Chrome parts for your car

After the release of 2008’s quite frankly terrible Need For Speed: Undercover I wouldn’t have minded if EA had killed off the series there and then. However, new developer Slightly Mad Studios has been able to breathe new life into the series, and whilst Need For Speed: Shift is far from being a classic it is certainly a step in the right direction for this once great franchise.

Undercover proved that everyone had become bored with the series, including the developer EA Black Box. In fact they were so bored that they were happy to release just about anything to the public regardless of the state that it was in. Fortunately for us Slightly Mad Studios have some racing pedigree about them, with many of their employees having previously worked on hardcore racing sim GTR 2.

Need For Speed: Shift moves the emphasis away from illegal street racing and onto the race track. You take on the role of an up and coming racing driver who has to work his way through the ranks in order to become the best in the world. As you progress you earn points depending on your performance and driving style, this allows you to level up and unlock various performance and visual upgrades as well as additional cash from your sponsors. On top of this there is the Stars system. You earn Stars by winning races and gradually unlock tougher events and work your way through the games different Tiers.

It terms of presentation the developers have got things spot on. It seems like an obvious thing but it’s surprising how often you see games get it completely wrong. The in game graphics are decent, although the lighting and textures aren’t quite to the same standard of games like DiRT 2 and Race Driver Grid. The frame rate on the PC version of the game also leaves something to be desired, so it is probably best to avoid playing the game on this platform if at all possible. In spite of these small complaints the sound effects are very crisp and detailed when played through a decent speaker system.

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