Shift 2 is not quite a full-realism simulator, but it's not exactly an arcade game either. The Xbox controller makes precise control difficult at best, but configuration settings and driving aids can help tame the unruly driving quirks. The evolutionary Helmet Cam provides a nice boost of realism.
This excellent sequel capitalizes on its precursor's strengths while breaking some fresh ground for the simulation genre. With its snazzy additions, sharper visuals, and gearhead-focused customization options, Shift 2 Unleashed strikes a fine balance between appealing to sim newbies and grizzled vets.
okay this game is off the hook brilliantly done and totally awesome the depth of detail almost makes it feel like you're sitting in the drivers seat I love the helmet cam brilliant idea. The detail they put into the game is wow the detail in the cars looks fantastic the entire game looks and feels fantastic the driving is easy and even if you're a beginner you will find the driving easy once again EA dit a brilliant job with shift 2 unleashed I remember playing need for speed for the first time on my pc 10 yrs ago and to be honest need for speed on the console is much better than on the pc if I could give this game a 100 I would but it truly deserves a 10.
This is once again one of my favourite need for speed games and can't wait for need for speed:The Run it already sounds awesome and knowing EA they will deliver a stunning game once again
Pure real racing!People,review companies,ect.. review this game on its pure nature of ****'s a perfect 10 if you really do that.Play a lap with Forza 3 then GTR 5 then Shift 1 then play this **** straight up racing part of this game is perfect for a racing game in **** course there will be a patch for some problems at launch in the game so I don't even look at that.I will say a perfect 10 now and 5 years from now.This is racing,this is what those guys go through every day,not bouncing off of walls to win a race in Gran Turismo **** finding some nice girls that someone made with the vinyl editor in Forza 3.I love both of those games for different reasons but this takes the cake for me!Great game 10
Much like the original SHIFT, SHIFT 2: Unleashed does a great job of being that hardcore sim that's not too hardcore for the more casual, arcade racer to get into. It's a perfect bridge between something like NFS: Hot Pursuit and Forza.
Who knew that having the frame of my vehicle obscure my view of the racetrack in a corner or that trading the inside lane for the clarity of my headlights during a nighttime race would bring me an enjoyment I've never found in sim racing games before?
Feels like an intern, in that it knows what it wants to be - but it isn't quite sure how to do it yet. From a simple consumer point of view, this isn't THE game. But from an industry standpoint, it's an exciting warning shot to Turismo and Forza.
There's certainly nothing game-breakingly bad about Shift 2, and generally it is a polished, high quality, nice looking product. But it does fail to provide a more engaging alternative to the admittedly quite clinical driving experiences offered by the Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo series. Underneath its fancy aesthetic effects Shift 2 is also rather on the dry side, with no especially compelling reason to pick it up if you already have one of the aforementioned console racing giants in your collection.
I nearly didn't buy this because shift 1 had the worst handling of any driving game i've ever played. This however has GREAT handling, exciting races, a good difficulty curve and wonderful cars. The single player game reminds me of PGR2 (which in my eyes is the best racing game ever). you do a series of events with different cars at different tracks from around the world. Normal races, elimination, hot-lap, drifting are all here and the variety is great. If you are thinking of buying this but didn't quite like shift 1 then my advice is give it a try. I'm glad i did!
Shift 2 is a bit of a mixed bag really. On the one hand you get the most engaging and realistic driving experience through helmet cam and Elite handling mode, which is aided by the ability to have manual with clutch and you can now fully change controls instead of being stuck with one default layout. Shift 2 improves on the first game by adding to that sheer awesomeness of speed when in interior view, and without a doubt no game comes closer to making driving feel more real. All these people saying how it's no Forza are clearly using assists. I play all my racers with no assits and manual where possible, and this game is fairly realistic- more so than Forza in my opinion. But aside from that, the improvements on Shift 1 are merely in presantation than in real substance. It's the same game but without the stars system and different menus. Car choice is pretty generic, and gameplay and tracks are same as the first Shift- but you get an even bigger choice of tracks. All that's been added is night-time racing really. Corner mastering has been greatly improved, and customisation in terms of visuals and both upgrades & tuning has been deepened to Forza standard. The reason I can't rate this game highly is not just the lack of additions from Shift, but because there are some things it has got wrong. Sure, the lighting effects are outstanding for any racing game, but the textures on the vehicles are extremely low-res and grainy; however this may be due to the Xbox 360's highly outdated hardware. Drifting, whilst difficult to master relative to other games (Forza 3's is so much easier with all assists off than this), there is no satisfaction or fun to be had. Which is dissapointing, given that Need For Speed should be good at this. Even on the dedicated Underground 2-style drifting tracks it's not fun even if you get very high scores. Time attack and Hot Laps are the best part of this game though because you can drive without the stupidly annoying AI. Shift 1 had very bad and frustrating AI, but in Shift 2 it's even worse- espeically if you just want a pure driving experience with just you, the car and the track. Even on easiest difficulty the AI are ruthlessly aggressive and give you a very hard time, by bashing you off or due to rubberbanding effect. If you can beat Easy AI you can certainly do Medium. If the entire game was hot laps and time trials it would be amongst the greatest track driving games, but unfortuantely the buggy AI which is completely done wrong ruins the experience. One minute you're enjoying driving round a track getting lap times, the next you're constantly restarting because if you make the slightest bit of contact with AI cars you will flip if going over 120mph or so. If you want enjoyable, intense and above all VARIED racing which is more fun, less frustrating, more consistent and a more diverse game try DiRT 3. From what I can see, that game beats this on all fronts, including the intense engagement between car and driver- player and controller. If you can overcome the difficult AI, which is possible but takes time getting used to, then you will enjoy this game far more. But only IF. Ideally this problem shouldn't exist though.
I'm amazed at the pretentious claims the developers have made versus they game they actually released. I'm not a professional game tester, but have done my share of betas. Within the first 20% of my career I found 9 bugs that should not have made it to final. There's not much you can do about the spotty handling of some machines, but occasionally you hit a wall and find a magnetic force keeping you on it until you bring the car to almost a complete stop and turn off of it. During the drift matches I found places in the track that simply don't give you points at all no matter how "sideways" your car is. I've had situations where I restarted a drift event and it granted me the points from the previous attempt. Although it didn't 'count" and reverted to my much lower score at the end, its not AAA game design. I've had the game load into a race, with no UI on my car, and every model on the track look like a ghostly version of itself. I could go on, but you get the point. One of the most amazing things to me is that this game prides itself on not making the "mistakes" that other racing sims have made in their eyes. One being they didn't want to fill the game up with meaningless cars to race. Unfortunately this game does something far worse. It puts over 10% of the career into a mode that has nothing to do with racing at all. While I don't enjoy driving a VW Van around Top Gear and I don't really like E/F class racing past the intro stages, I'd rather drive a 30hp car around an oval than deal with Drifting. I aced all the events, but it was ironic to see the screen flash up something about "We don't want race, not drive fast cars".... Add the bugs above to the completely random challenge level of these events and a lot of frustration was had. Sometimes the game placed you on a track that was barely drivable from an A to B standpoint, much less one that was able to be drifted on. The game recognized this flaw and set very modest goals for you to gain, but at the same time you could literally ping pong off the walls and finish the race with a car that looked like it had been thrown off a bridge yet still get the 1st place reward. The drifting itself felt great on the right track, but honestly it has nothing to do with racing, especially given the circumstances above. Other games have kept it separate for a reason, and throwing this on an already confused "need for speed" audience isn't helping. I hated it in the first game, and I loathed it in the 2nd one. I will say this game has done the XP system far better than the first game and is completely logical. I don't have to get run off the track cause someone is 'lol intimidating' getting points for ramming people' nor do I have to deal with a subset of challenges that require me to drive like a complete **** This franchise has serious potential but it needs to quit trying to be edgy and cool. Marketing racing sims to people that still say "thats sick bro!" probably isn't the best idea. If people are interested they are already playing Forza or GT5. You can't make people that don't like those games like this one any more by putting a horribly buggy drift mode, an xp bar and some guy no one has ever heard of trying to keep you amped about the game on the screen talking way too much about nothing that has anything to do with RACING. I enjoy this series, but I'm a die racing game player/fan. I'd only recommend this game to those people, while I feel Forza or GT5 could belong in a lot of other player's collections even on a casual level. This game is far from casual, which is a GOOD thing, but its for the wrong reasons. If there is a shift 3 (and we know there will be) it needs to step it up in a lot of places.I'm not even concerned with graphical comparisons..this has to do with whats going on in the car. Overall its going to be a labor of love to want to finish this game for most racing game lovers.
If The Run's gameplay is rubbish, this one's is even worse! The mix of arcade and simulation made the game ****! If it weren't for this crap the game would be perfect! Even with assistance The game is bad to drive
My first impressions were horrible but as I played more and more, I kind of enjoyed some aspects of the game.
The career mode is okay and there's a decent amount of gamemodes to choose from.
Also the soundtrack is actually... pretty great, I never expected a racing game to have music this good, what a surprise!
My biggest complaint is that the controls aren't good, it feels like there's a slight input lag all the time.
As for the car customization, it needed more body kit options because there's no depth to it, lit just exists so you can make your car perform a little bit better.
Also, the long races are so boring, and the multiple challenges are a chore to play through, there are so many of them.
Overall it's just a disappointing racing game that could've been so much better, but it's so bad that it's somewhat fun.
Final Rating: "Bad" ~ 3/10.