EA the publishers of the series, have recently moved the management of the title from the series 22-year-old developer, Black Box, to Slightly Mad Studios, a famous PC race-sim developer. With the natural arcade flare of NFS you could be led to believe this would be a die-hard racing game spoiling the series further, but it doesn’t. The handling of each car is superb. You actually have to break when going into a tight corner, but most of the time you will speeding around city tracks non-stop. And while this is all good and well, the damage is slightly below par in today’s standards. I understand car companies don’t want their dreams to be destroyed but a little more effort wouldn’t hurt a fly.

 

 

The career mode has been taken, surprisingly, from Rock Band, by ways of earning enough stars gives you new tracks and vehicles. There is also a profile system implanted, so if you drive like a maniac it will be represented for everyone to see. It’s very minor and doesn’t really effect your career in a great way, but does add more challenge if you wanted a certain type of rank.

 

Now before I progress I want to talk to you about the HUD. It looks strikingly similar to last years ‘Undercover’ game. And you could be fooled into thinking that this doesn’t work in Shift, and in many ways you’re right, but it does add a translucent tint which certainly helps it blend in more. In fact, you can pretty much play the game without realising the HUD is there, which I guess is a good thing!

 

NFS Shift introduces a few new modes, namely Driver Duels, which involves you racing one-on-one in best-of-three races against single-player AI. And this highlights a possibly potential flaw with the game. The AI is no longer underpowered compared to you, meaning you are essentially racing someone better than you and it will show. It can be good for die-hard racing fans, but other times you just want to go insanely fast and win a race without too much effort.

 

Multiplayer-wise, the game is alright. It really has been built around a single-player experience, but the Skill Points you earn in single-player can be transferred to multiplayer gaming sessions, which certainly adds spice to each game. Unfortunely EA could not lose their old wicked ways and have kept in both Race Days and purchasing cars with real money from XBLA. It’s ok, but if you are going to change one thing, at least change the whole thing!

 

So I can conclude that the handling is strong, the single player is awesome and the multiplayer is getting there. So many major flaws of the previous games have been rectified. You may ask yourself whether the framerate has been made stable, the graphics bumped up and the soundtrack full of awesome. Well good news. As you are about discover all of the above are fixed as well!

 

Graphically the game is intense. It doesn’t reach GRID limits but beats RACE Pro hands down. The tracks have a certain panorama feel, as you drive by at full speed they sort of fade out all around you. Also, the famous skid mark test (the one where you make a skid circle and when you come back it should still be there) exists in this game as well, which is good for seeing where either you or a competitor messed up (they do now as well). I do have a tiny complaint about the vehicles. They do feel a little too low-res for my liking, but the interiors are still pretty awesome.

 

 

To match, the framerate is pretty constant throughout. It doesn’t lag behind unless everyone crashes at the same time in the same place, and makes the race a lot more free-flowing, something which cannot be said for previous NFS titles!

 

Finally, the all important soundtrack. Gone are the terrible, cheeky cutscenes, and the god-awful rap music, and in comes some modern rock music which is great to drive to. If you have the Steering Wheel, you will really feel like you are the ultimate street racer.

 

Shift changes NFS in many ways. From the graphics to the soundtrack, the gameplay to the cars and everything else in between, this game is the best NFS of the current generation. It may not have a leg up over the other thousand of racers on Xbox 360, but it is certainly getting there, race by race!