Shift 2: Unleashed

The long-running Need for Speed series had been losing ground in recent years as gamers grew tired of the illegal street race culture which the Most Wanted, Carbon and Underground games peddled with varying levels of success. EA's attempt to move to more traditional motorsport gaming with ProStreet wasn't the roaring return to form it was meant to be either, and it seemed the franchise had lost its sense of direction. Intent on cracking the simulation side of the market, EA ploughed on, delivering the impressive Need for Speed: Shift, which was well received but ultimately fell short of the genre's flagship franchise Forza. Now, after having recently struck gold with the Hollywood-style cop chasing action of Hot Pursuit, the Need for Speed franchise seems to have found its mojo once again, leading us to this, another crack at the simulation market with Shift 2: Unleashed.

Right off the starting line you will notice a change in naming conventions for the Need for Speed franchise. With Need for Speed now encompassing so many different styles of racing games across almost every possible platform, it looks like the Need for Speed name itself is now a sort of umbrella title which the different sub-series' will fall under. This helps to differentiate the Shift name from the over-the-top arcade stylings now so deeply etched into our perceptions of the Need for Speed franchise. Forget your preconceptions of what Need for Speed is all about, because Shift 2: Unleashed is a far more accomplished serious racer than you ever imagined could come from the NFS stable.

The focus for Need for Speed: Shift was on creating a real racing experience, putting emphasis on immersion, feeling the adrenalin and intensity of being in the driving seat of a race car. There were a few good ideas employed to achieve this, mostly clever tricks to portray the feeling of speed, the effect of g-forces in hard cornering, and the disorientation of impact during crashes. A lengthy career mode and accompanying experience point system added depth and strategy, and a good variety of race types kept things interesting. All of these positives act as building blocks for this sequel, each of them having been heavily tweaked and reworked to form a more finely-tuned racer.

The best thing that a developer can do when putting together a sequel is to keep what worked in the original and throw away what didn't. Something which probably looked like a good idea on paper was an experience system for the original Shift which divided your points between "good and evil" actions, adding a motorsport reputation element. This has been reshaped into a more simple but sensible system: the focus is now more on good driving, netting big points for mastering corners and keeping a good line, instead of just grinding for aggressive XP by smashing into your opponents.

In fact, it's the XP system which permeates all aspects of Shift 2, adding an almost RPG-like element to the whole experience. Your success on each track is persistent, so each time you race a track you are trying to better your last racing line, improve on your cornering, and shave a few seconds off your best time - now even more important since your friends times are displayed right there on the race setup screen thanks to the Autolog feature. The Autolog is woven into the fabric of the game, keeping track of your game progress, your friends times and actions, and ties the offline and online components together - going beyond just being a glorified leaderboard system.

The career mode is the central feature in Shift 2, and as such is host to the bulk of the action. As with the first Shift, there is no storyline to wade through. Instead you are presented with a small selection of cheap cars to choose from, and a handful of opening race events to cut your teeth on. The career mode presentation, as with the rest of this game, is of vastly superior quality to the original Shift, as is the pace of the progress through the career. While some racing games overwhelm the player with a sudden onslaught of available races and modes to navigate through, here things unfold at a more manageable pace, giving you time to work through the different modes without feeling pushed to move on. Those who found the menus and navigation system of NFS: Shift to be messy and overly complicated will be pleased with the polished and sleek system in place here.

The garage has also been expanded this time - a necessity after many complained about the relatively limited vehicle selection in the first game. It's still nowhere near the behemoth variety found in the Forza franchise, but what is here is beautifully modeled and handled with admirable attention to detail. Somewhere around 140 licenced vehicles are yours to be thrashed around the stunningly created tracks. In defence of this trimmed selection (when compared to Forza 3), there is very little dead weight here, and the majority of the cars on show would make worthy additions to your virtual garage.

It's clear though that the emphasis for this game isn't on building a ridiculous collection of cars which you will never drive. It's about the thrill of the race, and this is something that Shift 2: Unleashed accomplishes with tremendous success. Simulation racers tend to be a somewhat stale affair, bogged down by attention detail in an attempt to be more like the real thing, and consequently lacking the soul to create a memorable experience. Shift 2, on the other hand, hides a lot of the serious side of things behind the scenes and delivers the race straight into your veins like a shot of high octane adrenalin.

The helmet camera is key to all of this - an in-car view which gives an unprecedented feeling of speed. It takes some getting used to, especially the way your driving view now leads into corners, but it's by far the most realistic depiction of the act of driving that I've witnessed in a game. Smash into another car and the impact causes your head to jolt back and forth as you try to regain control of you vehicle; build enough speed and your peripheral vision starts to blur as you focus on the track; nothing has sucked you into the virtual cockpit like this before. Those who choose the camera placement behind and above the car may get to see more of the lovingly recreated vehicle models, but will miss out on a major aspect of what makes this game great.

The improved handling this time around is heavily complimented by this feeling of immersion too, with a good sense of lateral weight shift to each car allowing for realistic cornering. Getting ahead of the competition isn't easy though, and practise is required to keep the lead. There is a real feeling of wrestling with your vehicle through a tricky sequence of curves, and a subsequent feeling of elation and achievement once you tame your firebreathing supercar and master a section of track that has been giving you problems. The retro races and drift modes add diversity too, as do the intricate but not overwhelming upgrade and modification aspects, making for a fleshed out motorsport package.

As engrossing as the in-car action may be, there are some really strange bugs which surfaced during my time with the game. On two occasions the game locked up completely, requiring a system restart. Also at one point the race would start fine, but with my car at a 45 degree angle to the rest of the grid, and about five seconds into the race everything would just go mental - textures all over the place, car facing the wrong way, blank walls - not even exiting and re-entering the event would help, meaning I had to reload the game from the dashboard.

Texture pop-in was also an almost constant feature, mainly in the pre-race cut-scenes showing the crew doing their thing around your car on the grid. This didn't do much to damage the overall visual flair of the game though, and is instantly forgotten about once that light turns green. The detailed but inconsistent damage model made for some strange moments where high speed impact into a wall would sometimes leave hardly any damage and other times would rip your car apart. Overall though, Shift 2: Unleashed looks great, and is possibly more impressive to look at than even Forza 3 thanks to its stylish use of lighting and motion effects. Other small details, like the bits of gravel and dirt which fly up onto your windscreen from the car ahead of you, just add to the immersion.

Taking a racing game online can often end up being a vehicular arms race to see who has thrown the most money into upgrading their cars. Shift 2: Unleashed suffers from this same issue in some respects, but there is definitely a focus on skill over and above sheer horsepower when it comes to finding success online. The standard modes are all on offer online, and knowing that the Autolog is watching your every move, comparing your times with your friends, adds a sharp competitive edge to the already gripping multiplayer races. Sadly Shift 2: Unleashed's online races are not free of the usual brand of idiot who takes great pleasure in hurtling into your car at every opportunity. This doesn't happen often enough to ruin the online experience, but don't be surprised when an otherwise pleasant race is torn to pieces by a fool with an axe to grind.

As with any genre, one has to look at any new entry and wonder if it will make enough of an impact to draw attention from the big names. In terms of simulation racers, there is only really one game to consider, and it's a serious heavyweight: Forza 3. It's not a game that many would bet against, offering without a doubt the most comprehensive hardcore racing experience on the Xbox 360. As such, the first Shift title fell well short of Turn 10's masterpiece, thanks to its tiny vehicle roster, uncomfortable handling and messy presentation.

Shift 2: Unleashed is a significant improvement on its predecessor, make no mistake, but to crown it the new king of the genre may be pushing it. Instead, what I will say is that Shift 2 handles the racing simulation genre with more swagger, more style, and more impact on the gamer than Forza 3 does. It's not as technically brilliant and doesn't have the same depth and scope as Turn 10's modern classic, but I must admit that it is quite possibly the more entertaining game to play.

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