Game Review: Need For Speed: Shift

McClatchy Newspapers

Reviewed for: Playstation 3 and Xbox 360

Also available for: Sony PSP, Windows PC

From: Slightly Mad Studios/EA

ESRB Rating: Everyone (mild violence)

EA's annual "Need for Speed" releases have sputtered since roughly 2006 - so much so that a reasoned, prudent publisher would bench the franchise for a year, retool, and start fresh in 2010.

EA, on the other hand, decided instead to not only double the dose - an entirely different "NFS" game arrives on the Wii in November - but also, with "Need for Speed: Shift," take a second crack at the legitimized track racing approach that made 2007's "Need for Speed: ProStreet" the franchise's all-time low point.

Good for them, too. "Shift" sidesteps all the pitfalls that dragged "ProStreet" down, but it also rather masterfully nourishes the famished middle between the glut of arcade racers and super-simulative likes of "Forza" and "Gran Turismo."

That's largely because "Shift," despite trading in fictional street races for real-world tracks, never actually abandons the fundamental thrills that made past games so exciting. The surface ingredients of a serious driving sim are there, and winning races is a demanding endeavor when the artificial driver intelligence is maxed out and the brake lines and various driving assists are deactivated. But Slightly Mad Studios has developed an all-encompassing difficulty curve that's as inviting to those who fear "Forza" as it is to those who've mastered it, and at no point - on any setting - is the sensation of the ride anything less than the first priority.

It's here where "Shift" absolutely sparkles despite doing nothing more than small things. The camera shakes violently at high speeds, loses color during paint trades, and crumples into a mess of blurred, offset images when you nail the guardrail. "Shift" consistently impresses in motion, but it takes things to a separate plane of excitement during a race's most exciting moments. That, along with all that accessibility, makes it a racing sim anyone can play and love.

In terms of features, "Shift" feels like a prototypical "NFS" game, albeit without the open-world approach most recent entries took. The career mode is dense with races of different configurations, time trials and the always-fun drift competitions. There's a nice array of exotic licensed vehicles you'll never drive in real life, and the degree of visual and performance enhancements is plenty sufficient for most players. "Shift" doesn't offer nearly as many options or gameplay hours as the super sims, but not everyone will see that as bad news.

Where "Shift" surprises a bit is in its meta content. An in-race points system, which awards gutsy and skilled driving, looks like a knock-off of "Project Gotham Racing's" kudos system until you realize it's attached to a 50-tier leveling system that dishes rewards each time you level up. A mountain of winnable badges gives "Shift" an additional layer of achievements to strive for, and players with healthy friend lists will appreciate a subtle interface tweak that shows whether you or a friend has the best time on any given track. (Naturally, "Shift" also includes traditional multiplayer for up to eight players. Split-screen, unfortunately, gets shafted again.)

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