Need for Speed: Shift is a game you have to tame before it will take you on any sort of meaningful ride.
I’m really enjoying the corner mastery and point scoring systems in this game a lot too. I imagine at some point it will probably out-difficulty me like every other racing game in the universe but at least up front it is quite fun.
Also I like the way you can put cool pre-made livery on your car to make it cool without having to be an unemployed art major.
I haven’t cried this hard since I got separated from my mom at the zoo when I was 6yrs old.
Forget it armand, this is Quarter to Three.
In respect for your wishes from the other thread (whose name I will not mention since it seems to cause you physical pain to mention the 2 products in the same thread), I am asking for more details on this oh-so-clearly touchy subject in this one.
I’ll be getting 1 racing game this (and probably next) year. Why shouldn’t it be this one? Tom seemed to enjoy it, and he mentioned Enthusia which I quite liked. I demand reasons, armand! Reasons! Not whimpering.
/runsaway
I still really want to try the demo! Nice review Tom.
Heheh Marcin, no worries. You can see what I’ve said in the Need for Speed Shit(oh did I forget the f? Oh how careless of me) thread for specific reasons.
Some people are enjoying it, but I’ve always been a realist and grew up watching auto racing like F1, doing a bit of kart racing and got back into gaming because of the original Gran Turismo. So my senses are all trained for the real world and I cannot accept something that spits in the face of Newtonian physics. I am able to enjoy Mario Kart, Wipeout and the like often enough because they don’t try to be real, but NFS Shift appears to try to be a genuine car racing game and fails so terribly. I can’t just tell myself that this is a realistic looking Banjo racing.
I can only imagine what went on during the conception of this game, no doubt the meeting attended and influenced by marketers and dumb suits(“sliding is fun!”).
Anyway, I am happy for all those who are able to enjoy Shift.
So is Tom saying “The controls are so wild and unrealistic that the game is a great challenge”?
I’m finding that even with a wheel the cars powerslide through all the corners. It makes me crazy.
Ah, I didn’t realize there was another thread (you mislinked back to this one). Going off to read those comments then - and yeah, I was looking to augment my stable with another more “realistic” racer (MCLA is fine for the arcade), so thanks for the heads up there. I guess Shift isn’t gonna be it then!
The reception from the PC community - including people like the author of RealFeel for Rfactor, and all of the traditional ISI/GMotor2 engine modders - has been very positive, with the game rating around an 8/10 on most of the polls so far.
It does require a little setting up and tuning effort though, even with a wheel.
Possibly the only review of this game that doesn’t use GRID as a comparison (unless I missed something).
So Mr. Chick, how do you think they size up against each other?
Imho, Grid was one of the most shallow racing game I’ve played. Most NFS are better, at least they are more varied and (try to) introduce some different mechanics.
Grid was just a long list of short races they you would win without any challenge if you didn’t make enormous mistakes. And its progress pattern didn’t offer anything meaningful or that the player would care about.
I don’t remember which one of the NFS had it, but there was a really cool concept where you would earn influence on a zone and have a city divided into parts that belonged to this and that gang. A kind of virtual world that was rather promising to give some meaning and context to the races. And that could also be used to have a non-linear campaign.
Judging by the screenshots attached to the review, this is the darkest game ever.
I agree on Grid, but Tom’s not kidding, this is nothing like other NFSs. It’s straight up GT Legends / GTR2 style circuit racing and deep luciously beardy car tuning. There are cutscenes and narration and unlocks and money to earn along the way, but it all has shoehorn marks on it, like they saw Race Pro bomb (partly) due to terrible presentation and did a crash course on consolising a racing game. ed - should mention that the cutscenes and voice acting is actually pretty well done - all useful information on the race or circuit you’re on and has no false familiarity or xxxxxxxxxxxxtreme codemasters patter.
Is it worth $39.99USD on sale tomorrow at Best Buy until Oct 3?
For me, no question, instant buy - depth of GT Legends and prettier than a big budget AAA racer, probably the single best racing title since GPL. But there have been enough ‘eww’ reactions to make me cautious to recommend it to absolutely everyone else. There are bugs - ranging from annoying buglets in specific cars to race-stoppers. The control model is totally incompatible with a keyboard (even a 360 pad will struggle without assists), there are some weaknesses in the menu system that make tuning the cars more hassle than it should be, and there’s no real news yet on what exactly can be accomplished with mods - re-adding time of day changes, pitting, saved replays, TrackIR, hotseat etc is a total unknown.
Otherwise this is pretty much ground floor on “GTR3”.
Are you kidding? This is NFS: Shift we’re talking about.
If this had been called GTR3 or RFactor2 there would be no debate about it whatsoever. It even uses the same GMotor2 data formats, largely, people have just jumped into it and started modding. All the hardcore stuff like destroyed engines and detachable wheels has already been put back in, and the absolute very first mod was a 20% grip reduction to make it more like the old style GTR2 track grip - still a little way to go to make that mesh properly with the improved tyre deformation model, but it’s uncannily similar in feel. Force feedback is better, more like RealFeel or LFS. Nordschleife and most of the other real-world tracks are above the accuracy of GTR Evolution. It’s really unbelievable how many reviewers and alledged sim heads jumped straight into “oh nfs, arcade racer” based on the title screen. Only Tom and very few others even mentioned the SMS pedigree.
Are you a viral marketeer or do you just have no idea what you’re talking about?
Where are you getting these mods?
Nogrip, racesimcentral, racedepartment… I mean … you know your stuff right? Right?
Unpacker and repacker, discussion on what’s inside Shift files
G25 profile from the dude who did RFactor Realfeel
The damage mod is a loose colllection of files that changes all sorts of stuff rather than a proper organised mod as of right now.