I’ve made no secret in our community about my concern for this game as it approached its release date. While the first Shift game introduced an intriguing new helmet cam that attempted to capture the visceral experience of being in a race car, the game’s handling was crap. Fast forward eighteen months and here we are with Shift 2 Unleashed. The helmet cam is back and touting greater immersion. Is it playable though? Is it enough to truly differentiate Shift 2 Unleashed from the Forza’s, GT’s and GRID’s of the world?
EA’s “is it sim or arcade” Shift series is back with Shift 2 Unleashed. I struggle with where this game fits in the grand scheme of sims like Forza and GT versus more arcadey games like GRID and others. It seems to want to be bits of both. Its main point of differentiation is the new Helmet Cam (sorry EA but touting night racing as a new feature is a little thin). I applaud EA for what they’ve done with the helmet cam. It basically replicates the view point from a driver’s head and the myriad of g-forces a driver is subject to while race driving. As you approach corners, the helmet cam automatically turns the view of the helmet only (the dash and everything stays relatively where it is). It’s impressive to look at but is it playable? It’s definitely a show-off-to-your-non-gaming-friends type of game though. The turn-in look can be extremely disorienting and is another area where there will be a steep learning curve.
I need to state that I played this one purely with the controller. I normally enjoy racing games with a wheel but mine is packed away, my makeshift wheel stand is in the dump because it wasn’t getting used and I needed the room in my storage area to store our stroller with baby on the way. Since it was my biggest issue with the last game let’s get right to the game’s controls. I am having a really hard time putting words to best describe how I feel about it but it feels far too twitchy for my liking. At first I thought it was simply the game’s handling. As I got deeper into the game, it feels more and more it’s the sensitivity of the controls rather than the game’s handling model. There isn’t enough progression to the steering input as you move the thumb stick to one side or another. It’s almost as if there’s a distinct line between not applying enough steering input and inducing far too much over-steer. I found myself constantly fighting between these two extremes, especially on longer corners. It almost felt delayed ever so slightly. This was often noticeable when exiting turns. Instead of rolling the steering input back, getting back on the throttle and using the width of the track, I’d be dealing with correcting this over-steer. This all became clear when viewing replays and seeing my car pitch from side to side in my attempts to correct previous steering inputs. I will admit that I am a relatively heavy thumbed gamer but I also know my way around a racing game and am confident in my ability to play them well. There’s an obvious learning curve to how Shift 2’s controls and things can be manageable if you adapt. It just doesn’t feel as natural as other games and appears to offer too much variability from car to car for my liking. This game feels like it was designed to be used with a wheel rather than a controller.
There are plenty of other viewpoint options including a typical in-car view, behind the car view, bumper and hood view. There is a noticeable increase in the sense of speed when you switch out of the helmet cam view and into the bumper and hood views. Switching back to the helmet cam view makes everything feel a lot slower in terms of the overall sense of speed. My issue is that when you use the other views it becomes just another racing game since it takes away all the originality that Shift 2 seems to offer. I am trying to play this game as much as I can from the helmet cam for that reason.
Normally something that EA does extremely well on, the presentation is just okay. The story is cookie cutter and there’s bad video cutscenes. When I say bad I’m not talking about cheesy but good like Most Wanted but rather stiff commentary from some drift driver that looks like he needs to wear a one size larger Nomex race suit. The career of the game is straightforward and similar to the previous Shift game. As you race you earn XP for doing various things such as stay on the race line, master corners, hit threshold top speeds, lead, eclipse lap time goals, drift and so on. Gone is the whole precision versus aggressive angle from the first game. There’s 15 XP levels and new events unlock as you gain levels. Things seem a bit skewed though. After only the first two series I was already level 10 of 15. It makes for a pretty vanilla career mode as you race through the various levels towards competing in the FIA GT1 series.
Shfit 2 features full customization and upgrading of cars as we have come to expect from NFS games. The customization options seem to be a better fit with the street tuner culture of the arcade NFS games rather than the more serious take on racing in Shift 2. Autolog, which was amazingly fun in Hot Pursuit, is also back. It’s a nice feature that adds to the game’s replayability. The AI is pretty decent. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s great but it’s certainly not crap either. If anything, its aggressive which I appreciate. That certainly beats navigating a parade of AI cars.
Shift 2 is serious eye candy. The visuals are top notch and, from the helmet cam perspective, approach the prettiest I’ve seen in a racing game. The frame rate is consistent throughout, regardless of viewpoint. However, I noticed a distinct increase in the sense of speed when you went from the helmet cam to either the bumper or hood cams. Swapping back to the helmet cam makes everything look just a little bit slower. Let’s face it though. This game’s meant to be played in the helmet cam view. I think it’s one of the first true innovations we’ve seen with regards to the actual driving part of a game in a while. The perspective is absolutely perfect. It captures the visceral feeling of being in the car unlike any game I have played to date. It is the game’s main point of differentiation over its competition so I recommend it. For that reason, my criticism of the sense of speed carries a little less weight with me than it normally would.
Tracks are extremely detailed. Lots of great detail even in the distance. What stood out most to me about the tracks were the small attention to details that give them character. The fact that some corners have higher curbs than others or ones that protrude more into the line give even individual turns a sense of character that I typically don’t see in a racing game. They’re nice and wide too, which I like. While night racing isn’t new to racing games it is touted as being new to Shift and it’s a pretty impressive effect. Most impressive is how the shadows cast from the headlights to other cars bounce around the environment. Again, more eye candy. This is totally a title you’ll want to show your non-gaming friends.
As pretty as Shift 2 is, its sound delivers equally. The best part of Shift 2’s sound is the amount of detail there is. Excellent use of the surround sound is made to really give that sense of being in the car. This isn’t just a drive in the part with the window down. The detail isn’t limited to in-car and racing sounds either. There are lots of neat ambient sound effects. One of particular note was a bassy thump from the infield as I raced down the back straight of Monza. I’m not sure if you’d truly hear that sort of thing over the scream of your engine but it reminded me perfectly of attending IndyCar events and the music emanating from the beer gardens. It felt authentic and that’s what counts to me.
Shift 2 presented a real challenge to me as a reviewer. It looks and sounds great but falls short with overly sensitive controls that will have you struggling to keep your car on the track and sterile presentation value. Shift 2 doesn’t do enough to differentiate itself from its competition. The helmet cam has the potential to move the genre forward but is it enough to carry an entire game? Not in this case.
