Electronic Arts is at it again. The Need for Speed franchise has seemingly stalled the past few years with titles that weren’t up to snuff such as Need for Speed: Pro Street, NFS: Undercover and NFS: Carbon. Lacking revolutionary features and practically having no redeeming qualities, EA has decided to course correct the sinking ship by putting more concentration into the development of future titles, such as Need for Speed: World Online and Need for Speed: Nitro, and the positive results are easily identifiable in Need for Speed: Shift. What does Need for Speed: Shift offer that past iterations couldn’t? To begin with the most noticeable change, the look and feel of the franchise has returned. Sitting behind the wheel, the driving experience is 100 percent more visceral and intense than it has been in the past. The mini-map of the track is hidden in the left hand corner and is no longer a distraction on the heads-up display. This feature helps remove the “fantasy” aspects of the game and create a more realistic approach to a racing title.
When players reach high speeds of more than 100, the sound kicks up a notch and players should feel the adrenaline pumping through their veins. The new driver profile aids in keeping players coming back for more. Players will start at as level one driver and work their way up to level 50 unlocking new tracks, earning invites to events, and purchasing new cars. Points are earned for the driver profile through two ways: precision and aggression on the track. Players who stay on the racing line, clean sections of the track, master corners, overtake opponents cleanly and perfectly launch themselves off the starting line will earn precision points. Players that attempt to draft, spin their opponents, block their opponents from passing, trade paint, slide around corners and much more will earn aggression points. Both categories add up to the driver profile points that assist in leveling up the player to unlock the next tier of races. The career mode is highly intuitive as players race the world’s fastest cars and strive to take a position in the NFS World Tour to race against the best of the best.
Each event has star rewards to earn for hitting bonus objectives and podium (position) finishes. The more stars players earn, the faster they’ll advance to the next tier of events. Starting out at Tier 1, which contains Race Coalitions, Manufacturer Competitions and Time Attacks, players will work their way up to a Tier 4 by the end of their single-player career. In the end, players will compete in the ultimate competition, the NFS World Tour championship, for a right to race at the final race at Brands Hatch. The difficulty does become challenging by the end of the career, so it’s best players learn the tricks of the trade and master the craft of driving before moving up to the higher difficulty levels. Players who are worried about the car selection and the customization or tuning of their car should find a safe home in NFS: Shift. There are close to 70 cars in the title ranging from the Mazda RX-8 to the BMW M3 GT2. Each car has a comprehensive customization system that gives players total control of adding parts and fine tuning the performance of their vehicle.
There’s also the ability to swap color palettes, change rims, and upgrade the cockpit of their car. While it isn’t as advanced as it was in the past in titles, the customization elements that are presented are more than fine. When push came to shove, Need for Speed: Shift was able to turn that corner and put the franchise back on track towards creating an enjoyable racer. NFS: Shift has smartly executed arcade gameplay along with riding the fine line of the simulation genre. In total, there are nine game modes to play through, eight player online battles, and a robust single-player to play through. That’s not the only thing that lives up to the high expectations for the franchise; the graphics are clean and present an environment that is extremely inviting to players to return. To simply spell it out, Need for Speed: Shift is the racing title that fans have been waiting for.
