NFS Shift: First Hands-on

I have to admit I didn’t really know what to expect of Need For Speed Shift, we’ve seen so many versions of the franchise and while some have been great fun, several of the more recent iterations have been well below par and certainly not realistic. So the claims that this could be the most realistic racing simulator on the Xbox 360 and PS3 appeared at first glance to be a little far fetched. Indeed screen shots too appeared to be misleading, could it really be that good? The general consensus on seeing those first shots (including my own) was that these would end up being bullshots, a term commonly used when publishers reveal target renders of games that often fall well short of the mark.

This later followed by an early teaser video which although looking good, simply showed lots of cars crashing, great if you’re demonstrating Burnout but for a realistic racer we really want to see some clean racing. However despite my personal misgivings, this early pre-alpha code of the game not only impressed, it pretty much blew me away. Slightly Mad Studios have apparently been developing the in-game engine for over two years, in January this year they purchased Blimey Games, another racing studio with impressive racing pedigree, combine the two and you have a formidable racing development team so it comes as almost no surprise to see their work reaching this level of quality, but taking on the NFS name comes with mixed connotations and it was this that left seeds of doubt in my mind.



On display were two circuits, a fictional Japanese street race based around real locations in Tokyo and Brands Hatch. Kicking off I got my hands dirty behind the wheel of a Porsche round the tight Tokyo streets, racing in-car taking turn 1 and smacking into a bunch of tyres on turn 2. Wow the car under steered, but not just that, I felt depth in the handling system from the off, the car didn’t just under steer, the suspension went down and I lost rear traction, the car did what it was supposed to do even if the racing line system didn’t. Taking turns 3 and 4 I know what to expect and braking into the tunnel I really had to scrub off some speed, little hint of a wall ride on exit but it certainly didn’t give me an advantage. Blasting back into the daylight on a tight right-hander, giving the car some opposite lock in maintaining good traction I was really feeling this, having genuine fun and with graphics they were easily the best of this racing generation, working my way to the final turn I go for an overtake, the rival blocks my path and I have nowhere to go, I’m too committed, hitting the car I even managed to roll it onto its roof, really showing the depth of the physics. So a great first session and I realised at this stage how little we currently know about the game, so lets look at some of the key aspects.

Firstly, we can’t really discuss Shift without a mention of the graphics, they leap out at you screaming quality, but these aren’t just functional they are integral to the game-play. As the car goes faster so the field of vision extends thus objects closer to the player (such as the dashboard) go out of focus, hit the brakes and everything becomes clear, this provides a wonderful immersion within the in-car view and I have no doubt Slightly Mad Studios will be working to maintain continuity between all playing views. It’s unique and impressive providing SMS with their goal of giving a racing drivers viewpoint and fits in well to the entire experience. Graphics on the whole are stunning even at this early stage, vibrant colours, textures and use of lighting combine in making this a visual treat but its always a shame to see 60fps pushed aside to 30fps with the excuse of too much on-screen detail. I have no doubt the detail is affecting this, but the engine did appear solid and strong enough to manage better. Hopefully the drop in frame rate isn’t just to meet tight EA deadlines, either way combined with the motion blur and myriad of effects the 30fps will suffice in proving a very convincing driving experience.


AI too has been a focus, other cars react to your driving style, so if you’re clean you have nothing to worry about but get aggressive and you could have a bumpy ride. I wasn’t able to really test the AI but the solidity of other cars was remarkable, they really did covey a convincing presence and weight, all making for quality racing experience, but also I was finding it easy to follow other cars closely without making contact and this gives me optimism for the online play if SMS can get their online coding up to speed, of course judging by the complexity of their as yet unnamed in-house engine I have no doubt of their technical abilities.

Menu systems were not implemented on this build but for pre-alpha code this was very impressive indeed, though EA is remaining tight lipped over the full package. No confirmation on the full range of tracks or cars outside of the ones we’ve seen so far. Rumours abound that the Nurburgring will make an appearance have yet to be confirmed yet but it’s VVV Gamers impression that this will make it into the game at some point. Online options too are being kept secret but we will keep our ear to the ground here as online will be all important to the longevity of the title and establishing a long term franchise in the current racing market.

Historically if EA have struggled at a genre they’ve always known which company to collar when it comes to servicing their needs, in this case Slightly Mad Studio’s appear to be right on the money, we’ll have further coverage from EA and Slightly Mad Studios in the coming weeks and VVV Gamer will continue its exhaustive coverage of Shift at every opportunity, in the meantime take a look our interview with NFS Shift Producer Jesse Abney and watch this space for further updates!