Editor's note: Derek was able to get some hands-on time with Need for Speed: Shift to find out whether or not it's going to be the game that gets the once-proud NFS series back on track. - Aaron
Thanks to the fine folks at Bitmob, I was recently lucky enough to attend a press-only event in New York City for Need for Speed: Shift. To be honest, Shift wasn’t exactly on my radar before this event. I have played other similar racing-sims this generation like Forza 2 and Grid, and those games require too much before you're able to do well on the track. However, I’ve been a fan of past Need for Speed games, so getting an early look at the series' new direction was something I just couldn’t pass up.
Upon my arrival, I was greeted by the Need for Speed Community Manager, Drew Hahn. He seemed so genuinely excited about the game that it put me "in gear" to check it out (I promise that will be my first and last transmission joke). He rushed me over to a game screen in the corner of the room, put the controller in my hand, and said "GO!"
The first thing I noticed was just how realistic the game looked -- the realism blew me away. The fully-detailed cockpit view, although not my normal chosen perspective for racing games, was almost distracting with how intricate it was. Details such as your driver actually shifting to functional gauges were all there. While in cockpit view, if the driver attains a certain speed, the screen will start to blur in peripheral spots, allowing for a greater sense of speed. It should be noted that all of the games set up that day were Xbox 360 so I was unable to see if there were any significant differences between that and the PS3 version.
By default there is a race line that shows you the best way to take around the track and also lets you know if you're going too fast when entering a corner. There are also several functions such as traction control and steering assist that you can adjust or turn off completely. You can further customize your experience while on the track by adjusting a separate difficulty setting for opposition drivers' AI. At higher difficulties, the computer controlled drivers will stick right to the proper line at all times and are not shy about pushing you out of the way.
During my hands-on time with the game, I was able to race with three dramatically different cars. My first experience, which let me make it around the track with limited faults, was with a classic Nissan Skyline. In order to get a sense for the range of vehicles available I drove a higher-end sports car for my next race. It had me fishtailing and spinning out all around the track. This was to be expected, as the car was only unlocked for the sake of the demo and I was told that it was one of the last cars one can usually expect to unlock throughout the game. For my last race I picked a rather tame Mazda and actually managed to win a race. Winning was something I never came close to achieving in any of my previous sim-racing experience, so this was quite a change.
Winning or even finishing highly in races allows the player to not only build up money in order to purchase new cars, but also adds to the experience in their driver profile. After each race the player is given a breakdown of points they earned and if they swayed towards being an aggressive or technical driver. They're also shown any badges they may have unlocked. I was told that badges are like in-game achievements that players can use for bragging rights.
Although I wasn't told much of the online play, Drew did mention that the driver profile level will be used to match-up players. This way, even if you are late in picking-up the game, you will still be pitted against less experienced opponents. I was also given reassurance that NFS: Shift takes steps to stop griefing. If a driver should decide to turn around and drive backwards during a race, not only is their collision detection turned off, after 5 seconds they are automatically booted from the race.
Shift is getting a head-start on its Forza 3 and Gran Turismo competition and will be ready to race on September 15.
