EA’s Need for Speed: Shift is the latest game in the long running series of racing games, and it attempts to re-invigorate a franchise that has disappointed some in recent years. Need for Speed: Shift has been in development for two years at Slightly Mad Studios, a new developer for the series and one with a history of success in racing games.
Although Need for Speed: Shift is a racing game, there will be an almost RPG element to it with the new Driver’s Experience, which will shape the Career Mode based upon your driving style. Overtake aggressively and you’ll be known for it, whereas clean passes will give you a reputation as a precise driver.
The cars are ultimately customisable too, with Need for Speed: Shift allowing you to tweak different aspects of the car, from the obvious: tyres, to the less obvious: aerodynamics. And while you can customise your vehicles, it’s not as if the game doesn’t include enough real-life car models for you to choose from in the first place: there are 65, including BMWs, Lamborghinis, Nissans and more.
To showcase the variety of cars, and therefore the driving gameplay, that Need for Speed: Shift is going to offer, EA has released screens of two cars that have gamers excited: the Nissan Skyline and the McLaren F1, both of which look very realistic.
Attention to detail in Need for Speed: shift extends to the interior of the cars as well. In the cockpit you see when racing, there’s everything, including in one shot we’ve seen an air-conditioning switch you can flick on and off. Why? Who knows, but it shows that every effort has been made to model the game as realistically as possible.
In addition to the real life cars, EA and the developers have been talking to racing teams and names from around the world. EA just released a set of Driver’s Experience videos with drivers showing off their passion for driving.
Need for Speed: Shift is being released in September 2009 on Xbox 360, PS3, PC and PSP.
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