Need for Speed: Shift

Published on my HLTB account.

Originally written and published on July 5th, 2023.

Pros:

+ Great feel of speed
+ Detailed car models for its time
+ Good driving and crash physics
+ Good performance customization
+ Interesting racetrack selection

 

Cons and nitpicks:

- The career is just a collection of events, it would benefit from having a sponsor and a team feature à la GRID for example.
- In some races, with certain cars, the AI feels unfairly fast and stable. The difficulty is mostly fine, but some races can be infuriating if you're going for all the stars.
- Unbalanced and poorly designed side objectives in some events. Like spinning out the opponents when the game just refuses to let them spin out and in a way, it is easier to flip them.
- Physics can sometimes freak out, such as when the cars bump the ground a lot on slopes, and sometimes it feels like the cars purposefully pull themselves toward the barriers if you hit them and are still on the grass.

This is a solid simcade racer, especially for the time. It has inconsistent difficulty in some places and lacks polish in some areas, but I have enjoyed it altogether.

Overall rating: 70%

Playtime: 55h 14m

Played on PC.