"The Aroma of Hardcore" - Review of Shift 2: Unleashed

Track Nürburgring. Speed – about 200 kilometers per hour. Exiting another treacherous turn, my opponents and I hit the straight. Here, acceleration, proper trajectory, and timely braking are crucial. So far, the race is going according to plan: I’m staying just behind the leader, trying not to let him pull too far ahead, because on the third and final lap, I have to make an attempt to overtake him. Right now, it’s important for me not to make a mistake and correctly enter that turn over there. But what’s this? The cabin starts shaking incredibly, my rivals are already touching my bumper, and the steering wheel is no longer responding and slips from my control. In a moment, my massive Dodge Challenger is headed for a rendezvous with the barrier, bringing a couple of rivals along for the ride. Ah, I’ll have to start the race all over again. And this was the fourth lap out of five.

Need for Speed: Shift set a new developmental direction for the racing arcade series from Electronic Arts. It’s no surprise that the familiar title is already absent from the game’s name - Shift 2: Unleashed can no longer be considered a full-fledged offspring of the legendary franchise, although it undoubtedly inherited certain traits from its predecessors.

The creators of the project, I remind you, are the guys from Slightly Mad Studios (London), who began their journey to fame back in 2001. By creating various modifications for games like F1 2002 and GTR, the developers showcased their talents in the best light, allowing them to embark on their own full-fledged project a couple of years later. This turned out to be GTR - FIA GT Racing Game, which gave the Brits worldwide fame, albeit in a rather narrow circle. After a while, GT Legends was released (the author of this review still remembers his unsuccessful races involving two dozen cars), followed by the sequel GTR 2 and the free-to-play BMW M3 Challenge (I also recommend Volvo: The Game). Then some serious folks from EA knocked on the door of Slightly Mad Studios, showed a suitcase full of money, and shared their plans with the game developers.

The sun is one of our main foes in Unleashed

Fifth Gear

Thus Shift was born – the first attempt by the Slightly Mad team to create a serious version of the Need for Speed series for virtual drivers. It features serious physics; steering wheels became almost a mandatory attribute for normal gameplay, and the third-person view turned out to be laughably useless and ineffective. Sure, you could set the difficulty sliders to the lowest minimum and thus turn the game back into an arcade, but that also killed all the charm of Shift.

The new, revolutionary installment of NFS sold relatively well, and the bosses of the large publishing house gave the green light for developing a sequel. Slightly Mad Studios was not tasked with creating a new revolution—no. They simply needed to not ruin what had already been created, to develop all the groundwork, fix shortcomings, and add a couple of new features. That’s why Unleashed looks very similar to the original but plays completely differently.

Typically, a frontal collision leads to restarting the race


And it’s clear why

Before diving into online play, where opponents are real players, it is highly recommended to study the career at least twenty percent. The storyline, of course, is virtually nonexistent; however, there is a simple story: our nameless protagonist must compete in a large number of races (up to races featuring classic cars from the 70s and 80s) before being allowed to compete in the final GT1. For reference: GT1 is one of the classes of GT, which is a division of the FIA that conducts racing competitions (oh, how curious). Our very last race in the Unleashed career entails racing against the most powerful vehicles on the list, but for now, don’t hesitate to earn points and experience in simple Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, Toyota Corolla, Mercedes Benz 190E (which the Top Gear program included in its list of the most iconic and significant retro cars), and others.

Instructors will be actual professionals, so the career growth of your driver won’t just hurry; it will soar ahead. There’s Jittin, a multiple D1 Grand Prix champion, ready to teach you the basics of drifting, loading the poor gamer with a brief lecture. Darren McNamara, an experienced rally driver and drifter, will gladly lend you his Toyota AE86—if only you become a champion in the classic car competitions. There will be several such teacher characters, and each will be sure to put their favorite on the line. Everything for the sake of the player, all to motivate victories.

Sometimes a mere second separates you from first place

Everyone Put on Your Helmets

Each installment of Need for Speed has been famous for some unique charm inherent only to it. Carbon, for example, offered us quite an engaging cooperative option on the road (the ability to interact with a partner), while the recent Hot Pursuit featured exciting police chases and rival confrontations. In Shift 2, Slightly Mad Studios added a small but very intriguing feature—first-person view, directly from the driver’s perspective. Believe me, this is not at all like the classic cockpit view, as here the driver tends to move their head, thus affecting the view of what’s happening. Before a sharp left turn, the camera definitely tilts left, while the subsequent right turn forces the driver’s head to lean right. Various effects, be they light flares or dirt, only enhance the impact of this innovation. The race takes on completely different shapes, and the player experiences new emotions from the game. After this, you won't want to take off the helmet because a simple cockpit view will seem downright inadequate. And I'm not even mentioning the