**This review was originally published on September 30 2009 at www.gamefocus.ca You can view the original review here**

I like racing games.  Between the thrill of competition and the stress relief of being able to slam your virtual car into someone else, there isn’t much better value for your gaming dollar then a good, in depth racing game.  That being said – I don’t own a single edition of Need for Speed.  Racing is serious business to me, I come from a long line of speeders and when I want to get my race on, I don’t want a game geared towards teenage street racers, pimping out their rides.  I am looking for a realistic, in depth and thrilling experience.  I want the car to feel like a car, and when I upgrade the car I want to feel those subtle variations in handling, braking and acceleration.  I want graphics that the most amazing cars in the world deserve and I want tracks that look like you could reach out and touch them.  High expectations?  Hell yes.  Possible?  Absolutely.  The question then is: Has Need For Speed grown up or is it just another in a long line of disappointing street racers?

Gameplay

Need for Speed Shift features 3 racing modes: Career, Quick Race and Xbox Live.  Quick Race is your typical “I want to race now” option.  In Quick Race you can choose a number of race options from the style of race (Race, Drift or Time Attack) the number of laps, competitors and even the time of day you choose to race in.  Of course you can also choose your track.  Xbox Live mode features a Versus mode and a Driver Duel mode.  In Versus mode you are able to choose between driving in a Ranked or Unranked Match with the leaderboard’s being viewable in game.  Both of these modes are necessary components of any modern racing game and have all the features you would expect to see.

Career Mode in Shift is obviously the real substance of the game.  Your objective in Career Mode is to progress through 4 tiers of racing to qualify for the Need for Speed Live World Championship.  Each tier has a number of events in a number of race types.  The race types in Career Mode include 1 on 1 races, time trials and traditional multi-lap races.  All the race types in Need for Speed Shift offer challenge and fun, there was certainly nothing I found missing or that I desperately needed to see.

In Career Mode you also have the ability to choose ownership from over 70 different cars from BMW, Audi (both seemed to be favorably featured) as well as Ford, Chevrolet, Mazda and many others.  In your Garage you can upgrade your car, add or change its decals and even alter the rims.  For the serious auto enthusiasts out there, you also can fine tune your car in the “Tuning” section, making it feel and react precisely the way you want it to.  There is quite a bit of customization available in the garage.  All of the cars and upgrades are sorted by the tier of racing they apply to, this user interface feature is a great addition to the game, making choosing a car and its upgrades very easy.  While I personally feel the amount of cars could be larger, the variety of vehicles in the various tiers does offer you many exciting opportunities.

The tier system itself is a progression based system where you earn “stars” based on your race performances to move up to the higher levels.  In addition to the tier progression there is also a level progression which is separate.  You earn points in the race for various achievements or events such as cleanly passing another car, or following the racing line and taking corners perfectly.  The game has the ability to identify your style of racing based on how you react to certain situations (ie do you ram a guy off the road or wait for the perfect time to safely pass?) and assigns you a designation as either an “Aggressive” driver or a “Precision” driver.  As you earn points and gain levels you also build a custom insignia based on your style of driving.  With both the tiers and the levels as progression goals, Need for Speed Shift gives you something to reach for every time you turn the game on.  Getting that “next level” is definitely a concept that the developer wanted to capitalize on, and they have perfectly here.

The controls in Shift are standard for any Xbox racing game, and while there is the option to change the controls to 2 other configurations types, I found the default controls the easiest to manage.  Overall, controlling the car was fine.  The responses in some cases seemed a little too much compared to the amount of force I was using to turn, and there were some situations where I definitely felt I was going into a slide or drift for no real reason.  These control “quirks” were only minor inconveniences and while they persist all through the game I have found ways to adjust my driving to minimize their effect.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Need for Speed Shift for 360 are the best graphics I have seen for a racing game on Xbox 360 yet.  Now that I have said that, I found the cars to not look as sharp as I had hoped (and certainly not as sharp as they appear in official screenshots)  While I have not played the Playstation 3 or PC versions of the game, I suspect that due to various processing and graphical power enhancements in those systems, the cars would look a little better.  The tracks and surroundings look great and I found them to be about what I would expect in a brand new racing game.

There are some interesting noise quirks in shift that eventually began to drive me crazy, such as the sound the car makes when it shifts.  Considering how many times you shift gears in a race, it would have been nice to have a more realistic sound there.  I did like the notifications of last laps and other miscellaneous bells and whistles to notify you of times and what not.  The main sound feature of Shift though, is the narration.  While some of the comments when not racing are clearly designed with the game progression in mind, he does also play the role of your team manager.  Starting each race with a “Go, Go, Go!” or something like that was a fun element they added that I enjoyed.

Value

I really enjoy the “progression” aspect to Shift.  When you sign on to play there is always a goal, always an objective that needs to be reached.  There is hundreds of hours of gameplay in the career mode alone, and the online modes will provide players with many enjoyable racing nights.  Shift is a great gaming value and definitely a buy recommendation.

Conclusion

Need for Speed has grown up.  Dropping the street racing concept and moving to be a legit racing “simulation” was a good move.  The people who bought the first 3-4 very popular games, aren’t 17 years old anymore, they are in their mid-late 20′s and wanting something more from their racing games.  Need for Speed is moving with its playerbase and it is a move for the better.  Not only did they name the game Shift, but I think they shifted into a new and exciting direction for the Need for Speed franchise.