Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed succeeds in being quite tame compared to its predecessor and the two other big racing sims in the genre, Gran Turismo 5 and Forza 3. While the sense of speed is still there, and the addition of night races and the helmet-cam are both welcome and well realized additions, the list of improvements falter under the weight of the negatives that Shift 2 brings to the Shift spin-off series.
Paul writes: "So, all in all, Shift 2: Unleashed from way back in 2011 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC was a good game, but not quite as good as the marketing hype may have had you believe. Autolog and racing with friends was fun, the upgrading of the cars and the gradual unlocking of the new series made for an addictive play, and the game looked the part as well. But it failed to reach the heights many predicted."
"At B-TEN, we love video games. Even more then that, we love having the chance to talk about video games. Straight Right is a video game developer out of Australia known for Shift 2 Unleashed, Mass Effect 3 Special Edition and Dues Ex Human Revolution Director’s Cut. I got the chance to interview Straight Right CEO Tom Crago and get his insight into the games Straight Right has worked on."
-Jes Taylor, B-TEN.com
I agree,
SQ: "Excellent"
LkTWS: "Yes"
Thanks for writing something with substance and not just opinion and speculation.
Deus Ex was great, but ME3 was just done terribly. The should have done the collection of the series for wii u instead of the third game on its own.
This is exactly what I've been telling Jes, but he's just a QA tester so it doesn't really matter what I tell him. :P
Excellent work. This is a breath of fresh air especially compared to the usual doom and gloom on here. Keep it up.
Car racing games are the most prolific among all the genres of video games available for gaming consoles and computers. Ask any serious gamer and you will not find one who has never played a car racing game ever in his life. For starters, the reason behind the prolific success of car racing games can be attributed to the fact that they give you an opportunity to live a fantasy life that you can’t otherwise afford to live in reality. How many of you can afford the costly cars and their costlier upgrades? Very few. And, let’s not get into the legality of street racing and the risks involved with high speed car races.
I disagree about NFS Shift 2. I wanted to love it, and I loved the first one. They just made the cars handle like crap. Most of them feel like they pivot from the center of the car. It makes the "fun" a lot harder to swallow when you can't keep a world class sports car on the track, and not for lack of skill, but for lack of good physics, and driving dynamics. I really like the helmet cam view, and the way it is so visceral. Lets hope they fine tune it for part 3.
I think that the unfortunate physics in Shift is an absolute tragedy, because for me, the game surpasses Forza and Gran Turismo in every other area.
The career mode is excellent (both the variety and unique race objectives), the track list is pretty much the best I've ever seen in a racing game, the sound is superb, the damage system is perfect and there are so many other cool little touches (being able to works convert any car, and neat stuff like upgrading the cockpit etc).
It's a shame that Slightly Mad Studios had a big falling out with EA after the game released, and it's guaranteed that we'll never see a Shift 3 (which is a real shame since I imagine they would have introduced weather and finally got the physics right). However, the upcoming Project CARS which looks utterly amazing and does in fact have a solid physics engine, is being developed by the same team and is scheduled for release on PC, PS3, 360 and Wii U sometime next year apparently.
Having gone from the ps3 version to the PC I'm enjoying this game a lot more, graphics are very nice and gameplays a fun diversion from the real sims.