NFS: Shift GamesCom Review

• RedTwentyFour 8/21/2009 4:22 PM

I have just been to the gamescom in cologne to interview Drew, the community manager of EA about Need For Speed: Shift for NFSCars but instead I met Dana Sessions and Steven Viljoen.

When asking for Drew at the Need For Speed: Shift booth they simply didnt know him. So they sent me into the ea community area where I met Dana, Drews assistant. Dana invited me to the Need For Speed: Shift Presentation and afterward he gave me the chance to interview with Steven Viljoen of slightly mad studios, the man behind NFS: Shift.

Steven spent alot of time telling me every single aspect about the game, which was really appreciated. This was when I noticed that this man, in contrast to his predecessors has really taken a intrest in us fans. Unfortunately I couldn't record the interview so I'm sitting here on the train back to dortmund writing down everything I took note of.

The Game
Need For Speed: Shift is definatly different, anyone who says "Oh god, its the same engine with a few tweaks, a few new cars and alot of recycling" is wrong.

Why? Because here we have a new yet very experienced team (the same ones that worked on the GTR series). The same people who said the game is recycled also say "Oh god, it is one of those boring simulation games, this is not going to be very exciting."

One of the most important new Features is the mini game, in which you get points for driving either pretty good, or extremely evil, at example if you take a perfect turn, or if you get in someones way and endanger him. These points are handles, in common with Role Playing Games, which you get experience points to level up after a certain amount of points. With these points you will be able to unlock new parts, events or badges. This is extremely thrilling if you are at the front or very back of the race, and know you will either win or lose, this way you should not get bored on a track.

The Engine
NFS: Shift features a new Engine, practically build up from scratch. The cars are based on real cad data and specifications by the manufacturer, the graphics are Wicked, and the games overall design is anything but boring.

Alot of new graphical content is featured and several of those remind you of the classical need for speed. Steven seemed to be extremely proud of the Dash View, calling it the best dash view ever in a computer game.

I shouldn't forget to mention that the other camera perspectives feature a different gauge setup for every car, just like in the old NFS, but this time they are in full 3D, making them reflect the environment and let you feel an impact if you for example hit a wall. The Hood Perspective is very interesting too, it reflects the whole environment onto the hood, in full detail. Steven made a joke here, telling me you could turn the screen up side down and play the game completely through the reflection of the hood. Additionally, the driver appears very lifelike, as you can move the camera around in the whole car from his heads position. from time to time he flexes his fingers, and if you get faster, his head will move back, and if you get slower, or break hard, the head will move forwards. What I found as real attention to detail were the cracks on the windscreen after a crash, these are in full 3d and render respectively.

The Damage Model
This year you have the ability to adjust the the Damage Model completely, changing it between Full Off, Cosmetic Visual Damage or Full Damage. The cars can lose parts and if you for example have heavy damage on one side, the car will turn and struggle.

The Gameplay
The behavior of the game is very realistic, you can change alot of preferences to make it lean towards more of a simulation or the other side towards an arcade game. Sadly the game still has alot of physical errors, I had seen a car driving on 2 wheels for half a round after crashing into a wall, and another car flying through the air like a feather after being hit in the back. On the other hand I can tell how realistic the driving physics and handling are by telling you that I was pretty bad at playing the game, but this might be because I have never ever played any Need for Speed with a steering wheel and an in-dash view.

Tuning
The possibilities in tuning are very interesting, you can already fine tune alot on your stock car at the very beginning of the game, additionally you unlock alot of performance and visual parts while progressing through the game, all the parts are from really licensed Manufacturers.

Autosculpt is not featured this year, but made its way over to NFS: Nitro (which by the way, looked like alot of fun)

Among the vinyls there are alot of predefined setups, which look alot like professional race cars, but you can surely make your own vinyls as there is certainly nothing more fun than looking at your own creations while driving or watching a replay, that you can save and watch again and again. If the game will support exporting and uploading of those replays is still an unsolved mystery.

The AI
The Artificial Intelligence in Shift is new, every opponent has his own behavior and acts almost like a human being made of flesh and blood. He will not do the same thing twice, and instead will think over situations or make mistakes. It can even happen that a pretty evil driver has his samaritan moment, letting you pass by or to not take you out if he actually could.

The Race Modes
There will be no Free Roam mode this year, but aside of standard circuit tracks, there will be a time attack mode and an elimination(or knockout) mode. The drift mode is back too, being way better than ever before because slightly mad studios worked together closely with real pro drift drivers, and some of the members of the studio even are enthusiastic drifters.

Badges
This year Badges will play a big role. there will be Badges that you get for at example winning a race and Mayor Badges that you will get for winning a certain number of races or special events. those mayor badges will unlock new parts, or give you money. The whole Game system is build upon those badges, and play a big role at your online experience. If you are at example at level 5 with an amount of driving points and certain badges, and your enemy is at another level with a different amount of points and badges you know that you might or might not challenge him, as he might not have the same parts or experience as you. (the save game at the convention was on level 13, had 6 badges and 50,508 points.)

Community Features
Steven couldn't tell me alot about the community and online features yet, but he told me that you will be able to play online with up to 8 players, in difference to the single player mode where you can race against up to 16 opponents. Additionally EA apparently has planned alot of new features for NeedForSpeed.com, and will extend its support this time, so you dont need to fear that Shift might expire as fast as your bottle of milk.

At the end of our interview, I had asked Steven about his personal favorite car in NFS: Shift. He told me that the Lotus Elise is his favorite because of the handling, and that you can slip through every gap in the race as you can drive this car kind of like a go-cart. Well Steven...if we ever happen to race against each other, Don't think I will give you that gap, because there is nothing I love more than big, fat, boat like American muscle cars, which leave no room for gaps on any track. :p

Conclusion
This is defiantly the right team working on the right game, it is Highly visible that Steven is really interested in the need for speed communities and its input, he even told me that he visited almost every single community website, including our very own nfscars.net.

So all in all, you really can see that this is not the next characterless money making sequel, but a new beginning based on the classical need for speed franchise. this is fender bending, wall crashing, goggling at the environment and killing every single key on your controller to no end :)

- Rick.

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