who have become accustomed to stocking the electronic garage with every kind of weird and wonderful car, from east and west, will invariably be left wanting. Combine that with a rather lacklustre upgrading and body modification system and what your left with is a racing game that fails to tap into, or cultivate, the fascination that many people have with cars. A petrol-head's racer this is not.

SHIFT's undoing is its lack of focus. It's clear that the goal was to create a simulation that somehow appealed to all racing game fans, but the resulting mish-mash of ideas have only led to a final product with few defining characteristics. Aside from the in-car view, you get the feeling that you've seen it all before, and seen it done better. As it stands SHIFT is an averagely decent racer, with a very impressive first-person camera view. Whether or not that's incentive enough to make you go out and buy it will depend on how much you enjoy racing games, but for the most people the advice would be to wait a year and see what happens with the sequel; on the off chance that there is one, of course.

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