Comments on: Need For Speed Shift – Reviewed

By: Nick de Bruyne

Nick de Bruyne — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:00:37 +0000

I would love to give my impressions of the game, but the only copy I have with me is going to our lagz-spotter from this week :cwy:

Ill see if I can get my hands on one soon

By: janrik

janrik — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:18:50 +0000

Nice review dude.

By: Karl

Karl — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:14:33 +0000

To be honest, I battled with giving it a final score. It didn’t deserve an 8, so I looked at a 7.5. I had that in the final draft, but changed it to a 7 after the handling niggles made me so angry I stopped playing it. That was moments after I found out I couldn’t upgrade Tier 4 cars.

I am keen for Nicks comments too actually, since he is the local racing game fundy.

By: Dark

Dark — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:12:55 +0000

Karl give me a call Ill see if I can set it up for you

By: Karl

Karl — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:10:19 +0000

Dark, that is a serious gauntlet that you have just laid.

We will see what we can do. I happen to live very close to Hermanus.

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:07:33 +0000

Hey, I don’t comment that often anymore, but felt I needed to here. I understand that some games just don’t hit the right chord with certain people, but this game deserves more than a 7. I had an absolute blast playing this game, and it was a massive surprise package for the year. I believe it appeals to all racing fans, and it was a damn site better than the last 2 outings by EA. Still think you guys are doing a great job, but I have a suggestion. Nick, you used to be sponsored by NFS, why don’t you give it a go, would be interested to see if you agree on this review. Once again just an opinion!!

Nice comment koldFU5iON

By: Dark

Dark — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:10:12 +0000

Well let me suggest something Why doesnt Karl call up Stephen Viljoen. He is the COO or something like that of Slightly Mad studios who worked extensively on Shift and was also the lead producer on the GTR series. He lives in Hermanus and is South African. Let me tell you he is a serious racing fundy and I am sure he would oblige having an interview Hes a very cool guy and knows his stuff.

By: easy

easy — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:51:40 +0000

i thought it was a pretty good review.
it came across as honest, praised the game where it shines and hilighted its faults… i thought that what reviews were supposed to do?

at any rate, it didn’t put me off being interested in the game.

job done

By: Karl

Karl — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:40:39 +0000

Oh, and the engine sounds are quite excellent.

By: Karl

Karl — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:34:58 +0000

Some properly thought out comments here.

If anything, I am an NFS fanboy. I finished ProStreet twice (despite it being pretty rubbish), and I actively skipped varsity to play Carbon. That isn’t anti-nfs.

Slightly Mad Studios has employees from Blimey! games, who worked in collaboration with Simbin to create the GTR games. Research? Have you heard of an Aston Martin DB9? It has a racing version called the DBR9, which races at Le Mans, made completely from carbon fibre. Is it in Shift? No. That alone casts doubt about how amazing awesome the research was that went into Shift. Why can’t I drift with a Lotus? Being part of a driving club doesnt make you an expert on cars by default.

I assume every gamer knows what a flashbang effect is. Screen goes white, fuzzy, and you hear very little. Thats what happens in Shift and it was easier and quicker to explain it like that. I thought it was a really neat effect, as well as driver focus.

Its hard to ‘mention key aspects of what this game is trying to provide’ when the handling physics are broken. I thought it could be the keyboard so I asked a friend who has the PS3 version and he has the same issues as me. Shift has the nice bells and whistles but the meat of the game, the handling, is shite.

The only difference between the 3 different car types is FWD slides a litte, AWD slides a fair bit, and RWD slides alot. I had traction control on full, and I still slide around like I was on ice.

Did you play Carbon? The best thing about Carbon was taking hypercars and making them faster. Upgrading the Carrera GT was SO satisfying and I feel upgrading is one of the key elements of NFS games. The fact that I can’t upgrade Tier 4 cars just irritates me. And don’t fool yourself, the tuning is very meh. ProStreet had better tuning options, ALOT better tuning options. My pet peeve was you have to _buy_ increased boost in for your turbo/supercharger. Thats a pile of crap, its an adjustment in tuning not something you tack on.

The less I say about drifting, the better. Its awful. Regarding the racing modes, they are virtually the same as all other racing games with the exception of duels, which I found a bit silly. It was like open season to bash to the other car off the track so you can get the 5 sec lead to win.

So perhaps YOUR facts need some checking. Take that.

Lastly, people forget there is a finite number of words that I can use to write a review. I exceeded the initial 500 asked by Lazy by double, so I did leave some of the more unimportant things out. I suppose the bottom line is if you enjoy it, then by all means have fun with it. I didn’t enjoy as much as I should have.