Need for Speed: Shift

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• A combination player tier and achievements system that ensures that drivers are matched against those of similar experience on the track and that rewards for victories match the win.
• All-new 'Need for Speed' release that combines the true driver's experience with real-world physics, pixel-perfect car models, and a wide range of authentic racetracks.
• Developed by the world's best racing game talent and real race drivers, including: the team behind critically acclaimed 'GT Legends' and 'GTR2' games and VP of EA Games and race car driver Patrick Soderlund.
• A wealth of highly tunable cars available in an equally diverse range of events including: quick race, standard races, manufacturer races, time trial, online options and more.
• The all-new driver profile system that assigns a unique persona based on a player?s driving skill and style: aggressive or precise. This system also affects career progression, unlockables and online matchmaking.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001TOMQTY
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 15, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,255 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #16 in Video Games > Xbox 360 > Racing

Product Description

Platform: Xbox 360

Amazon.com Product Description

Get ready to Shift your game into high gear! Designed to deliver a true driver's experience that reflects contemporary motorsports, Need for Speed: Shift is built by racers for racers. Need for Speed: Shift delivers an authentic and immersive driving experience, replicating the true feeling of racing high-end performance cars like never before. Players are thrust into the heart of the action with immersive and exciting features including a stunningly realistic first-person cockpit view camera and an all-new crash mechanic, providing an unrivaled sensation of the speed and feeling of racing a car on the extreme edge of control. A true high-end racing experience. View larger. Imagine the experience of being a race driver. The adrenaline rush of driving at breakneck speeds, the pressure of fierce competition, the fear of losing control, the intense concentration and athleticism needed to harness the power of speeding chrome and steel. This is the true driver’s experience of Need for Speed: Shift. Through the combination of perception-based G-forces, an ultra-realistic first-person cockpit view, an accurate, accessible physics-based model and the all-new, brutally disorienting crash dynamic, you'll be thrust into the driver’s seat amid the chaotic noise, intensity, and physical and emotional demands of the race. Imagine the emotions race drivers go through. The thrill of driving incredibly fast, the pressure of the competition, the fear of losing control, the intense concentration and effort needed to harness the power of a racing car. The all-new driver profile is the ultimate extension of the true driver’s experience. This system gives each player a unique persona based on a player’s driving skill and style - aggressive or precise. Driver profile impacts how a player unlocks cars, overall career progression and online matchmaking. In Need for Speed: Shift, how you drive is who you are behind the wheel. For Racers By Racers In Need for Speed: Shift, EA has brought together some of the world's best racing game talent and real race drivers. Developed in a unique collaboration between Slightly Mad Studios--developers and designers of the critically acclaimed GT Legends and GTR2 games--Michael Mann (executive producer at Black Box) and Patrick Soderlund, senior Vice President of EA Games and part of a racing team that recently competed in the fourth edition of the TOYO Tires 24H Dubai 2009, the result is an authentic driving experience unmatched on any game system.

Additional Screenshots:

Varied event types. View larger.

New driver profiles. View larger.

Extreme customization. View larger.

Multiplayer action. View larger.

Product Description

Imagine the experience of being a race driver. The adrenaline rush of driving at breakneck speeds, the pressure of fierce competition, the fear of losing control, the intense concentration and athleticism needed to harness the power of speeding chrome and steel. This is the True Driver’s Experience of Need for Speed ™ SHIFT. Through the combination of perception-based G-forces, an ultra-realistic first-person cockpit view, an accurate, accessible physics-based model and the all-new, brutally disorienting crash dynamic, you'll be thrust into the driver’s seat amid the chaotic noise, intensity, and physical and emotional demands of the race.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, September 18, 2009

By 

J. Leigh "jleigh7" (chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Need For Speed (Video Game)

I am predominantly a simracer rather than an arcade racer, so I am reviewing this from the biased perspective of someone who typically likes Forza2, RacePro and Gran Turismo. I have never played any of the NFS games. But I have played and enjoyed the Burnout games. So I DO like arcade racers now and then too.

Pros:
- The presentation is hip and energetic with pulsing sound effects and visuals.
- The audio is cranked all the way up by default. So if you are using a driving seat with some kind of vibration system like an Aura Bass Shaker or Buttkicker, you will need to turn it down. Mine started getting pretty hot in a matter of a few minutes compared to games like Forza 2 and Race Pro- which would barely warm the units up.
- Cockpit view feels less claustrophobic than GT Prologue. Not sure why.
- Camera shake does definitely add to the realism and excitement.
- Money is earned pretty quickly so you can buy new cars- a lot less grinding compared to GTP. Also when you buy a car, you can later turn around and sell it for the same price as you bought it.
- The beginning of the game puts you through a trial race from which it provides you with a recommendation of the gameplay settings. This is a nice touch- especially for introducing newbies to the genre.


Cons:
- Although the presentation is more "hip" it is also much more cluttered. There is often too much graphics and too many statistics presented to you both in the HUD and after the race.
- Program is not entirely bug free. It froze on me twice. And on another occasion I was able to start racing BEFORE the green light!
- Load times are pretty long so I recommend installing it on your harddrive- which helps a little.
- Even in Pro mode (i.e. no traction control, stability, and abs) it felt easier to control than Forza 2, and definitely easier than Race Pro.
- The force feedback on the wheel appears weaker than Forza 2. I was surprised it was already set at 10/10 by default.
- Cars do not appear to be visually as pleasing as Forza 2 or as accurate as GT Prologue. For example, the rear airfoil in the Audi TT does not raise automatically at greater than 75mph- which it does in GTP.
- Quick Race mode gives you a limited set of cars to start with. Although you earn cash pretty quickly and you can buy them.
- Cars are pretty aggressive on occasion, forcing you off the track on purpose. But at the same time, sometimes you see it do some really weird turns (that are not a result of a spinout) and decelerations that seem to indicate the AI decided to revert to following its rail.

On the whole NFS is simracing from a NFS perspective. It's a good effort for the NFS franchise. They presumably want to try and keep their existing customers (who tend to prefer a more arcade-style experience) but at the same time take a small nibble at the simracing piece of the pie currently dominated by Forza, Gran Turismo, and others.

Hardcore Simracers will probably be better off sticking to the Forza and Gran Turismo series. Forza3's new ability to wind back time so you can redo a portion of the race will likely be the top feature in the game- allowing you to practice a corner over and over.

I think casual games will still find this game enjoyable for the excitement-drenched visual and audio experience. I find that even though I am a semi-hardcore simracer, this title does grow on you after a while.

Addendum:
I recently played the demo version of Forza 3. Here's a quick comparison against NFSS:

F3's driving physics definitely does feel more accurate. E.g. on the Audi R8 about 70% of the power is supposed to be in the rear wheels and 30% in the front. In F3, it feels right. If you do too sharp a turn and hit the gas too hard, you will oversteer. In NFSS however, the R8 feels like a front wheel drive vehicle- in a hard corner, I can usually turn the wheel in the direction I want to go and just floor the gas, and eventually the car will straighten out. Your car almost never oversteers. I do admit though that NFSS' version of the R8 physics does make it more fun sometimes- you can whip your wheel around on a hard corner and just floor the gas- gives you a heroic feeling when taking an insane corner- which admittedly is not a good way to drive on a real race track.

The steering vibration in F3 is much stronger, and it really adds to the illusion of weight of the car. So if you through a serious of left/right turns quickly, the wheel will pull very hard in both directions and it really gives you the sensation that your car's weight is being flung from side to side.

NFSS' gas pedal feels a lot less "analog" than F3. NFSS' response tends to feel like it's a 1 or 0. F3 feels about right. You step on the gas gradually and you can feel and hear the gradual build up of power.

F3's cockpit is closer in view so you can see the dials more clearly. However the rendering of the cockpit is not as detailed as NFSS- and certainly much less detailed than Gran Turismo Prologue. Also with the closer cockpit view in F3, half of the rear-view mirror is truncated.

Even though I tend to prefer realistic racing sims, I find I really missed the camera shake in NFSS. It really does add a lot to the experience. When I play F3, it just feels rather tranquil by comparison.

NFSS' replay camera view is incredibly weak- there is really only 1 view. F3 has brilliant camera views. Just about every conceivable camera view is included. I have never seen so many views in a racing game. This is particular important if you are serious about analyzing your driving. And just as in Forza 2, you can toggle on/off detailed telemetry about your car.

However, still, the one feature that makes F3 the hands down winner, is the ability to rewind time so you can retake a corner. I found myself using this quite often and really appreciating it the more I use it- especially so that I don't have to restart the race just because I spun out toward the end of the last lap. However, I can see that this can be such a powerful crutch that people will over use it... perhaps forgetting that in real life there are no undos when it comes to real car racing... But for now I am thankful the feature is there. It is such a great learning tool.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shifted Up, August 10, 2010

By 

terasquisher - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Need For Speed (Video Game)

I'd sum it up as Television show "Top Gear" meets "Gran Turismo".. Game has an accurate driving feel, coupled with a profile building experience.. Your accelerated to drive on & improve your ranking. Earning Cash quickly & testing out a wide variety of Cars within your 1st day. Your not limited to only driving your garaged cars. There are plenty of Manufacture Races & other Time Trial Tests to hone your skills. One you begin to tune your cars to met track needs, you're really beginning to master the game.

My favorite part is the Start of the race, the initial battle to get to the lead, avoiding drivers & spinning people out. You will quickly recognize rival drivers who give you a hard time on the track.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nowhere Near A "Simulation" Racer, October 13, 2009

By 

Earl Wilkerson (Rockford, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Need For Speed (Video Game)

If you enjoy the likes of Project Gotham Racing, Dirt, Grid, or any other title in the the Need for Speed franchise, you will likely enjoy the sometimes overwhelming amount of audio/visual eye candy presented in NFS: Shift. However, if searching for a "close-as-it-gets" simulation-style racer, such as Race Pro, Gran Turismo, and the Forza, I recommend avoiding.

Graphically, the game is beautiful. Audio is decent also - although not as accurate as Race Pro or Forza. Electronic Arts certainly did revamp their physics engine in this title, giving it a slightly more controlled version of the one found in GRID. Yet, body roll is dramatically over-done, creating vehicles that feel more like drift-racing air-ride suspension Cadillac sedans. Initially, I was convinced this was a direct result of a tuning setup/car type, yet was disappointed to find even the high-end sports cars - those tuned with suspensions stiff as a board - flopped and skidded from one side of the track to the other at even the slowest "highway" speeds.

On a positive side, though, it is certainly nice to see the Need for Speed line-up change things up a little by taking the racing off the street and on the track. Especially with the number of famous tracks (Mazda Laguna Seca, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, etc.) recreated brilliantly in the game.

Bottom line: moderately, sometimes majorly unrealistic vehicle physics and typical Need for Speed flash mar the potential of a great Forza sim racer competition. Simulation buffs should steer towards Race Pro, or wait for Forza 3.

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