In stark contrast to Race Pro's engine-focused offering comes Need for Speed: Shift, a complete package of a racing simulator and attractive (though now a little dated) menu design wrapped up around a career mode that spans multiple disciplines that you actually want to try out. Sorry, Race Pro.
Fancy graphics and design can only go so far, though. If your cars suck to drive, it doesn't matter what your career mode looks like, and the Need for Speed name is at stake here. Sort of. It's been bounced around several different racing genres, for better or worse.
Okay, maybe it's not at stake, but it comes with a certain quality. Will it be on show in Shift?
Fun Times
Shift opens with an explosive highlight reel that goes from 0-60 faster than you were perhaps prepared for. We're definitely shifting as sports cars hurtle down city streets and around dedicated circuits, belching fire and even crashing spectacularly.
It's all in pursuit of the Need for Speed World Tour, an event for the best of the best to showcase their automotive skills across the globe. It does feel a bit cliché, and Shift seems to be massively inspired by the likes of Race Driver: Grid, but I absolutely grabbed that game by the horns and held on until the credits rolled, so Shift looks to be off to a good start.
A single day before a race at Brands Hatch, we've lucked into being given a car to try out. Set a good time and we'll have a spot in the race to show our stuff. It's one part tutorial, one part work out what level of difficulty you want to run at, all parts racing game I want more of.
People refer to Shift as leaning more towards the simulator side of things, but when you switch views from the excellent interior camera to the chase cam, and your rear end creeps out towards the far edge of the track, and everything around you looks to be a blur, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a little bit arcadey, too.
I'm not quite sure where I sit. I suppose after turning various aids on and off I'll know where I stand that much better, but even in these early days, I am liking what I'm feeling from the cars. Unlike Race Pro, I'm also liking what I'm feeling from the presentation.
We've barely had time to celebrate our race win when another cinematic has reminded us that everything we do is done so that we can make it into the World Tour, but we've only got enough funds to buy a Ford Cossie and race in the lowest tier of events, which are unlocked via a star system.
You would be correct in thinking that winning races gives you stars, but Shift wants things to happen at such a dramatic pace that it goes a few steps further. This is a game that wants you to devour whatever it puts in front of you, and I'm happy to oblige.
During a race, you'll be awarded points for sticking to the racing line, cleanly overtaking someone, mastering a corner and so on. Pick up enough points and you'll be awarded a bonus star towards unlocking the next set of events.
But I know some of you. Precision is a noble goal to aim for, but sticking your elbows out and trading paint is fun, and so you're rewarded for that as well. Cause someone to spin out and you'll score points. Simply following someone and sitting in their slipstream is supposedly an act of aggression and will score you points.
You can choose to be either kind of driver, and you will level up and unlock new rewards - mostly cosmetic from what I've seen - no matter what you do out on track.
There's a full livery designer in Shift where you can slap decals all over your car, but when you need to unlock basically all of it, the most I could be bothered to do was coat the Cossie in red paint, an upgrade that made it so fast I crashed in the chicane just north of Big Ben.
Even crashes are a sight to admire in Shift. Thankfully, I had set the damage to be cosmetic only, so my race wasn't as ruined as my bodywork, but when it happened, not only did the visuals blur out and lose colour for an instant, but you heard the driver gasp for breath and brace himself for impact. The details, gah!
Other events in Tier 1 are time trials, which are basically like a qualifying event to a race that never happens, as well as some manufacturer specific events where you're plonked into one of their cars and are set a challenge to complete.
Here, Lotus want me to race a whole bunch of other Loti(?) around the first bit of the Nordschleife, and it's an event that proves Shift doesn't stutter under the weight of lots and lots of cars and rather lengthy circuits - not that I noticed, anyway. I was too busy bumping some folks out of the way. Giving what I was taking, was my defence.
With Tier 2 unlocked, and new cars available to purchase should I find my Cossie too slow (though it can be upgraded almost to the degree at which anything in Gran Turismo 2 can be upgraded, including a Nitrous Oxide booster), we get new event types to try out.
I'm dreading the drift competitions if I'm honest because I find games that include drifting either make it far too easy or hard as nails. Both drifting and the Car Battle event, though, brings back yet more memories of Race Driver: Grid, or its sequels, or another Codemasters racer I've played to death but can't separate in my mind from the others.
In it, you either finish first or pull five seconds ahead of your opponent, best of three races wins, and I've gone for Subaru vs Mitsubishi.
It was actually pretty tricky to pull out a good lead on whatever circuit this is. I'd won the first race the long way, and the second race was looking that way too, provided I could manage to stay in front of my opponent.
He helped matters tremendously by putting his car in the gravel trap, but I still couldn't pull out a 5-second lead until 50 meters before the finish line, and he was gaining on my right up until the final corner.
Was this a sign of things to come? Difficulty spikes or complacency on my part? Maybe I'm not quite suited to the Subaru or haven't mastered these corners yet. All I know is, I'm going to be playing much more Shift to find out.
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| Source // Steam |
Final Word
You all know the feeling of being grabbed by a game, where you latch onto something and simply want to consume more and more of it. This 1001 list has thrown up some mighty strong examples of this as it has gone on, and Need for Speed: Shift is the next on the list.
I doubt I'll dive into the depths of car tuning and upgrades and whatnot, but know that as soon as this post is wrapped up, I'll probably find an excuse to 'just finish these car battles' or find myself playing 'until I've unlocked Tier 4', assuming there is a Tier 4. I'm sure there is.
In short, whether it manages to challenge full-on racing simulators or not, Shift has made itself known to me and has my attention. I don't think it is a perfect racing game, but as something that I can just pick up and play and enjoy within moments, it's a solid choice.
Sometimes a game doesn't need to be anything more than a damn good distraction for the moment.
FILLING YOU IN
So, 24 hours of gaming later, has my opinion on Need for Speed: Shift... shifted?
Well, I think it may well have, yes. I didn't need to go through every single event in order to unlock the World Tour, but I did for the sake of semi-completing Shift. That meant checking off race after race after race, not because you needed to do them, but because they were there to do, and that results in a few things.
Repetitive slogs along the same circuits, for one. Seeing the same sights gets boring quick, especially when you get to the point where you've got a car that has been upgraded to the point where it can comfortably compete in anything you throw at it.
If you do have to change cars to meet requirements, it's a doddle. I earned so much money during my racing that there was no point in me even having funds. Nothing was too expensive, nothing out of reach. I could buy a top-of-the-range car and then apply every single upgrade available to it without batting an eyelid towards my bank balance.
Drift events weren't too bad at all, once you got the hang of it. There was one on the tightest of circuits I've ever seen that can go straight to Hell and never come back, but on the whole, drifting was fun. Until Shift decided it didn't care about drifting or time attack events anymore and just threw races at you. Here, have another race. Look, a series of them. Now do it again, but this time in a European car. Alright, go back to the better car and do five more races.
By the time I tackled the World Tour - which I could (and should) have done long, long ago - there wasn't even a hype video for it. It just happened. One race series, another race series, and then one final race where it all began: Brands Hatch. No fireworks, no fanfare, no build-up or excitement. It was just a race.
But it was nice to finally master the corners, though some still elude me, and the sheer speed some of the cars reached made me thankful that I was playing Shift at the arcadey end of the difficulty sliders, and like other racing games, it served its purpose of keeping me busy for an hour or two here and there before it ran out of things to offer me and I was done with it. Which is now.
It's not a game that will knock your socks off, but it's not too bad at all.
Fun Facts
60+ cars, nearly 20 tracks, and a PlayStation Portable version? What more do you want? Consistency from the NfS brand?
Need for Speed: Shift, developed by Slightly Mad Studios, first released in 2009.
Version played: PC, 2009.