Review supplied by Xbox World 360 magazine issue 104 - buy the latest issue online now.
Shift 2 Unleashed's developers might have a passion for tuning and racing exotic sports cars (we can tell this because we don't understand a word of what's being said in the cut-scenes), but their real talent lies in wrecking them.
Shift 2 Unleashed
02:59 Autolog customisation trailer
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Those who have played the original Need for Speed Shift will already be familiar with the series' benchmark-setting crashes. Spiral into a concrete wall at high velocity and the screen blurs as if broken by the impact.
All that's missing is the guide button inflating IN YOUR FACE. As we unfortunately discovered one snowy night last December, it's an almost perfect likeness of what it's like to be in an actual high-speed car crash, and Slightly Mad Studios, not being a Totally Mad Studio, has seen no reason to fiddle with a winning formula.
Instead, they've been busy devising new ways to hurt the ones they love. The addition of full vehicular damage models was an obvious evolution for the series, but man, they didn't need to be quite so nasty about it.
Beaten-up cars splutter and wheeze their way around the course in a thoroughly distressing manner, shedding ground-up pieces of debris which mingle with the gravel on the race track, making for the most viciously hazardous terrain you can possibly imagine.
LEASHED LIGHTNING
Shift 2's appetite for destruction is precisely why it won't achieve its ambition of being seen as a serious rival to the likes of Forza 3, and precisely why that isn't necessarily a bad thing; Shift 2 Unleashed is a dirtier, meaner brand of racer than anything that has wheeled its way out of Turn 10 or Polyphony's paddocks and while it seriously lags behind in terms of realism or exhaustive features, it more than makes up for it by transposing the grit, tussle and excitement of an arcade racer into the sim racer realm.
With Project Gotham currently declared totally unroadworthy, there's no other racing game quite on Shift's wavelength, and there's definitely a vacancy on the Xbox 360's racer grid for a game that can expertly marry rigorous discipline with incredible wheel-to-wheel racing.
Not quite sure where they plucked the awful 'Unleashed' subtitle from, though. From a hat full of annoying marketing buzzwords, probably. But if anything, Shift 2 takes the youthful exuberance of the first game and clamps a leash on it.
Although there was much charm in the way the first game made you feel like you were always pushing your car to the edge of its limitations, the sequel is all the stronger for this compromise, giving you more control and thus more confidence to push your battered genitalia extension around the course.
The interface, too, has been scaled back dramatically and the levelling-up system has been subtly reworked. Need For Speed Shift in its youthful innocence bombarded the player's eyes with a constant drip of feedback, but while they've retained the basic reward system framework for this sequel, it's taken a back seat to allow the player the freedom to adapt to the conditions on the track without getting constantly bitch-slapped for veering off the racing line.
Comments
12 comments so far...
Mark240473 on 29 Mar '11 said:
It certainly looks nice enough. To me, this kind of racer is more suited to the pad, rather than the wheel. This is down to the 'not quite a sim' handling, which is fine as a compliment to the more serious racing game.
However, I'm not a fan of the in-between style of handling, so I'm inclined to try a demo before picking this one up.
gideonseer on 29 Mar '11 said:
Riiiiiiiiiiiight...
Coffee overdose on that one methinks...
gogo65uk on 29 Mar '11 said:
Should have renamed it NFS shafted. Should have been DLC
Reegeee on 29 Mar '11 said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzZ86GYoxE0
(Just reminded me of it
)
I do like the look of this and I reckon I'll get it. Seems to be getting decent scores everywhere and this kind of handling is my favourite. The first one sort of reminded me of PGR which is a good thing and the addition of the autolog is a big bonus.
feeg86 on 29 Mar '11 said:
Seems like an updated version of the first with Autolog.
Pass.
feeg86 on 29 Mar '11 said:
Seems like an updated version of the first with Autolog.
Pass.
budge on 30 Mar '11 said:
66% in PSM3. Laggy steering. Not for me.
kencat on 30 Mar '11 said:
I picked up the game yesterday and I agree with another post that the steering was initially laggy. I played with some of the steering parameters and it tightened it up but it doesn't yet have the feel I was expecting. I don't have a lot of experience with driving games other than the Dirt and Grid series and I liked the steering feel in those games. I do like Speed Shift 2, however...the damage modeling is quite good, I think, although the sounds of crashing seem weak to me. I like the cockpit views in this game much better than the ones in Dirt 2. I think the score CVG gave it is accurate, IMO. The bottom line for me is that it's an enjoyable driving game and it'll keep me occupied until Dirt 3 comes along.
Sleepaphobic on 30 Mar '11 said:
How is this a sim again?
teth on 1 Apr '11 said:
Guys got it today and i have to say the've really ruined it!! Steering lag (i tried every setting) beyond belief! Graphics are really low rez with wobbly, woefully low frame rate, sorry to say not a patch on the first 1. Helmet cam is usless ( i only use cockpit view on shift1 so its not cuz i can't handle it) turns the camera into the corner and throws you right off.. makes you think you're turning even though you ain't. The rest of the game is a big improvement like options, tuning saves etc but they don't outweigh the negatives. Thanks slighty mad for ruining the best cockpit view driving game i ever played! Just glad i ain't redeemed the ltd ed codes...
Maybe they'll fix the steering lag but they won't be able to patch those horrible visuals..
ronatola on 1 Apr '11 said:
Agreed - the steering is quite unmanageable on XBOX360.
I always use the MS Steering wheel and it worked fine for the 1st Shift. For some reason they didn't carry it over to this game. Too bad - I like everything else.
I've spent 2 hours with it - but will not play anymore.
My time is too valuable to be chasing something that should be OK out of the box. Especially since they nailed it correctly the 1st time.
serberus on 4 May '11 said:
I THOUGHT THIS GAME WAS UTTER JUNK COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE GAMES ON NEED FOR SPEED
EVEN MY GIRLFRIEND CAN PLAY OTHER NFS GAMES THIS ONE NEEDS REWRITEING