Shift 2: Unleashed Review

The racing genre is quite a contested pool to compete in; so many quality racing titles battling it out for the top of that podium of consumer purchasing. Heavyweight titles like Gran Turismo and Forza aim firmly at the simulation side of the fanbase, yet purists will proclaim that these are still arcade titles compared to the hardcore simulations out on the market. Then you have the more arcade-like titles; Grid being the firm favourite of this pack, with DIRT and the predecessor of Shift 2 following very close behind.

So where will Shift 2: Unleashed fit within this two pack split in the genre? Have sufficient changes been made to push this towards the GT/Forza scale simulation or have they kept true to the original title. Read on to find out.

Shift 2: Unleashed, developed by Slightly Mad Studios, have seemingly taken everything that was right with Shift and expanded upon this. The visuals seem to have improved, making this an even more gorgeous title to look at (admittedly they're still not as detailed as the front runners), and we have no complaints about the audio side of things either.
Ok, well we told a fib; we have a slight issue with the audio, namely your “mentor” throughout the game. I'm sorry but I find it difficult to take advice from someone who is quite clearly farming fluff upon his chin.

The focus of your driving experience in this title is slapped firmly in the cockpit view of the game, and in all honesty it's one of the very few views acceptable to play racing games. I'm baffled at those who willingly choose chase cam views in these games, you're missing on half the overall experience and losing out on the immersion of the game.
With Shift 2 you can clearly see the amount of work that has gone into this cockpit experience - a new view for the game is placed within the drivers helmet, all the bumps, knocks and little track nuances are translated into the movement of the driver’s head. Additionally, your view shifts when coming to corners as it instinctively looks ahead on the road around the corner, just like you would in the real world. Then you have the likes of blurring vision from heavy impacts, and your vision focusing on the road, blurring your view in other areas, when reaching high speeds.

Whilst the game may not be as detailed as GT/Forza, you have extra little touches that complete the game: the track helicopter flying overhead like it was recording the race for TV; track side marbles that audibly strike your car if you run over them and are visible on the road; and even an in-game Youtube feature to upload sections of your race from the replay. These additional touches all add up to making this game something special; in this respect, Shift 2 really is creating a unique driving experience with no obvious rival.

The biggest chunk of your driving will be spent in the extensive career mode, starting out in humble beginnings due to a limited budget, you'll have access to a handful of standard road cars. From there you can start racing and earning cash in order to upgrade your car to make it more competitive; then it's racing your way through the different disciplines before reaching the pinnacle, the FIA GT1 division. It's obvious from this initial tier of racing that the AI is a very competitive and challenging entity to race against. I had no feeling that the AI had fell foul of Gran Turismo syndrome of mindlessly following the racing line, nor the overwhelming superiority of a couple of upgrades to make you uncatchable.

Every race I entered, I had to fight for the win, the AI drivers were challenging to pass and never made it easy for me to pass them. Due to the low number of laps in the beginning, making a good start is also paramount. Also, unlike GRID and Forza, Shift 2 has no rewind function; so if you make a last lap cock-up, then it's either live with the mistake or replay the entire race which I feel is a good thing - it will make you think about how you drive rather than just relying upon the get out of jail fee card button.

Shift 2 also offers quite a number of vehicular pornography options for the car aficionado’s out there; over 140 cars from 35 manufacturers should ensure that there is a car for every personal taste going. From rocket ships made out of scaffolding by a bloke in a shed named Keith, aka the Caterham and Radical; to great big lazy v8 powered monsters from the United States of Great America Land; the finely tuned machines from the Land of the Rising Sun to the overly efficient works from Ze Germans.

The Autolog returns once again becoming a staple ingredient to the Need for Speed recipe of success, your times are posted on your wall for your friends to view and compete against. Recommendations to race are put forward by your friends or by the Autolog system itself, and everything is all tied neatly together to create quite the social interaction; which just exemplifies what EA are wanting with their Need for Speed games, to create the most complete racing experience possible for the player. If you want arcade action then you'll look towards Hot Pursuit or the upcoming Need for Speed: The Run title; if you want proper track based racing action, then Shift 2 is now the obvious choice.

Of-course no Shift title would be complete without a solid multi-player component; you have the obligatory quick race to just jump straight into the action, create game where you have a myriad of options, make it ranked or unranked, which discipline, track, assists, even down to forcing a specific camera view to race in which is a nice touch indeed. However the most interesting option within the multi-player component is the driver duel championship which takes eight players and pits them one on one in a single elimination format in a random car and increasingly difficult tracks. You then have to defeat your single opponent in a number of rounds in order to gain the championship crown, though this crown only seems to be a token of bragging rights holding no other benefit to your overall racing career.

The only problem with multi-player is of course your human opponents and the sheer unpredictability inherent with our species. You really just can't tell whether “HALOROOLZ2009” has the driving ability of none other than The Stig or if they are just plain bad and will crash into everyone going. Thankfully there are some in-game penalties for bad driving, for example if you brazenly cut corners then you'll be speed restricted for a certain length of time, so the game does try to keep the racing as it should be.

Overall Shift 2 is delivering a solid racing title in which most people will find something to enjoy, while only so much can be done with the actual racing itself, the social aspect from Autolog gives Shift 2 a clear advantage over its competitors.