NFS Shift user reviews

2009 Need for Speed SHIFT
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by g u c c i »

peterfaj wrote:Why do people write 2K10? Isn't it a lot faster like 2010? And it also looks nicer.
EA's NBA Live 2010 is diff from 2K Sports' NBA 2K10 so... :roll:
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by peterfaj »

I mean why even call it that...
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by gearhead450 »

I actually love this game... which considering how bumpy the series has been in the past, is rather surprising. SHIFT is firetruck lightyears ahead of Prostreet, and for once the graphics are actuall worth a damn - not to mention physics.

Granted, I've nver really been into the whole simulation racing gig, but this is the closest I'll probably ever get enjoying this type of thing. :)

9/10
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by AERO_HDT »

Okay, first of all, Summ, you're my kinda guy. The essence of a racing game is its core, if you get the basics wrong, then the rest of the game, no matter how good, will turn out to be rubbish. This I find is the difference between Shift and Grid. Grid has it's good points, but fundamentally, the physics model underneath could very well have been ripped from Mario Kart.

Hydro, if you call a 24 minute race "an enduro" then you're missing the point. A 6 hour race is an enduro. A 12 hour race is an enduro. A 24 hour race is an enduro. Not 24 minutes, that's a walk in park for a seasoned player.

Secondly, you say it's boring, but it's not boring, but it's soooo boring. I'm sorry, I don't understand. Is it boring or not? :?

Your reference to watching a race on a "small track" with a straight 900 metres long boggles me (Fuji's main straight is only 1000m long), as does your reference to a crash which "made" your day. Now everyone likes a bit of biff and a bit of barge, but a proper racing enthusiast would much rather see cars racing out on track, passing, overtaking, drafting. Put it this way, if everyone had smashed on that first corner, the race would have been red-flagged, you'd have nothing to watch and I bet you'd be stoked with a grin from ear to ear.

Not.

But I do see your point in that crashing is and should be a part of any racing game and if its going to be implemented then it should be done properly. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has no crash model, but does that make it an inferior game to Grid?

;)

And for you Kaerer, who claim to race Elises in real life (and a few other cars non-professionally? Like a Fiat Punto at the traffic lights perhaps? :roll: ). You state that NO game on the market comes close, then destroy your credibility with waffling on about underlying geometry with the use of a KEYBOARD! How can you make such sweeping statements, such harsh criticisms when you're a key-presser?! Sorry, please buy yourself a nice G25 and come back to the table with your STIG number plates and perhaps I might listen.... And be sober when you do because I've never seen anyone spell the same word with five letters five different ways....

:P

Rant over. Nice chatting with you guys. Make sure you don't hold back when you reply....

:D
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Summ »

^Knew you and I were in the same boat! :D

As for GRID - I didn't find it THAT bad. Sure, the driving model wasn't very simmy and people have bashed it for being a step backwards in the TOCA series, but I have seen far worse than GRID. I still think Shift has the better driving model, despite its shortcomings.

Wholeheartedly agree with the point on endurance races. Heck, 24 mins are something between 15 and 18 laps on most tracks. That's not much, though I can understand how that might feel like a lot for people used to their races only lasting from 1 to 3 laps. A decent race usually takes around 1 or 2 hours and includes one or more pit stops. Never was a fan of the 1-3 lap races. I find them really out of place in GT5, which is in nature a simulator.

About the crashes - I agree with Hydro that if they are in the game, if the engine supports them, it would always be nice to make them as realistic as possible, but for me it's not a 'must have' in any sense of the word. As you rightfully mentioned, GT5P is a heck of a game despite the total lack of crash physics - too bad that you need to find a racing league with established 'no touching' rules to enjoy any kind of online racing. No performance damage -> bunch of fools using you as a brake 24/7. It's retarded. They really should implement a kind of no-collision ghost-car mechanic, so everybody could be on the track at the same time without it becoming a kindergarten. Sure, it's not a realistic solution, but I find it elegant nonetheless.. and it would definitely improve the online experience. In fact, it would make it worthwhile playing, instead of what it's like now.

Hey Hydro - ever watch demolition derbies?

Agree on the statement to Kaerar. A game's handling model cannot be judged by any means other than a wheel, preferrably with ffb and preferrably a G25/G27 or equally good. I don't get how a supposed "real racing driver" would ever think of playing a racing game with a keyboard. I'm no racing driver myself, but keyboard steering is unfathomable to me nonetheless. In the same sweep, I still remain adamant in my view of Flatout being a big joke. The fact that it and simulation are mentioned in the same sentence is an even bigger joke.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by drew91781 »

I'm ashamed of myself. I hoped this NFS would be better than the last few and I bought it for my 360. I can sum this game up in two words, TOTAL RUBBISH!! The problem I'm reading that PC users are having aren't limited to PCs. The game look amazing, and thats all it has going for it. The cars are mostly repeats no surprise there. The cars handle worst than any other game I've ever played. When trying to spin on of the AI cars my car looses control and starts bouncing from corner to corner. By corner to corner I mean, front left, front right rear right... WTF!!! The cars slide every where!!!
The one thing about this game that I liked, other than the graphics, is drifting. I think that it is the closest thing they did to real life.
I was really looking forward to this games release, I hoped it would be better. Can't wait for Forza 3!! Thats gonna be great!!
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Hydro_PT »

AERO_HDT wrote: Hydro, if you call a 24 minute race "an enduro" then you're missing the point. A 6 hour race is an enduro. A 12 hour race is an enduro. A 24 hour race is an enduro. Not 24 minutes, that's a walk in park for a seasoned player.
Well I love racing games, it's one of my favourite type of games. But I'm not used to race for 1, 2 or 3 hours. Most racing games out there feature races of 3 laps, sometimes a bit more, and that's what, 10 minutes? For example in SHIFT there's the Endurance Category, which features a 10 laps race at Silverstone. Is that endurance in real life? Of course not, even the smallest races are what, 15 to 20 laps? Is that endurance in a game? You say no, I say yes. To me, it is. To me, a 24 minutes race is endurance because I'm not used to race for so much time. The only "game" I play that makes me sit in front of the computer for 4 hours straight is Flight Simulator X, and that's because I absolutely love aviation, and being able to pilot a Boeing 737-800 full of passengers on a 4 hour trip like a real pilot... well it's fantastic. And that yes, it makes me sit there with a cup of tee watching the instruments and making sure everything goes well. Is it boring? A bit yes... but I love it. The same doesn't apply to racing games, specially because they usually feature 3 laps races. While on FSX, everything takes time like in real life... so I was used to spent hours on it.
AERO_HDT wrote: Secondly, you say it's boring, but it's not boring, but it's soooo boring. I'm sorry, I don't understand. Is it boring or not? :?
Well uh, as far as I know, people use "soooo" to emphasize something (I know it's wrong, the word is just "so", but I think you get the point - as a side note, English is not my native language, so forgive any mistakes lol). Btw I find SHIFT less boring now, because I'm already racing with powerful machines, so I must be careful all the time. But believe me, there were some events where I was almost falling from my chair. I was sooooo bored. :D
AERO_HDT wrote: Your reference to watching a race on a "small track" with a straight 900 metres long boggles me (Fuji's main straight is only 1000m long), as does your reference to a crash which "made" your day. Now everyone likes a bit of biff and a bit of barge, but a proper racing enthusiast would much rather see cars racing out on track, passing, overtaking, drafting. Put it this way, if everyone had smashed on that first corner, the race would have been red-flagged, you'd have nothing to watch and I bet you'd be stoked with a grin from ear to ear.

Not.

But I do see your point in that crashing is and should be a part of any racing game and if its going to be implemented then it should be done properly. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has no crash model, but does that make it an inferior game to Grid?

;)
You wanna see an aerial picture of the track? You'll see it's small... I can complete one lap on that track with my bicycle under 7 minutes, without much effort. The "900 meter straight" is a piece of cake, I go from one tip to the other in what, 2 minutes? The cars racing there complete the entire straight probably in 15/20 seconds (it depends on the type of car, of course). Motorbikes are even faster.

As for the crash, well you might not understand it well, but for me it's a pleasure to see cars racing perfectly, overtaking and taking risks just to be a second faster. I love to be close to the cars (sometimes too close), hearing that great noise they do (the older the car, the better the sound). But it's also a pleasure for me to see a nice crash (no injured people, of course). I bet this sounds very weird to you, but I'm not demented lol. I just like crashes... I can't help myself, but everytime I see a racing car coming off the track into the tires, I smile. Everytime I see a building being imploded, I smile. I like destruction, when there's no people hurt or killed. Heck, when I was a little kid and I played with those little cars, I would always do a great race that would take the entire afternoon, but in the end, there would be a crash. Always. Was it a plane coming down the track and smashing the cars, or cops interfering on a race, or a pilot driving backwards, etc. :P

Btw a red flagged race wouldn't be that cool of course, but on that day there was 4 different cups going on, so after that race another started. Lots of chance to see cars racing... and crashing.

I never review a game based on singular stuff. I review a game based on its whole: bad stuff and good stuff. Of course that the damage physics of a game don't determine if it's good or not. But do I take that in account when I review a game? Of course I do. However, I wouldn't ever say that GRID is better than SHIFT or GT5 based on the damage model only. That doesn't make any sense. That's why I say GRID is better in some things that SHIFT isn't so good, and SHIFT also has good things that GRID doesn't have. Simple enough... but as a whole, I find GRID better than SHIFT. It's my opinion, and I already explained why, so I won't repeat everything. :D
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by zedex »

this thread is going longer and longer between the same few people that I stopped bothering to read now T.T

back to shift =b
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Summ »

^Wow. What a magnificent contribution! Thank you! :D
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by AERO_HDT »

In all honesty, I don't mean to jump down anyone's throat. I've been a NFS player since the very first one came out and whilst it's not a game that I recommend to my friends (unless they're THOSE kind of mates), I couldn't help but be impressed with Shift. I'm a closet NFS gamer, it's not something I advertise openly amongst other racing communities.

But take a look at the game objectively and in the context of things. For the past few years, I've never really heard anyone heap praise on an NFS game, Underground, MW, Carbon, Undercover.... they were all pathetically laughable racing games that only had a modicum of a physics engine underneath to pin them all together. To be serious, those games were by definition the classic cliche of "marketing drivel". And I was fool enough to buy them all.

But I sat back and took a long hard look at Shift and despite all it's flaws, I really found it hard to criticize this NFS instalment compared to the garbage we've had before.

Forget GT, forget GRID, forget Forza and every other game out there, let's judge Shift against other Need For Speed games, as quite frankly, the biggest thing Shift has against it at the moment is the fact that it's being marketed by Electronic Arts and the fact that it is called Need For Speed.

If you had've called this game TOCA: Shift, I bet the praise would be a heck of a lot different.

Can you think of a Need For Speed that has in all honesty, been better than this?

I hope EA put the effort to release some solid patches for this game and also put some effort into some creative online competitions and also some solid DLC that will keep the game fresh well into 2010.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by zedex »

AERO_HDT wrote:Can you think of a Need For Speed that has in all honesty, been better than this?
NFS: High Stakes

obviously not for graphics or physics... that game was out 10 years ago... can't compare that... but I'm comparing fun factor and the MASS of features it had... Day/Night, weather, convertible top up/down, headlights, multiple tracks in a varied environment... AND the Hot Pursuit tracks, the MASSIVE amount of modded cars/tracks out there... awesome replay! I was playing that game until Underground got released... and still went back to play it a bit after Most Wanted came out... that game was FUN!! however it's VERY different from what SHIFT is... it's not really a fair comparaison.

Shif is more immersive, and High Stakes was pure fun, especially hot pursuit mode =) and THAT is what a proper police chase SHOULD be! not those stupid HP2 bumper car, or those most wanted/carbon/undercover crap where not only can you NOT play as police, but they are just pure stupid...

I also had lots of fun with Underground 2... actually I might just go back to playing it after I'm done with shift again... for the 8th time =)
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Summ »

What Shift has got going against it, as a racing game, is all the bugs and glitches that marr its image, rather than its NFS badge. Sure, some people will bash it merely for being an NFS game, but then again.. their choice. I can think for myself and as such I really don't care for narrowminded opinions.

As an NFS game, it lacks just about everything that made the other NFS games. It lacks in customization, in setting, in game modes and in features.

That being said, I do find the driving model is by far the best we have seen in the series. Wheels that lock under braking, tires that lose grip, but can be controlled, somewhat realistic cornering speeds (I'm still only in the BMW 135i, so can't tell about higher end cars). Sure, the physics have their flaws and aren't as accurate as they could be, but for being what it is (25% arcade, 75% sim) I'm quite happy and I do agree that it IS the best NFS to date.. by a mile and a half. Once they iron out the bugs and I can actually get a decent frame rate, more than a mile and a half =).
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by AERO_HDT »

But is bashing a title for wearing the NFS badge considered "narrowmindedness". Far be it the opposite, that perhaps those who praise NFS be the narrow-minded ones who have not experienced full racing simulation at its best.

I could easily bash Shift. I could bash it so hard it would earn me a home run and I don't even play baseball.

But I can't bash it because I can afford to measure it up against all of the other racing titles I've played (trust me, I was there when Continental Circus was released in 1985 and even before that when Pacman was tha shizznit).

Zedex, you hit the nail on the head, but after High Stakes, Hot Pursuit 2 was seriously the last real NFS game that we really had. The last game with open roads, super high powered exotics, spectacular scenery and (for it's time) a decent physics engine. I'm of the old school ilk, I've always thought of NFS as being a high-powered, exotica supercar game. Now I know that there are those players who've cut their teeth on Underground 1 and 2 and Most Wanted, etc etc.

But they're all noobs.

Need For Speed was the predecessor to Gran Turismo. It was what gave Kazunori Yamauchi his ambition to develop a game that had real life cars in it, and for me, Need For Speed will always be the "original" racing sim as no other game had replicated the physics of real car handling before NFS hit the shelves.

Things have come a long way since 1994. I'm glad to see Shift build on a tradition that we all thought had been lost.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by zedex »

AERO_HDT wrote:Zedex, you hit the nail on the head, but after High Stakes, Hot Pursuit 2 was seriously the last real NFS game that we really had. The last game with open roads, super high powered exotics, spectacular scenery and (for it's time) a decent physics engine. I'm of the old school ilk, I've always thought of NFS as being a high-powered, exotica supercar game. Now I know that there are those players who've cut their teeth on Underground 1 and 2 and Most Wanted, etc etc.

But they're all noobs.

Need For Speed was the predecessor to Gran Turismo. It was what gave Kazunori Yamauchi his ambition to develop a game that had real life cars in it, and for me, Need For Speed will always be the "original" racing sim as no other game had replicated the physics of real car handling before NFS hit the shelves.

Things have come a long way since 1994. I'm glad to see Shift build on a tradition that we all thought had been lost.
Hot Pursuit 2 had a LOT of features lacking though. Sure it had better 3D models, better graphics, but it was missing the weather effects, and night driving... the Hot Pursuit chases were too lame... all you do is hit the chasing cars, blocking them do nothing. I still prefer the high stakes' way of making police chases... and WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT HELICOPTER DROPPING EXPLODING BARRELS?!?!? I had high hopes for HP2, because I really like high stakes, and thought it was the same game with better graphics and cooler tracks... but the lack of features sort of ruined it... and the hot pursuit mode...

Underground was interesting... it was a completely new thing, especially after the FnF movies, it was the "new hype", and I REALLY like underground 2. it had the best of open world + night driving + customization... after that, it was downhill... well Most Wanted wasn't THAT bad, and the police is getting fun again... but that still lacked night driving... which is why i prefered carbon over most wanted... but i admit, it wasn't THAT good
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Hydro_PT »

@AERO_HDT: A better NFS than Shift? Porsche Unleashed. Period. That's a hell of a game that beats any other NFS so far imo.

There's something that people don't realise: things change. NFS can't be forever the same type of game. We couldn't play forever with exotic machines in spectacular scenery, being occasionally chased by cops. I liked that concept, believe me, but getting every year the same thing over and over... that would have killed the series a few years ago. NFS is 15 years old, right? Every year we get a new NFS, right? It would have been impossible for EA to innovate if they would make games based on the same thing over and over. We would just get more cars and tracks every year, nothing else.

I don't get it when people say that Underground (1 and 2) and Most Wanted are bad games. What about Carbon or Undercover? Those are shiznit games, but the first "tuning/illegal street racing" NFS games weren't bad, they were just different than what we used to have. I can see quality in those games, and let's be honest, what are the other racing games that give us a city to explore, lots of tuning and cops on our tail? Street Racing Syndicate? Juiced? I don't think so.

To me these games were like fresh air. Of course that EA failed when they decided to recycle everything from previous games and call it "a new NFS". Now I see SHIFT has fresh air again. What's up with the "NFS feeling"? To me SHIFT is a NFS game. It doesn't feature exotic cars, it doesn't feature illegal street racing, but it is a Need for Speed game nonetheless. Why? Things change. And I'm glad EA decide to change their concept every now and again.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Summ »

^Carbon was trash. So was undercover. Pro Street was quite decent and Most Wanted, despite the handling model and the storyline, was at least interesting and could be fun. Over the top, but fun. I agree though, that High Stakes and Hot Pursuit 2 were the 'good old days' and had a charm of their own. AERO - I've been on the verge of saying that GT and Forza are the evolution of that concept many times by now! hehe.

As for the bashing bit - if you get a knee-jerk reaction from hearing or seeing 'NFS', then yes.. you are narrowminded, no matter how many years old you are and how many times you've been around the block. Likewise, if your heart speeds up and your eyes start watering at the mention of the same word/name, you are narrowminded as well. One should never discard the possibility that a tradition could be broken - especially if a new company moves in to take over the job of developing on the title. Every game should be given a fair chance, regardless of its pedigree. I see your point that some people doing the bashing are still green and don't have the experience to back up their opinions, but a lot of people do. I'd call those people narrowminded indeed.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Jackhammer »

Could you guys just put other NFS titles, GT, Grid, etc away for a second and focus on Shift?
I mean to be honest I never played GT or Grid and I just won the NFS world tour at Shift.
I think this game is a masterpiece. And I'm not comparing it to any other game.
Just look how real and great this game is. It was the first time that I actually felt the "need" for speed inside myself while playing a video game.This game made me respect speed. When I'm going 280km/h in a zonda, I can feel the car slipping and those collision effects made me hold one finger over the down arrow to reduce the speed from time to time. This has never happened to me in any racing video game.For example in MW (which was my favorite till now...now I love shift more) I would keep accelerating till I hit another car or a wall! But I couldn't do that in shift(well that was sort of a comparison i think :D)
Most people say that the handling was awful.Some say you can only play it with a steering wheel. But I mastered the game with a keyboard and it was so much fun!I think the handling is so real. I mean how many of you guys think that in reality you can go around a corner at 100 km/h without going off the road? Well at least I can't! :P so how should I expect to do that at 250km/h in a simulating video game?
And the cockpit view was perfect.
About the graphics...well...I don't think that anyone would disagree that it's awesome ! and it's the same with sound.
now i think this is one of the best games i ever played.It is wonderful.thumbs up for EA and Slightly Mad studios.
and if i wanna compare it with other titles...well...i have to say that carbon, undercover and underground 2 were the worst games i ever played.I uninstalled undercover when I unlocked tier 4 because it was unplayable and so repetitive and boring. I didn't play pro street but I can tell from the low ratings that it was a disaster.now even putting those aside, Shift still IS the best NFS.
So don't say GT is this and Grid is that and NFS PS was good and blah blah blah!
I think NFS Shift " ITSELF" really deserves a 9/10 from IGN .
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Hydro_PT »

@Jackhammer: It's hard to say how good or bad a game is without comparing it to other games of the same genre. To say "it's good" or "it's bad", you must have something else to compare it to. It's like good and evil. You only have evil because you have good, and vice versa. You get the point? :p

"I think this game is a masterpiece."

Based on what? If you only think about SHIFT, of course that the game is wonderful. But when you start comparing it with similar games... the bad things and the good things about SHIFT start to arise.

Anyway, the sense of speed you talk about is indeed one of the things I like the most in SHIFT. You really feel like going at 300 km/h, controlling a powerful beast like the Zonda R or similar. I love that feeling, few other racing games offer such a nice sense of speed. And the cockpit view is also very good. Too bad you can't move your head around with the mouse, for example. That would be useful and realistic, because sometimes I want to overtake someone and the other car is on my side and I can't see it... or when looking back. I mean, if we have working mirrors, why can't we use them? I remember that in DiRT, when you press the button to look back, the guy focus on the mirror to see what's behind you. Pretty realistic, I love that little touch. You see the the pilot's head turning to the mirror and not focusing on the road so much, then going back to the road. :)

Well the game is meant to be played with a wheel. Keyboards simple don't offer the same precision a wheel does. With the keyboard, things are either on or off, you can't control how much input you give. This is crucial on racing games for obvious reasons. It's possible to play with the keyboard, but believe me, with a wheel if feels much better. Since I got a wheel, I play all racing games with it, except the ones that are too arcade, like Most Wanted, TrackMania or FlatOut.

As for the handling being real... well it's far from being real. In the beginning the game feels more realistic, but when you start racing with better cars (tier 2 onwards) you notice that SHIFT is pretty much an arcade game. The cars slide too much on corners, and when going on straights they jump and twitch too much to feel realistic. I've seen plenty of real life races and I also saw some nice videos of those "cockpit cameras" and... it's nothing like SHIFT. This NFS isn't realistic, but on the other hand, it's pretty fun and challenging. I love the way you drive, even though it's not realistic or a simulation. Just like GRID... I love playing GRID. I know it's not realistic and it's arcade, but it's a lot of fun and very challenging and heck, I bought the game because of that.

The exception here is drift, which sucks. Really, drifting in SHIFT is pure shiznit, the tires seem made of butter and the track made of oil. They spin at the lowest touch on the pedal, they even spin when I put the car in 5th gear at 10 km/h. WTF? I hate drift in SHIFT, it's so unrealistic and frustrating.

SHIFT is also very "forgiving". You can go to the dirt or crash and you keep racing like nothing ever happened. It's easy to regain control of the car. In GTR2, for example, if you make a mistake and you lose the control of the car, you're out. It's very, very hard to keep racing after you crash or you go to the dirt. I don't think that SHIFT should be so realistic, this would annoy most players, but it could be a "harder game", if you know what I mean.This also applies to the career and the money you have. You can easily reach the NFS World Tour without racing most events. You also get a ridiculous amount of money in the later levels, money that you don't really use. GRID suffers from the same problem, in the end you gain so much money that you can buy an Audi R10 (15.000.000) after one championship. Even if you buy all cars, you get too much money in the end (I finished with 80.000.000 - all cars bought).

As for the graphics in SHIFT, I already liked them more. Yes they're nice, the sense of speed is good, but if you look carefully, the track surroundings are very poor, with bad textures. The same applies to the decals on the cars, they have a very low resolution, and even the car's model aren't that great. Compared to GT5 or Forza 3, SHIFT stands way back. I remember that Bojan said SHIFT looked much better than GT5 or F3 - that's just ridiculous. SHIFT looks nice overall and that's it. When you start seeing things more carefully, you find out that the graphics aren't that good.

As for the sound, it is indeed very good. They should have improved the surroundings' sounds, like the crowd and so on, because everything feels like "dead". If you play GRID, you'll know what I mean with "living tracks".

"Shift still IS the best NFS. So don't say GT is this and Grid is that and NFS PS was good and blah blah blah! I think NFS Shift " ITSELF" really deserves a 9/10 from IGN ."

In your opinion. I couldn't agree less, and for a bunch of reasons. Porsche Unleashed is for me the best NFS ever, and I played most NFS games (not all). Secondly, there are better racing games out there (this is not an opinion, is a fact). And you can never say that a game deserves this or that when you don't compare it to other games. SHIFT ITSELF deserves a 9/10 from IGN? Heck, if SHIFT is going to be reviewed alone, it deserves a 10/10, because since you're not comparing it to any other game, it stands out at the best.

There's no point in reviewing anything if you don't have a solid base of comparison. If you don't have nothing that you can compare to, then whatever you're reviewing will be the best, no matter what. A simple example:

"The first automobile ever produced was the Benz Patent Motorwagen, built in 1885 and unveiled in 1886 by Karl Benz. Unique and consequently the fastest..."

See? This car was the fastest (even though it couldn't go faster than 19 km/h) and best car of its time because it was the only one. Of course it was the best, there was only it, nothing else. However, when the Daimler Motorized Carriage was invented, there was already something else to be compared to, and the Mercedes was neither the fastest nor the best car, because there was at least another car, and when comparing both, one was better. The same thing applies to video games and everything else. I think I made myself clear enough? :D
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Bojan
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Bojan »

Hydro_PT wrote:As for the graphics in SHIFT, I already liked them more. Yes they're nice, the sense of speed is good, but if you look carefully, the track surroundings are very poor, with bad textures. The same applies to the decals on the cars, they have a very low resolution, and even the car's model aren't that great. Compared to GT5 or Forza 3, SHIFT stands way back. I remember that Bojan said SHIFT looked much better than GT5 or F3 - that's just ridiculous. SHIFT looks nice overall and that's it. When you start seeing things more carefully, you find out that the graphics aren't that good.
So have you actually played Forza 3 on an Xbox 360, GT5 on a PS3 and SHIFT on an Xbox360 or GT5? If you're comparing graphics from the rendered screenshots, then I guess you don't really have any credibility here.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by GT3x24x7 »

Actually Bojan GT5 Prologue has been out for quite a while and it's 1080p @ 60fps all the way compared to Shift's 720p. The game actually does look like all those 'rendered screenshots' you're referring to.

This is not to say that I think Shift's gfx are bad, far from it. I think they're great and really give you a good sense of presence and speed, as Hydro says.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Bojan »

Ah yes, sorry, I think I played all on 720p so GT5 has an advantage over that. But still when it's all in action, you don't really notice the difference in resolution and shift in my opinion still has a better overall look in action. Once again a thing you cannot see in screenshots. Like hydro said, SHIFT looks nice overall while Forza looks plain and GT5 looks sterile.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Hydro_PT »

@Bojan: No I haven't played Forza or GT5, I've only seen videos and images of both games. It's not the same thing as playing them, of course, but it gives you a very good idea of what you will get. The latest images of GT5, for example, show a beautiful cockpit, with amazing textures, that is better than the one in SHIFT. And it's not rendered or photoshoped, it's the real thing.

As for SHIFT, I don't think there's much difference between the various versions (360, PS3 and PC). I play it on the PC at the highest settings (except for AA, I use AA 2x and the maximum is AA 8x). As I said, the game looks nice overall, when things are in motion (the sense of speed is really good). But for example when you're working with the decals to tune your car, you see that they have a very bad resolution, and even the models of the cars aren't so good as in Forza or GT5 (they don't look so smooth). The same applies to the track surroundings. I noticed yesterday that the trees in SPA are 2D lol. And the barriers in the London drift track are worse than GTA IV with MEDIUM textures.

I hope things are clearer now. SHIFT has good graphics, and the sense of motion/speed is well done. But when things slow down a bit, you notice that the graphics aren't that good, and IMO they should have improved that. Forza 3 and GT5 look great in motion (SHIFT does it too) and they also look great when things stop (SHIFT doesn't). Just look at the perfection of the cars in GT5, for example. Or the amazing textures in Forza 3. Looking at the whole thing, SHIFT stands behind these two games. That doesn't mean the graphics suck or are bad. They are just worse.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Summ »

^I disagree =). Having played - and playing - GT5P almost daily, I can only draw a comparison to that game. GT5 has never been awash with colour, which Shift, in contrast, is. This gives GT5 a more sterile, yet more realistic and mature look. Mind you, the difference to Shift isn't that big in that department. I do find the car models in both game are comparable nearly 1:1, detail-wise. That is a feeling however. I would need to actually have pictures of both to draw a definite conclusion. Yet the mere fact that the doubt exists should be proof enough that both games are of extremely high fidelity - as is Forza 3, judging by the screenshots.

In conclusion, I would not say Shift is inferior to GT5, just slightly more colourful. I do find the mesh in both games to be beautifully detailed and the textures good enough that they never bothered me in either of the two games, no matter the speed I drove in =).

btw, Hydro - more trackside 3d objects would hurt the frame rate ulteriorly. I can live with the current limit. GRID offers more of those, because it covers everything heavily with bloom effects and thus gets away with rather low-quality graphics unnoticed. As a consequence, I do feel Shift is leagues above GRID in the graphics department. It is, in fact, in the same league as GT5 and Forza, imho =).

Now, sound-wise.. that's another story. Shift has everything beat in that category. The sense of speed in Shift is also unbelievable and far superior to that of GT5. I do suspect that the sense of speed is exaggerated in Shift, compared to real life, but it sure helps to produce an overall immersiveness that is way deeper than anything else on the market today. That alone makes it a fantastic game.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Cpt.Razkit »

Shift looks really great in 1080p. Played the Forza 3 demo as well. Buying a PS3 maybe on Black Friday, will try GT5P then.

Shift and Forza are great in their own rights, Shift quenches my thirst for a racing game, because just waiting for Modern Warfare 2.

Shift is much better than Undercover but it's not in my top of the NFS series. I will have more thoughts once I complete the game.
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Re: NFS Shift user reviews

Post by Kaerar »

Summ wrote:^It's a matter of opinions really, based on one's own personal taste and standards on the matter. Personally I never enjoyed destruction games. Really not my cup of tea. Doesn't mean other people aren't allowed to find they are good games. It's their business really. It's not a debate on whether or not Flat Out was a good game however, but rather on whether it offered some elements in its physics, which can be called simulation.. and a comparison to how these elements work in Shift. So, although at first sight it might sound as if we are off-topic, we really aren't.
Flat Out 1 wasn't that great in the Physics department. It was good but the cars were all very oversteery and you had to be ultra gentle with steering inputs. I can see why you would get a negative impression of the gameplay from that. Also the type of game isn't really a proper racing game its more of a Destruction Derby which while fun is not the best for simulation.

However Flat Out 2 and Ultimate Carnage both have absolutely stunning physics for the cars (even if they carry too far through the air too easily but that's for gameplay). There are some road and track races in the game which you can play without AI if you like and see what I mean about the physics. There is a weight and inertia to the cars movement that allows for really nice differentiation in the cars. RWD are RWD, FWD are FWD both have accompanying oversteer and understeer dependent on throttle and steering control. The AWD are even faithfully replicated though in the guise of a big F250 like truck! The crash physics are a little over done but that's more gameplay oriented than realism so not a biggy, though the demolition physics are excellent, plus the ability to lose wheels and wreck the car are good too (not in enough games).

What I am saying though is that if you look at the game as a silly demo derby-alike then yes it's no sim and pretty uninteresting, but if you look deeper you will find one of the best control setups in a PC racing game ever made. You can insult me all you like about that Summ, but at the end of the day NO NFS game gets close in controls to Flat Out 2/Ultimate Carnage.

BTW the strawman about no-one taking me seriously for saying that didn't quite work did it ;)
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