Very fun, but you are going to learn a fear of sand and dirt.

User Rating: 8 | Need for Speed: Shift X360
By lordlunch2 | Review Date:
I have to say I'm pretty impressed with this game. Need For Speed Shift and Forza 3 show where racing games are most likely going to go. The game starts you off with a test race to see what settings you should probably be set at for the game, adjusting things like traction control and brake assistance, as well as the difficulty of your opponents. This race worked pretty well for me but I later went in and changed these to fine tune the game to my liking. I would like seeing this feature in more racing games to come, as it really makes the game play the way you need it to. After your test you get to buy your first car from one of four tiers of vehicles. Each car you get can be upgraded visually and mechanically. The visual editor lets you use simply shapes to make almost anything you can imagine, really giving console owners a chance to make some great custom images. It can take MANY hours to make heavily detailed vinyls, but it's really all up to your imagination and time you put into it. Of course it has a bunch of pre-made vinyls like stripes, flames, graffiti, and tribal as well as the ability to use different types of paint for your car. Performance upgrades range from your engine, suspension, and brakes as usual. Though, you can fine tune many aspects of your car in pretty advanced ways if you really master this game.

The racing is where it matters though, and this game delivers. It's just to bad some of its deliveries aren't really so great. For one, no matter how much you tune the settings for the game, some tracks are just too hard. Luguana Seca (I think thats how you spell it) for example, has road and sand. If your tires leave the road, the sand will eat you alive. It's very easy to lose control if so much as one tire scrapes some sand. This is a problem for many tracks, but doesn't affect you as much as it does in Luguana. The enemies are also (even at easiest settings) very competitive. The will often bump into you, and do many other dirty tricks to try to get ahead. This can sometimes lead to some cheap deaths thanks to the whole sand and dirt problem. Once you have one big wreck, it often ruins the whole race.

Other than the, at times, extremely hard and annoying difficulty, this game really is great. Cars feel amazingly real, the roar of the engines sounds great, and the graphics look stunning for the 360. There are plenty of cars for you to choose from including many new models, like the challenger concept and camaro, my favorites. All cars handle a little differently and are fun to customize. Below I've listed my recommended settings for a very average gamer like myself to be able to have a modest challenge with only a few very annoying events like I described above.

Simply set the overall difficulty to normal, then turn brake assistance off. This works well and makes you still have to pay a lot of attention to braking and your turns. Keep the AI difficulty at medium as well. Of course this is just what I use.

The GOOD-
Many cars that are fun to customize
Great physics modeling
Amazing graphics and car interior modeling
A lot of good replay value
Extremely realistic, and lots of fun for car lovers.

The BAD-
Campaign can be a little short
Difficulty can spike between perfect and annoyingly hard at times
Going off the road has a VERY heavy impact on the race

My Verdict: BUY IT.

Other Helpful Reviews for Need for Speed: Shift

Load Comments (0)