VerZion 7

As usual, my review comes in a long time after the rest of the gaming community finishes their own write-ups. For some, this might sound as the same old stuff repeated again, which might be true, because certain observations remain the same. So, here is the good, bad and ugly about the game so far

The Good:

• The tire physics is amazing and I mean it. I have played this game so far, using my keyboard, a gamepad and a gaming wheel and on all three controllers, the on-track vehicular dynamics are smooth and at the same time exciting. Right from the word get go, you will find yourself fighting corners off and as you understand the point rewards system in the game, you start mentally arguing if you want to get that perfect corner (precision driving) or if you want to slide your way out (aggression driving).
• The crash visuals are stunning. When you hit a curb, barrier or a different car, depending on the intensity of the impact your screen will do anything from going fuzzy to going full black and white fuzzy, giving you the impression of loss of focus from a drivers perspective and this feeling doubles up if you drive in the cockpit view.
• The tracks have been designed with not just tight corners, but straight line speed also in mind. Unlike the city tracks that NFS previously had and most unlike the handicapped tracks we saw in Pro-Street, NFS Shift’s tracks are awesome from start to stop. They actually give you the perfect perspective of the racing track and more importantly, they allow you to explore the A to Z of your car’s abilities on the track.

The Bad:

• A lot of the things in the game feel like they have been “ripped off”. The career progression screens, the vehicle upgrades screen feel exactly like they did in Juiced 2 – Hot Import Nights. Except for a few minor modifications here and there, the rest of the screens seem like they have been designed with Juiced as a foundation.
• The second part of the “ripped off” feel comes from the AI. This time from DIRT. The AI maintain the driving line perfectly, to the point that at many points you notice that one AI vehicle is in a position of advantage to overtake another at a corner, however it will drop speed and maintain the driving line and once you figure out the logic, you know how to beat the AI at a corner. I’ve done this on many a track hitting the first turn at top speed and drifting my way to the front, while the AI decides to maintain the driving line.
• The physics that went into designing the drift races are far too much overkill in my opinion. The best experience of the drift races comes from using a gaming wheel and pedal, where you manage to get that exact torque and braking combination and the right amount of understeer to get that perfect drift. So, drift races can be a bit of an anti-climax for a lot of people, especially beginners with the game, who will need some time to understand the physics that goes into the drift race in NFS.

• Depending your playing style, the Nitrous Oxide option within this edition may or may not impress you. In the previous editions, hitting your NOS button resulted in your vehicle turning into a ballistic projectile and you could actually feel this visually and if you were using a gaming wheel, you could experience it physically in the form of the steering tightening for a few seconds. In this edition, hitting NOS does not result in such a power trip, however you will see a notable change in the vehicles straight line speed or corner exiting speed, depending on when you hit it. Even in the cockpit or driver view mode, it still lacks that bite that older editions had.

The Ugly:

• When people play NFS they do so and love the series for one reason. It happens to be only racing simulation that has a story line that impresses. Look at Underground 1 and 2, Most Wanted, Carbon and Undercover. They had story lines, if it wasn’t the race it was the upgrades and the cars and if it wasn’t them, it was the story line that kept people going. The lack of the same, makes this edition no different from any other Racing Simulation.
• What gets a game really interesting is the in-game audio. FEAR as a first person shooter was impressive because of the audio effects. FAR CRY impressive because of the audio. Name a game that impressed and you will automatically realize that part of it was the effective use of audio effects to immerse you in it. While the engine notes are surely impressive in this edition, there isn’t any audio to back you up. On the other side, the street racing editions of NFS have always impressed.

Minimum System Requirements:

EA recommends the following as the minimum required specifications for the game: 3.2GHz Processor, 1GB RAM and a PCI-Express, pixel shader 3.0 graphic card with 256MB.