Need for Speed: Shift Critic Reviews

EA has turned a corner with their development of Need for Speed SHIFT. While it retains some elements of the traditional console game style, it also raises the bar for realism in a console-based racer. Budget for a steering wheel, though, to get fully benefit from the vastly better physics modeling.

If you're a number-munching automotive aficionado with a penchant for judging games the way an accountant judges a financial portfolio, know that this is a racing game dedicated to the act of racing rather than the actors, more intent on refining the experience of driving rather than celebrating car culture with scads of vehicles.

What EA has done here is reinvent a bloated franchise, and turned it into a product that the hardcore and the more casual among us can enjoy equally.

Need for Speed SHIFT managed to hook me to the point where I was looking forward to my next session with the game. Not all games can do that, and especially not all racing games, and that tells me that the designers did something right with this one.

Need for Speed: Shift is named well, as it marks a monumental shift in game design for the franchise.

The Need for Speed franchise has grown up. Dropping the street racing concept and moving to be a legit racing "simulation" was a good move. Not only did they name the game Shift, but I think they shifted into a new and exciting direction for the Need for Speed franchise.

Did we mention your speakers will enjoy every single bit of this game as well?

So what is there left to say except, if you call yourself a racing fan, even if you have passed on or hated the last few outings this Need for Speed series had to offer, this is a whole new game that feels fresh. To put it in simple terms, you "Need" this game in your racing library.

Need for Speed Shift is a surprising turn for the series, pushing away from flashy street racing to compete with the likes of Forza and Gran Turismo. Its feature-set still has room to grow, but the tight driving experience stands up with the best.

A glorious return to greatness (and even excellence) for EA's seminal racing franchise. Slightly Mad Studios has delivered a driving experience that, while not completely accurate in terms of its simulation aspects, is practically dead-on in terms of what it's like to race around some of the world's best racing circuits.

Shift is hugely entertaining, but remember that it’s not about the sillier fun of its Need for Speed predecessors. It’s about the nail-biting intensity and challenge of hanging on to your car at high speed, and as long as that’s how you like your racing, you’ll disappear into this game.

Need for Speed: Shift is excellent in concept and flawless in execution. It’s nothing less that the next great racing simulator to grace the Xbox 360.

Need for Speed: Shift is a wonderful re-imaging of Electronic Arts' classic series and one of 2009's best racing games. The combination of exquisite graphics and hardcore crashing delivers an adrenaline shot to players who drool over squealing tires, burnt rubber and exotic muscle machines.

Not without its light flaws, this great Need for Speed return is an exciting new point of view on the world of Turismo racing, mainly thanks to a well-crafted driving model. If you like the races, and you’re not a simulation fanatic, it’s the game to have.

It's both a genre leading racing sim and a mass market EA game at the same time, which is a particularly difficult balancing act to pull off. Shift is easily the best driving game so far this year and will certainly be in amongst the likes of Forza 3 (and possibly GT5, if it emerges) when the brake dust from 2009 settles.

With so much provision for purist racing as well as arcade thrills, it's a delight to report that Shift strikes a fantastic balance between the two. From a thoughtful introductory race that helps define your style and skills through to a compelling career mode and constant back-patting, Need for Speed Shift is a delight to play.

Go, NfS! I had serious doubts about this one, but it delivers like a Porsche.

Overall, Need For Speed: Shift is a welcome change of pace in the long-running series, and a welcome addition to the sim racing genre as well.

We expected an overly simulative game, but Need for Speed: SHIFT revealed to be half-way between sim and arcade racing: nevertheless, we found id very entertaining and exciting. If you're looking for a proper sim you'll have to look elsewhere on the market, but if all you want is feeling strong and satisfying emotions, this game could be the one for you.

Need for Speed: Shift is a compelling racing game that does an admirable job of balancing its simulation side with its arcade side. The combination of fun events, varied tracks and a solid racing engine make quite a convincing package.