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I can't for the life of me figure out why someone who (in general) likes driving games would not like this game!
Pros:
The graphics are eye popping and run smoothly throughout on both my PS3s (80GB fat and a 120GB slim).
The sound is top notch, especially on 5.1 (or better?) systems.
Driving can be challenging or easy and is highly configurable to let you decide which is best for you.
There are a ton of different cars to master that all drive differently (as it should be).
You can upgrade each car with engine, suspension, braking and other technical improvements.
You can customize the visual aspects of each car if you're into that kind of thing.
You can be either a precision or aggression style of driver and you earn points for both along the way
There are many different racing styles represented (standard, manufacturer events, drift for example)
Cons:
At release, there were some bugs but they have been addressed now as far as I can tell.
This game melds elements of arcade and simulation racing which may put off hard core fans these genres.
The Need for Speed series is a tale of two franchises really and that is why the widely differing reviews I think. If you are a fan of NFS: Hot Pursuit and other "cops and robbers" racing games, then you will likely not like this game because there isn't a cop in sight. You are racing on tracks and other closed courses and not in city streets with other civilian cars running around. If you need to see flashing red lights in your rear view mirror, or just have to run down a mother and her baby carriage then look elsewhere.
What this game is a pretty simple I think. It provides you with all the best elements of actually racing in environments designed for racing, plus the ability to tweak your ride to a reasonable level. This is where simulation meets arcade to me because while games like Gran Turismo allow you to tinker until your knuckles bleed, NFS: Shift dumbs all that down a bit so you can just concentrate on driving and having fun.
Bottom line is this; If you want an all out utterly realistic simulation, this ain't it. If you want chase epic scenes, running from the cops and driving crazy fast amongst the general population, this ain't it. But if you want to just have fun while driving nice cars on actual race courses with limited tweaking -then this is the ticket. If you can accept what this game brings to bear, you will enjoy it.
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I purchased the game after going off the IGN review (9.0 out of 10). I would not rate it that high personally. The game takes getting used to. I admit to liking the NFSU games, but knew this one was different and closer to a GT racing sim than the earlier titles. Anyway, I think that the game performs well in some areas, not so in others. The load times are ridiculous. The same questions come up on each time you start the game. With the HD in place there should not be such long load times between races and saving. There is no menu option that I see to quit mid-race. Hopefully the cars will be more stable and easier to control at high speeds as you advance through the tiers. The BMW M3 on tier 2 is way too loose even after all upgrades. I probably need to do more tuning but it's hard to keep on the courses. I suppose this is to lend to the more realistic simulation but it's frustrating at times. Drift mode is an adventure; I've never been great at drift racing but the initial impression here is that it's almost prohibitive in it's difficulty. I haven't found the right balance of throttle and brake yet. It seems overly sensitive compared to the previous titles. While it shouldn't be totally easy, it takes a lot of getting used to and I find it annoying at times.
The courses are pretty awesome although many have already been done in the GT series. The graphics are very good. I have not noticed the high speed blurring as mentioned in other reviews, maybe because my car tops out at 150 or so. We'll see when we get into the high end cars if it is noticable.
I typically don't do the online racing because of the issues with rewarding aggressive/dirty tactics in all online play so I can't speak to that experience yet.
I think it is a disservice to gamers that EA did not make it compatible with the racing wheels out there. How does anybody make a driving sim that doesn't work with a wheel controller?
In spite of it's flaws (maybe they are my flaws, not the game?), I am enjoying the game so far. I am giving it a 7.5 after limited game play. Maybe when my skills improve I will look at it differently. Not a bad effort.
Buy Need for Speed: Shift Now
Ok where should I begin? This game fancies itself as some kind of a perfect cross between a sim and an arcade racer, but the truth is that it totally fails to accomplish this goal. It seems that being stuck in the middle ground isn't doing this new NFS installment any favors and let me explain why. Individuals who like arcadish racing games will find this title a bit too difficult for their taste, since some sort of driving physics, albeit exaggerated and inaccurate, still exists and the car is not exactly easy to control. Hardcore sim fans will be thoroughly disappointed as this game is just really not much of a driving simulator at all; physics does not feel realistic, speed feels artificially exaggerated to" enhance the action experience", finally, besides top speed and acceleration, cars do not feel all that much different from one another. Overall, the physics of this game does not even come close in comparison to something like GT5 prologue.
If all this wasn't enough, there is the graphics, which really does not seem all that sharp, as it appears to have been tuned down to prevent frame rate issues. Furthermore, the gameplay was not very impressive at all, as it is an extremely linear progression, which does not allow much freedom whatsoever. Last, but certainly not least, there are compatibility problems with Logitech G25 steering wheel. The wheel feels off-center with a huge center deadzone (I tried playing with the options and didn't help) and finally the force feedback is all messed up all this adding up to a pretty terrible driving experience with otherwise the best steering wheel on the market.
Overall, this game is stuck in a non-sim/non-arcade land, which really makes it hard to be appealing for fans of either genre. In certain ways it is similar to GRID, but does not have the same impressive graphics, innovative features and crash sequences and so in other words, it brings nothing new to the table. The final nail in the coffin is delivered through its sloppy integration with the Logitech G25 steering wheel, which turns a pretty crappy racing experience into a truly horrid one.
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Setup:
PlayStation 3 120 GB
Logitech G27 Racing Wheel for PC and PS3
I have yet to wreck my car so bad that I couldn't drive it any longer on NFS:Shift. It is a much better sim than any previous NFS game. The arcade mode is still there in that you can use any car ahead of you to slow down into a corner. Get behind? Drive like a maniac and then slam into the cars ahead, sure the hood will crumple but you will blast them off the track and if your good you can then run ahead on to the next set and slam into them. Its like a mix of a demolition derby and a racing sim.
There are a ton of redeeming qualities in this game though, so dont think its all bad;
Cockpit:
The cockpits of these cars look very authentic. I am a fan of Top Gear and have seen every car in this game on that show several times (except the Camaro) and the cockpits here look identical. When you drive a car it tallies up the miles you have driven it which is cool to say you have driven a few thousand miles in car X. It makes you want to keep a car longer just so you can become more proficient.
AI:
Not bad, many of them want to kill you and they will try to run you off the road. Which can help you get ready for online races because they will do the exact same thing.
Cars:
Very accurate but indestructible. Drive a Zonda or Veyron into a wall at 200 MPH and it will only dent the hood slighlty and may break the lenses.
I can only compare this to another driving sim even though its an off road rally game. Comparing this to Dirt 2 and you will see some glaring issues. First off in Dirt if you hit a wall or even a hay bale at speed you may risk ripping a body panel off or even the wheel; ending your race. In Shift you can slam into anything you want and it will keep on going.
Issue 2: the gravel is impossible to turn on. I realize hitting gravel at high speed means you can not turn as sharply but in Shift you hit it at anything over 20 and you will hit the wall.
Issue 3: The car customizing is really difficult to do. Want to do ralley stripes on your car, it can take 30 minutes or more to get them all in place, hit a wrong button and all that work is gone.
Pros:
>> Wonderful car models
>> Drive some of the rarest cars on the planet
>> Accurate cockpits
>> Cool animations when you hit things
Cons:
you have maxed out your upgrades.
The controls are similar to GTA, which is a good thing as the controls are fairly logical. One nice thing is that you don't have any annoying "checkpoints" of earlier racing games.
The game does a great job of providing variety in races. You can race "manufacturers challenge" where every driver gets the exact same car (that way nobody has an advantage w/their vehicle). You can do head-to-head challenges between two different cars. There are also lap eliminator & time eliminator races that are thrown in as well.
Almost all of the major car manufacturers are on the game; Nissan, Toyota, Aston Martin, Chervolet, Ford, Lamborgini, Audi, Mercedes, etc. The only major brand that is omitted is Ferrari. That's too bad as I'm a huge fan of Ferrari! Ostensibly, the licensing didn't work out as I can't see the makers of the game simply forgetting about such a major manufacturer of exotic automobiles.
If you like racing games, then more than likely you will like this one. Sure, the laws of physics are toned down in the game, but to have more realistic physics would be to degrade the playability of the game. This is at once one of the most frustrating games I've ever played, and at the same time it's one of the funnest games I've ever played. You can drive with the precision of Mario Andretti, or you can be so aggressive that you make NASCAR drivers look like downright courteous operators. In short, it's everything a racing game should be!
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First, let me say that this game has its share of technical problems. So why do I give it 5 stars? I'll get to that in a moment. Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. Load times are rather long, and as you get farther into the game, they can get really long. There's a bit of frame rate slowdown occasionally, but it's not at all common. However if there are 10 cars ahead of you and 5 of them are having a massive collision, the frame rate can drop to 0 for a second, and next thing you know you're 100 yards farther down the track than you were before. The sound can cut out on occasion, requiring you to quit the game and restart it. Again, this is rare. There's also a problem with the replays if you're using a steering wheel, the replays cause the wheel to turn, which in turn causes the on-screen menu to start cycling through its options, creating an annoying clicking sound. In the past, a couple of tracks had terrible slowdown problems, causing the game to run in slow motion. However, they've fixed this with a patch which you can download for free.
So now the good stuff. Technical problems aside, this game is an absolute blast to play. They start you off with a race in which your driving abilities are analyzed. The game then sets the difficulty level to suit your experience level. You can also manually choose whatever difficulty you want, from casual to professional. And you can set the AI opponents to easy, medium or hard. With casual difficulty, the cars almost drive themselves, you don't even need to use the brakes. With professional difficulty, it's a very good driving simulator, and quite realistic. And you can choose anything in between. So it appeals to just about any race fan, from beginner to expert.
As far as the cars and tracks, there's an excellent selection. Other games may have more cars, but this game has about as many as I could want. A very nice selection of American, European and Japanese cars, from low powered ones like you might actually own, to the most exotic and expensive stuff made in the world. I believe there are about 68 total. There are also two DLC packs, the "Team Racing" pack which is free includes some nice classic American muscle cars. The "Exotic" pack which is not free includes a nice selection of 7 exotic sports cars, along with a new track and a whole pile of extra events to race in. The selection of tracks in the game is about as good as anything on the market. Seriously, you will never get bored with the selection of tracks because there are just so many of them. And it's even got the Nurburgring!
The game is arranged into 4 tiers. You start on tier 1, with the lower powered cars. After you've gained enough experience, you move to tier 2, with more cars and a wider variety of tracks, and then to tier 3 and 4. The 5th group of races is the Need for Speed World Championship, which is a series of about 10 races. There's also a "star" system you earn stars for various things: 3 stars for a 1st place finish, 2 for 2nd, 1 for third. You can also get a star for completing a lap within the specified time, running a clean lap, earning enough points for precision driving or aggressive driving, etc. There are 50 levels total, and each time you make it to a new level you get a prize of some sort. It might be cash, or access to more features. So all throughout the game there are a myriad of incentives to keep you working towards getting better and achieving a higher level.
The best part though is the driving. It's just so fun and immersive. The force feedback you get if you use a steering wheel is awesome you can feel every bump and ripple in the track, and feel the tires losing traction and then gaining it back again. It really feels like you're driving a race car. The sound is also excellent, with directional sounds coming from all sides if you've got a surround sound system. Hit a wall on your left? You'll get a big crashing sound to your left. Collisions also cause your vision to momentarily go blurry and the color disappears, which goes even further to immerse you in the experience. And the cars are an absolute blast to drive. They all have their own unique handling and acceleration. There's no such thing as two cars that feel the same to drive. The physics are very realistic if you set it on professional or even experienced difficulty level. By the end of a long endurance race, I notice I'm sweaty, my arms are a bit tired, and my nerves are frayed. In other words, it provides that visceral and emotional experience that few others can match.
Overall, a great game. My favorite racing game of all time, hands down. I think I've got over 200 hours into it so far, and still having a blast.
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