Need for Speed: Shift
| Need for Speed: Shift | |||
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| Studio | Slightly Mad Studios | ||
| Publisher | Electronic Arts | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
 September 15, 2009 September 18, 2009 September 24, 2009 November 12, 2009   |
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| platform | Android , Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 , Microsoft Windows , PlayStation Portable , iOS , Symbian platform , Microsoft Windows Mobile | ||
| genre | Racing game | ||
| Game mode | Multiplayer , single player | ||
| control | Computer keyboard | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
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| medium | optical disc, digital distribution | ||
| language | German | ||
| Age rating |
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| information | The PSP version is approved for ages 7 and up (PEGI) | ||
Need for Speed: Shift ( NFSS for short ) is the 13th part of the published Need for Speed series. It was developed by the British developer Slightly Mad and published by the American company Electronic Arts on September 17, 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles , as well as for the Windows operating system . Implementations for the PlayStation Portable , iPhone , iPod Touch and Samsung Wave followed later .
Gameplay
General
The game principle differs significantly from its direct predecessor Undercover and is comparable to its predecessor ProStreet . The player takes on the role of a racing driver who works his way up within a racing league.
At the beginning of a game the player is provided with a vehicle with which he drives two introductory laps. Based on the player's driving performance, the game sets a suitable level of difficulty and activates or deactivates certain driving aids, such as an anti-lock braking system . The player can change these settings manually later.
He then tries to reach the NFS World Tour . To do this, he has to work his way through four classes of increasing difficulty. Each class consists of several racing events. The player progresses in the career by collecting stars in the races. He receives this primarily for victories. In some races, the player can also win stars by achieving certain scores and completing bonus goals. The player earns points during a race for special driving skills, such as driving on the ideal line or driving at top speed. Bonus goals include, for example, driving cleanly through all corners of a route or undercutting a specified lap time.
Points are also credited to the cross-race user account. If the player reaches certain point limits, his driver level increases. If the player's driver level rises, they will receive rewards, such as additional money or invitations to special racing events.
Need for Speed: Shift recreates some real tracks, including the Brands Hatch Circuit , Laguna Seca Raceway , Silverstone Circuit or the Nordschleife . In addition, the game contains fictional routes that lead, for example, through downtown London.
Racing modes
The most common racing mode is the circuit racing . Up to 20 drivers compete against each other on a closed circuit. The winner is the driver who reaches the finish line first after a certain number of laps. There are special variants of this type of race. In manufacturer races , all drivers are given the same, unmodified vehicle. Endurance races are circuit races that are held over a particularly long distance. In Eliminator races , the last-placed driver is eliminated on each lap. The driver who is the last in the race wins.
In time trials , the drivers compete one after the other. The aim of this racing mode is to achieve the lowest possible lap time. In duels , two drivers compete against each other. Duels are held in three runs. The winner is the one who can win two of the three races. Drift races are held on short, winding sections of the route. The aim of these races is to achieve the highest possible number of points by drifting well .
vehicles
Need for Speed: Shift includes 65 licensed vehicles from numerous manufacturers such as Audi , Aston Martin or Koenigsegg . Like the racing events, the vehicles are divided into four classes based on their performance. While volume models such as Seat Leon or VW Golf are predominantly represented in the first class , powerful exotic models such as the Koenigsegg Agera or the Pagani Zonda are represented in the highest class .
The player gains access to vehicles by purchasing them with prize money. The number of vehicles he can own at the same time depends on the number of garage spaces available. The player gains additional garage spaces by leveling up.
The vehicles can be modified in a variety of ways . The performance tuning and fine tuning are much more extensive than the optics tuning, which in this part is largely limited to the car color, stickers, rims and spoilers and is no longer individually adaptable as in previous parts. One innovation is the factory conversion, in which the car is converted into a racing car. The game includes the following cars:
Development history
After the release of Need for Speed: Undercover , Electronic Arts planned to continue the Need for Speed franchise despite the many negative reviews the game had received . In order to cover different directions of the racing game genre, the company hired three studios to develop different titles. While EA Montreal with Need for Speed: Nitro an arcade racing game for consoles and Black Box and EA Shanghai online racing game Need for Speed: World developed, the British Studio Slightly Mad was entrusted with the production of a race simulation.
In North America, Shift was released on September 15, 2009.
reception
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Reviews
The game was largely positively received in the trade press. On the Metacritic website , on which test reports are collected and an average is calculated from their ratings, Shift achieved between 83 and 84 out of 100 points on the individual platforms. These were the best ratings to date for a game in the Need-for-Speed series.
The realistic driving physics and the stable frame rate are praised. The difficult controls in drift races and the unspectacular lighting of the racing events are criticized, which makes the game look a bit like a slimmed-down Gran Turismo .
Sales figures
The game sold 309,000 copies in one month in the North American market.
Shift 2 Unleashed
On November 16, 2010, Electronic Arts released a trailer for a follow-up to Need for Speed: Shift . This was published on March 31, 2011 under the title Shift 2 Unleashed.
Web links
- Need for Speed: Shift at MobyGames (English)
- Need for Speed: Shift in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Official website of Need for Speed: Shift
Individual evidence
- ↑ Need for Speed: Shift: Release on September 17th - first in-game video (cynamite.de)
- ^ Benjamin Jakobs: NfS SHIFT: Complete car list revealed. In: Eurogamer . Gamer Network , May 30, 2009; accessed April 12, 2016 .
- ↑ Tor Thorsen: EA reading Need for Speed threesome. In: GameSpot . CBS Corporation , January 30, 2009, accessed April 14, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Tor Thorsen: Need for Speed series sells 100M, Shift moves 309K. In: GameSpot . CBS Corporation , October 21, 2009, accessed April 14, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c Test: Need for Speed: Shift (4Players.de)
- ↑ a b c Test: Need for Speed: Shift (eurogamer.de)
- ↑ a b Need for Speed: Shift Test
- ↑ a b c Test: Need for Speed: Shift (gameswelt.de)
- ↑ uk.ps3.ign.com
- ↑ Chris Roper: Test "Need for Speed: Shift". In: IGN Entertainment . Ziff Davis , September 10, 2009, accessed March 10, 2014 .
- ↑ Test: Need for Speed Shift in the test: A very successful restart of the series (PCGames.de)
- ↑ a b meta-evaluation "Need for Speed: Shift". In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed April 14, 2016 .
- ↑ a b meta-evaluation "Need for Speed: Shift". In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed April 14, 2016 .
- ↑ a b meta-evaluation "Need for Speed: Shift". In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed April 14, 2016 .
- ↑ Test: Need for Speed: Shift in the test for PS3 and Xbox 360: The new NFS is that good (videogameszone.de)
- ↑ Sebastian Thöing: Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed - first trailer - release in spring 2011. In: PC Games . November 16, 2010, accessed April 12, 2016 .
- ↑ Björn von Bredow: Need For Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed - New video shows racing drivers in the Autolog duel. In: PC Games . March 31, 2011, accessed April 12, 2016 .