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NEED FOR SPEED SHIFT

The 14th installment of the massive racing title Need For Speed is set to be released in a couple of weeks. It has a huge reputation to live up to. Something which the three previous titles of the series, Need for Speed: Carbon, Need For Speed Prostreet and Need For Speed Undercover, dismally failed to do.

Carbon was blamed for being a cheap rip-off of its predecessor, the hugely successful Need for Speed: Most Wanted and its crew and challenge mechanism was not what it could have been.

Prostreet ditched the whole street racing/ city slicking style featured in the previous 4 titles and got back to racing on tracks, with more challenging gameplay and realistic physics.

Although it looked decent with cinematic styling (even with the horrible commentary), the game looked unfinished and unrefined, with the gameplay left trailing towards the end of the game, with no real motivation for completion and a pretty lame excuse for a story. It was said to be un-NFS like, and more like trying to emulate the success of sim racers like Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport, and failing miserably.

Then came Undercover. We were hoping that EA would correct the mistakes that were made in the previous two titles and we were excited when we saw screenshots showing something not too dissimilar to Most Wanted.

But it was only disappointment that awaited all NFS fans. The game looked and felt far from finished, like it had been patched up quickly to meet a deadline. the graphics were under par and the gameplay was too arcading like for the liking of many. EA seemed to have lost the touch of getting the right mix of arcade, simulation and rush of adrenaline that made Need For Speed Special.

So, after the disappointment of Undercover, some serious decisions were taken. The Blackbox Studios who were primarily responsible for the development of Need For Speed titles for 6 years was dissolved, and the development of the new Need For Speed title was shifted across the Atlantic to the UK. London based Slightly Mad Studios (formerly known as Blimey Games) have taken on the responsibility of the franchise. The development team has many credentials to their name, including titles such as GTR FIA Racing, GTR 2, and GT Legends.

It is no surprise then, that the latest title in the Need For Speed franchise, Need For Speed: Shift, will be more of a sim racer than an arcade racer. This time EA is going on a more serious assault on Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport to grab a chunk of the market for serious racing. Still, the people at EA promise us that Shift will provide us an authentic Need For Speed experience.

Need For Speed: Shift as announced in January as a part of a three game series, including the Massively Multiplayer Online Racer Need For Speed World Online and the much more arcade based Need For Speed: Nitro, targeting the rise of the Nintendo Wii. Seems like EA is splitting the qualities that make up a good racing game and concentrating on them separately. Sounds interesting.

The focal point of Need For Speed: Shift is said to be an ultra realistic driver experience. In Prostreet we got a slight taste of what it could be, but it never achieved the level of realism intended because the unavailability of a cockpit views. This time however, EA is going all out! The previews show and immaculately detailed interior, with a lot of minor details to make ultra realistic, including even your own reflection on the wind screen! with highly detailed dashboards, driver animations, and even full working instruments, you can even get rid of the heads-up display entirely and rely solely on the car's gauges if you want, and you can look around the cockpit or even out of the window. Even effects such as being thrown forward during braking and being pushed back during acceleration are recreated.

The development team has put a lot of effort into making the crashes ultra realistic. Usually, when someone bumps your car from the back, it's no real biggie. But Shift has turned this into the real thing. There will be violent camera shakes with your vision going blurred temporarily (somewhat similar to the pressure mechanism used in the likes of Evolution GT). This is accompanied by a whole range of impressive sound effects including, obviously, the crash and also more subtle sounds such as the breathing and heartbeat of the driver.

Unlike its intended competitors however, Shift does not seem to offer a huge collection of cars. The official list still stands at around 70 (still no Ferraris, sadly), and is expected to be somewhere around 100 at release, with possibly a few more in something like a collector's edition. But even that is way short of the 200+ cars that the likes of Gran Turismo 5 offer. Therefore it is likely that Shift will focus more on the driving experience and there's also a distinct possibility of a career mode with a story attached.

All the racing will be done on closed circuits, similar to those of Prostreet, with over 15 licensed racetracks also available. The tracks will be ultra realistic with animated crowds and race marshals. Physics will be upgraded and the cars are said to offer true life performance with realistic damage. It will no longer be just a visual effect and every hit you take will adversely affect your cars performance. (we're hoping that they will take it to the level offered in Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed, where even a slight dent affected the balance of your car).

The Al also seems to have been improved, with more variety and interaction with the other drivers. Different personalities can be identified with different drivers, with some pushing you more aggressively around the track and some focusing purely on racing. There will be the occasional hothead that will try to run you off the road.

Whatever said, the end result is yet to be seen. After creating a massive hype, Need For Speed has offered us only disappointment in the past few years and as fans of EA and NFS, we're hoping desperately that this time around they would get things right, and offer us a unique, enjoyable and hopefully, completed game that gives us the true rush of blood that NFS is. If all else fails, High Stakes II please!
