Need for Speed: Shift

This game takes any game involving cars to the next level, with amazing graphics, physics, and gameplay, and fun to boot

User Rating: 8.5 | Need for Speed: Shift PS3

By LucasPenney | Review Date: November 9, 2009

This game isn't perfect. None are. Some do come very close. However, Need for Speed: Shift is not quite there, but getting close. The developers had a great idea, and they delivered well on that idea, but what they didn't recognize is that some of the more hardcore gamers would get bored after a while with the same old thing over and over again. What I am saying is, once you first pick up the controller, you will fall in love with this game. If you rented it for a week, you would be convinced to buy it. Roughly two weeks later, you would have either gone through and won everything in the game, or simply got bored with it.

Need for Speed: Shift has so many strong points, it is hard to list them all. The amazing photo-realistic graphics, excellent vehicle physics, superb sound, fascinating new gaming concepts that have never been seen before in the racing and driving simulation genre, such as when you go fast or hit an obstacle your screen blurs, as though you were right in the car, feel the impact, feel the speed. However, it's many small generally cool things do not make up for the 2 big things that gamers want.

Replayability, and overall fun factor.

The replayability is rather self-explanitory. As I mentioned earlier, there simply isn't any change in the game as you go through the levels and tiers. You can buy new cars, get new upgrades, and race against harder ai and harder tracks. However all they really do is make the cars faster, make the ai faster, and give the tracks more corners. There's nothing new here, just a slightly bent version of the first 3 tracks. Nothing to see here folks.

Overall fun factor

This is something that starts out really well in this game, but as it goes on it gets smaller and smaller, simply because the fun factor is based on the new concepts which at first you think "Hey, this is really cool, and fun!" and think it will last forever. Once the shock and awe of the new concepts (and awesome graphics) goes away, you start to think of it as just another racing game.

If you are a constant gamer, and play other games in the genre, I would still encourage you to atleast rent this game. If you can beat it in a week rental, you can rent it, beat it, enjoy every last drop of gaming pleasure, and then get rid of it. If you have other racing games with bad graphics on the other hand, you may want to buy it simply for the graphics and physics, which are almost lifelike. For the casual gamer, I recommend this if you don't play games too often, as it will keep it new and fresh. In a way, this game is like a fruit. Just don't let it rot!

-Lucas Penney

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