I can usually tell where a game is by a playthrough or so.  Need For Shift has got me baffled, though.  In my opinion, the series has been getting progressively worse in this generation.  Need For Speed : Shift caters neither to the simulation racer crowd, nor to the arcade style crowd.  The developers walk a line somewhere in between the two and the result is a game that is worth playing, regardless of what side of the fence you are on.  Worth playing and worth owning is more the matter of what style game you enjoy.  If you are looking for a pure sim, you will be sadly dissapointed in NFS:Shift.  If you are looking for arcade style fun, NFS is just that.  I think they stayed true to the core “beliefs’ of the franchise here they just added some elements of simulation.  The end result is a very fun,  good looking,  and polished experience.

Need For Speed does a lot of things well this time around.  The cockpit driving view, while awkward at first is done extremely well.  I can’t think of game that has matched the details and playability of this facet in a racing game. Acceleration and Braking are handled in a manner that give you the sense of speed or lack thereof.  You can literally feel your head getting glued to your seat during accelerations. You are equally pulled to the front of the car on a hard brake.  One of the finest points that NFS makes though is on collisions.  I really like what they did with the collisions in this game, akin to catching a flashbang to the face.  Hitting an object with any force in NFS will immediately blur your vision, slowly coming back into view within a few moments.  These moments can be critical, and navigating through them is very fun.  They struck a chord with me on this addition because one of my biggest peeves about racing games is, regardless of the style arcade or simulation, realism is good. High speed crashes should have some effect on the car and or driver.  This feels real, the cockpit view adds immensely to the experience.  Without it, the game loses alot of appeal for me. So for these things NFS wins and wins big.

Starting up a career in Need For Speed: Shift, you will notice that the game has been taken to the track.  We have left the street racing behind us, and are headed for the NFS championship circuit.  Your objectives are laid out to you ever so clearly by a narrator, who also doubles as a coach of sorts. Your goal is to get to the NFS championship.  You will need to complete four tiers of racing to get there. New tiers are accessed by earning stars. There are a multitude of ways to earn these stars and it all depends on the type of race you are entering.  Different events include: Multicar racing, One v One, Drifting, Time Attack, Eliminator, and Endurance. When racing a one on one a simple victory will do.  When racing a multicar event a podium finish will net you stars, but so will earning points, or completing challenges.  Driving points are earned in two ways: Precision and Agression.  Both will earn you points and earning a certain level of points will net you a star or two for the race.   Points also accumulate to your driver profile.  In this profile you will earn badges when reaching milestones in the game, and its also where your racing level is tallied.  Racing level goes to 50 and for each level up you will receive new unlockables for your vehicles.  Ranging from cash for new vehicles or modifications, to custom liveries.  Challenges will also vary depending on the type of race you are entering and earning a star will mean completing a task like mastering all corners, or completing a full lap in 1st place.

NFS can be as smart or as dumb as you want it to be.  On the easier skill levels breaking assistance, race lines, and computer AI make the game a downright cakewalk.  Increasing the skill level in the game will coax you into tuning and modifying your vehicles to keep up with the competition.  This is where the sim elements are added into the game.  While not nearly as broad as a Forza game.  NFS does offer both modifications and tuning of cars.  On the lower skill levels though it is all but neccesary.  What I found with NFS is that where many sim racers will be more frustrating the closer you get to full simulation.  NFS is not and its entirely playable even on the hardest of levels.  This is where many say the game fails, but I don’t think they were trying to get there even if it appears that way.

Racing fans will be familiar with some of the tracks in the game.  Nurburgring, Laguna Seca, Willow Springs and others are accompanied by well done fictitious tracks like London and Tokyo.  These tracks will be raced by nearly 70 licensed vehicles.  As in all racing games the cars at the beginning of the game aren’t worth a shit, but the game seems to progress rather quickly and in no time you are behind the wheel of supercars.

Multiplayer in Need For Speed Shift  was a little lacking for me.  The game offers a few different modes of play with a relatively lag free racing experience, but I became quickly uninterested and indifferent as to if  I would ever play it again.  You have your standard race with up to 8 players, the host can set options like, car class, track, time of day, among other.  Some other modes include maufacturers race, drifting, mixed race , and time attack.  There was also a driver duel which is a tournament where drivers battle one v one.  Each level consists of a best of three.  Win your best of three and move on to level two against another driver that won his race. There is another level after that, and then Quarters, Semis, and the Final.  This mode was better than the standard online that was offered but lemme tell ya there was some dirty racing going on there.  *Note third race of three in a round you start out as a rolling start side by side.  Lookout for the old sideswipe*

Now I had a few gripes about this game.  Online there is no force assist, so that means you can be playing full sim, and another player can be getting brake assists, racing lines, etc.  Its just not conducive to rewarding the higher skilled drivers.  To me thats not thought out well enough and lacks a level of depth.  Another thing is the lack of a save feature for a tuning setup.  You have to manually adjust tuning setups for each track.  Which gets old each time you change which is often, and at the higher skill levels it is necessary to make these adjustments to win.   Basically, the game  lacks the incentive to play at higher skill levels NFS shift gives no incentive to finish the career or online modes at the higher skill levels.  It actually penalizes you.  Also, Drift mode should have been left out of this game.  The mode is frustrating and not handled well by the devs, for a game that does well in a lot of areas Drift mode is not one.

So, I can see why reviewers have been going bananas for this game, it is fun.  It’s most certainly one of the better NFS titles ever made, but my lack of interest in playing any further with the online, the lack of reward for more challenging skill levels, makes the game a rental.  The sick in car cam is not enough to keep me coming back for more, but it was a blast to play.