MKWingzero Blog: Need for Speed Shift Review

The new Need for Speed Shift is currently in development and will be released at the end 2009. NFS-Planet visited the Slightly Mad Studios in London and got some impressions of the upcoming racing game. Read here about what you can expect in Need for Speed Shift:

Barely 73 days have passed since the release of Need for Speed Undercover, and EA already announced its successor Shift? What, at first glance, looks like some kind of hasty panic reaction due to Undercover's rather moderate critiques, turns out to be a long-planned, in the NFS universe independent racing simulation.

"Change" was a certain guy's main slogan for his election campaign – it seems like the developers from Slightly Mad Studios have taken the same motto to heart: New concept, new engine, new driving physics – Shift shares with previous Need for Speed titles just little more than the name. Speaking of name: “Shift” could certainly refer to shifting gears, but in this case, a meaning like "change" seems more appropriate.

The preview versions of previous NFS titles were all running on a Xbox 360, Shift, however, is an exception: This time a PC was used for demonstration and it was doing its job pretty well: no lags or graphic errors despite running at full HD resolution. The performance of the build shown was really impressive, especially given the fact that the developers still have a lot of time remaining for optimization until release in fall. The graphics engine itself seems to be programmed really efficiently in terms of resource use. However, I couldn't find out about the hardware used in the connected PC.

But what was actually presented on screen? Probably the most convincing graphical presentation of a NFS title for a long time. Talking of beautifully shaped cars, authentically modeled race tracks, great lighting effects, and even little details like 3D animated, flag-waving spectators standing close to the track, or car bodies showing the exact reflections of near video screens – Shift is graphically not only outstanding within the Need for Speed series, but can also keep up with the whole racing game genre.

Especially the cockpit view is one of a kind. Comparing the interior of the Shift cars to those from Test Drive Unlimited (which were quite nice at that time) you get some kind of “Next Gen” feeling: You are free to have a look-around (that might be even necessary if you want to take a look in the side mirrors) spotting the driver working with the steering wheel and pedals, or enjoying the incidence of light shining on your Zonda's handmade leather seats. Needless to say that all of the gauges in the cockpit are fully working. This detail-mindedness (you can actually see the HUD projection on the windshield of the Corvette) is certainly one of the highlights of the game.

Another nice thing is the built-in tunnel vision which handicaps your cognition at high speed. Using Motion Blur, the vision becomes relatively to your pace more and more blurred, only the center of the screen remains reasonably sharp. As a result, recognizing the speedometer or even rivals in the mirrors doesn't get easier as well.

These effects are also to bear in case of accidents: Getting in touch with the guard rail causes the cockpit camera to shake, the vision becomes blurred, and thereby, you go practically blind for a moment. On a city course, you might have some trouble getting the next corner in this condition.

Unfortunately, we couldn't experience such situations in 3rd person view (yet), but this camera makes it easier to recognize dents and dints on your car and details like heating and cooling brake discs respectively. Backing the feeling of being in the thick of the race caused by good camera work, all information given on the HUD like lap time, position etc. is not static but moving according to the G-forces affecting the car.

Today we announced the entire car and track list for SHIFT. Instead of letting out the list drip by drip we decided it would be more fun this year to reveal all the cars at the same time so below you can see the entire list in all its glory.

The list features 65 beautifully modelled cars from a wide range of worldwide manufacturers. Fans of the S2000 and Civics will be pleased to note the return of Honda while Nissan are fantastically represented with the likes of the R35 and the classic tuner car the S14 and the S15. The game also showcases a wide spectrum of seminal performance machines including classic cars like the 1972 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R, renowned tuners like the 1995 Mazda RX-7, and ultra-exclusive exotic cars like the 2007 Lamborghini Reventón.