Beginning April 26, racing enthusiasts can experience the intensity of the driver’s battle in some of this era’s most iconic cars in the Shift 2 Unleashed Legends content pack. Players can purchase the Legends pack for 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace or £7.99 on the PlayStation Network (If it ever comes back to lif again!).

The Legends pack also features five of the world’s most challenging classic race tracks including the historic Rouen-Les-Essarts. Once recognized as one of Europe’s finest circuits, this classic track has now been restored to its former glory in Shift 2 Unleashed.

Legends pack contents:

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2. Shift 2 Unleashed Career trailer
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When we initially got some hands on time with this title at Brands Hatch in May of 2009, the physics we were witnessing plus the immersion into the race itself via tunneling visuals, blurring when being hit and a general feeling of disorientation during a crash or spin put this on our serious contender list as a competitive sim racer.  After all, Slightly Mad Studios was born from guys that worked for Simbin who have nailed the sim racing dynamics and handling perfectly.  Even on the console, a sim racer was a sim to a point but never encapsulated the true feeling of a cars handling apart from Race Pro which I still consider the pinnacle of simulation racing on a console, even though the graphics and online were shocking in the end.

For some reason, between the hands on time that we had with Shift and its release, someone had got their grubby paws on the title, given it a makeover and not for the greater good, taking what could have been a great game and made it an acceptable racer.

Now that Shift 2 Unleashed is ready to roll we take a look at what has been done to improve this title.  Have they finally nailed the physics and are we now starting to see the true emergence of a simulation racer in mind, body, car and soul?

Shift 2 Unleashed lays its cards on the table from the start.  A quick introduction will take you to a 2 lap race to gauge your level of driving skill and apply that to your game from there on in, similar to the original Shift.  The difference this time is that you are immediately put into the helmet cam mode that has been advertised heavily as one of the big features of the game, a feature that, for me at least, didn’t work as I struggled to hit apexes properly, turning in late as well as feeling out of control and thus ruined lap times.  I will explain why this happened later on and whilst I applaud the concept it just didn’t work for me.

After your initial introduction is done and your skill has been set, which can be changed in the options to increase of decrease difficulty, you then progress into the career mode with a set amount of money to buy your first car.  Your career progression is dictated by an XP system which awards you for clean laps, wins, best racing lines, mastering corners etc which again award you badges too ala the original game.  As you level up, more things open up to you too including cars, events, vinyls, tuning options etc which can be bought using cash won from events.  Keep progressing through the career to get to the top and compete in the GT3 championships to finish off the career mode in the game.  Of course, the basic career has finished but you know you will be going back to master those corners, get that perfect line and gain all of the badge awards.

This provides the base to Shift 2 as you make money and gain XP to unlock, buy and tune your way to the top.  Events come in the form of racing, duels, drifting, time attacks etc and if you’ve played the original then you will be comfortable with what is on offer.  Although the career will take a nice chunk of time out of your life we all know that a racing title lives and dies by its online offerings.  Shift 2 Unleashed has various way of attacking this problem, one of which being the traditional ranked and unranked events that can be played.  With a wide variety of well known and also well balanced tracks including the return of Brands Hatch, Spa and also welcoming Donnington and Miami into the mix, there is more than enough to keep you going for a long, long time.  Also up to 12 racers can participate in any of the races, so as long as you can get the lobby full, the races should be pretty exciting.  I will, however, have to update this on how the servers are handling the game online because of the lack of people on there at present and will do a separate online review as there are areas that I would like to talk about further, good and bad.

The other big draw to the longevity of Shift 2 has to be the Autolog which first made its appearance in Need For Speed Hot Pursuit last year.  Anybody that has experienced Autolog will tell you that this social hub is so addictive you will actually get drawn away from the main objectives of the game.  Including Autolog into Shift 2 Unleashed gives you exactly the same feeling as World, Regional and would be friends lap times for tracks are displayed for you to beat.  As well as lap times there were complete race times available to beat too and I must admit I strayed away many a time to smackdown someone that decided they wanted to knock my world best time off of the top.  A see saw battle ensued for a couple of hours until I realised that I should be concentrating on other aspects of the game too for review purposes.  You can be assured though that I will return to Autolog and that person is going to get his!

After the inclusion of Autolog, probably the biggest feature in Shift 2 Unleashed has to be the massive improvement in handling and car to track physics.  This is something that is always banded around in sim racing games but never quite hits the spot apart from a couple, Forza and Race Pro included.  Shift 2 Unleashed has changed dramatically to offer you a full on experience in terms of handling that is more representative of Race Pro and Forza.  You can now really feel the tyre bite into the track on corners, you can actually feel the level of grip you have on track and you can now feel every bump and undulation, camber and bounce of the car as your weight shifts in different directions all rolled up in the feelings you get in the cockpit views as your head is bounced around on occassion.  Contact feels weighty now to allow for close racing without a feeling that you will spin out with the smallest of touches and any damage to the car, if your settings are correct, will apply the relevent changes in terms of handling, losing gears or even your geabox etc.  I cannot begin to describe how much this area has changed and all for the good.

There is a sleight downside to this and may become a big deal for some.  The controllers again seem to be overly sensitive and in a game that demands a smooth driving style that affords those playing Forza or Gran Turismo will be tearing the walls up at the way you are constantly trying to correct yourself.  This may be something that takes time to adjust to as most racers are used to a smooth control, it maybe that this game lends itself a lot better to using a wheel to gain that control and truly experience the game the way it is meant to be played but as I do not have a pS3 wheel I am stuck with constantly adjusting settings to find that perfect control.

Shift 2 is not without its faults and although some maybe minor and not really worth mentioning in the general scheme of things, one thing that I briefly touched upon earlier on does.  We are all aware of the helmet cam by now that has been heavily featured in a couple of trailers.  The cam that really puts you in the seat of the driver as your head moves properly based on lateral G that is being exerted from your car’s cornering and the bumps in the track.  When you are coming into a corner your cam will move to look at the apex to give you better precision but for me, unfortunately it was the opposite.  Maybe it is a personal thing and I need to stress personal because some of you will probably love it but I tested this cam and also the fixed cockpit cam (yes, it is available – phew!!) on Brands Hatch, a track that is local to me, I know well and I have driven on at a few track days and hot laps showed that my times were over 4 – 5 seconds up using the fixed cockpitcam as opposed to the helmet cam.

The reason?  I feel that when you want to look into a corner I want to be able to dictate when that happens rather than when the game thinks it should happen.  My feeling of disorientation as I adjusted from looking at my bonnet to suddenly changing to looking at the apex without a fair warning from my brain made me miss certain apexes, lose exit speed and generally my laps were despicable.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I really love the concept, it does add another dimension to the racing but feel that this was a missed opportunity to be able to utilise the Kinect and Move camera to track your head and produce the result instead and give you a little more control.

Overall, Shift 2 Unleashed really does hit its mark perfectly.  The advances from the original are huge and graphically silky smooth with beautifully rendered vehicles, night day and weather effects and that familiar blurring and disorientation that only the Shift franchise provides to give you a proper immersion into the world of racing.  Autolog, as ever, is inspired and addictive and the handling propels this game into the true sim racers out there.  Tuning is deep and effective, customisation is quite vast with gametypes to suit everyone as well as difficulty levels that cater from the novice to the experienced.  Shift 2 Unleashed has now gone from pretender to a serious sim contender.

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1. Shift 2 Unleashed Autolog Hot Lap trailer
2. Shift 2 Unleashed Career trailer
3. Pagani Huayra coming exclusively to Shift 2 Unleashed

Featuring real gameplay footage, see the Dubai 24hr winner set a hot lap for you to beat.  If they get the handling right this time around expect Shift 2 Unleashed to go stellar!

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The newly-unveiled Pagani Huayra, named after the Andean God of Wind, reflects this dichotomy and will be available exclusively in Shift 2 Uunleashed and Need for Speed in 2011, the latest entry to the critically acclaimed Need for Speed simulation series.

The team at Slightly Mad Studios hasperfectly recreated the form and function of this year’s most notable new supercar. From its elegant body shape to its commanding 700 HP engine, Shift 2 Unleashed is the first videogame where playerswill feel the white knuckle intensity of racing the Pagani Huayra at speeds of over 230 mph.  Shift 2 Unleashed is this year’s most authentic racing game which races onto retail shelves in Europe beginning on March 31.

“For the past seven years, the designing of the Huayra has been a labor of love and I’m ecstatic to be working with the entire Need for Speed team to help share our creation with the world,” said Horacio Pagani, founder of Pagani Automobili S.p.A. “I’m amazed by how accurately they have been able to capture the look and, most importantly, the feel of the Huayra. Shift 2 Unleashed will give enthusiasts all over the world the opportunity to get behind the wheel of the Huayra.”

Shift 2 Unleashed takes the innovative rivalry-generating Autolog technology pioneered by Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and connects friends, and competitors, together in head-to-head races and player statistic match-ups to add new layers of depth and detail to the intricate customization and tuning of the simulation series. Players can take the revolutionary true driver’s experience to the next gear with an all-new rendering engine and graphics overhaul, innovative helmet camera, night racing, and authentic degradation of cars and environments.

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In the trailer the development team provides a quick overview of the career mode within the game.  Shift 2 will be available for release in March on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC

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In the trailer you will see the 3 bonus cars in their element, drifting and racing with a little more exposure of the gameplay in Shift 2.

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The Team Racing mode brings a fresh new challenge to SHIFT by completely redefining online racing. In this mode, two teams of up to six racers will battle against each other for online supremacy. Individual driving strategy and playing it safe won’t work as team tactics and 200 mph split-second decisions are required to push your team to the podium.

As part of the new content, players will also get access to these legendary racers:
• 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427
• 1967 Shelby GT-500
• 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
• 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T
• 1998 Toyota Supra Mark IV

A lot of people have moved on to the great Forza 3 but if you still have this around then it would definitely be worth the download and getting a few laps in with it.  Check out our review for Shift here

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The Need For Speed franchise has had a serious overhaul and with the latest version just released we have a look at how it compares to the other racers that are out there.

We can nearly all say quite confidently that the last few versions of the Need For Speed franchise have been not up to scratch.  Not realising its full potential, losing its identity and some would say completely lost in the wilderness, Need For Speed has taken an all new direction with the title Shift and it is all for the better.

Developed by Slightly Mad Studios with help from Black Box, Need For Speed: Shift has taken a completely different direction and is setting itself up nicely competing in the sim racing market taking the essence away from illegal street racing and putting it firmly back on track (no pun intended) with a variety of different events all based around real world tracks.  The cheesy story lines have gone as well as woolly voice acting that would try to meld the storyline together, instead focussing on putting the true feeling of speed to the forefront that made its name in the early days.

A great deal of work has gone into what it feels like to drive at race speed and is best presented via the cockpit view.  There are various views you can have but this is by far the most realistic and with a view that is not restricted like other racers have been you are bombarded by a variety of effects that are in tune to what it would be like to be present in a race situation.  These include blurring depth of field at high speeds, disorientation when you crash and are all included to good effect as you feel more at one with the car than ever before.

Graphically, it is smooth and can best be described on par with Grid.  I’m sure a lot of people will compare the two but Need For Speed: Shift far surpasses it in terms of handling, physics and performance and is a lot more realistic than the aforementioned title.  That said there are a few questionable problems in terms of the actual control system.  When we first played the build the response from the thumbsticks were solid and very easy to control but in the finished build the control system is very sensitive indeed and you will definitely need to have a look at the options to dumb it down.  After my first couple of practice laps it assigned me some settings which I took on board but found out that I had auto brake on without realising and thus immediately went to the settings again to get them off.  The cars do handle well but only after some time of getting the options set to your style of racing and at first rear wheel drive cars can become very skittish if you get the throttle down too quick.  Also, and this was something we did bring up when we got some hands on time, was that having the gears on the bumpers just didn’t feel natural when using the triggers to accelerate and brake.  Unfortunately, this is somethig that still remains and you will need to re-configure the controller again for a more natural feel.

The gameplay itself is very simple and uses tiers of events around 32 tracks and ribbons to earn stars through podium finishes, hitting certain amounts of points for getting corners dialled in, keeping on the racing line, sliding corners etc and all combines well into your profile where you are marked on aggressive and precision driving.  The higher you rank up in this profile the more features get unlocked like decals and things.  This is where the Need For Speed brand had been going and still shows a little in this game.  I feel that Black Box should have been kept out of this and it completely handled by Slightly Mad Studios for a more effective simulator.  Another slight problem with these mini tasks for points and stars are that it can encourage dangerous and stupid driving which with a simulator should not be there.  The beauty of the system in place is that there is so much depth there i will keep you going for a long, long time to gain the perfection you are after.  Once you reach a certain amount of stars though you will unlock a new tier until finally you reach the World Championship and the pinnacle of your single player campaign.  The whole system overall is very easy to use, easy to access and provides a wealth of achievement points on the 360 to keep the achievement whores going for a while.

The physics of the cars, tracks and the aggression of the A.I. are pretty bang on.  Too much throttle on a rear wheel drive coming out of a corner and your car will kick out.  All wheel drive cars feel heavy but hold their own, although you need to pay attention to your speed into the corners.  Every bump is felt, sometimes a little too much, but you can hang the cars out there on the edge but you cannot go too overboard because if you take the wrong line and hit a wrong bump your car will kick out and you will be struggling to get it back again.  The A.I. can sometimes be overly aggressive in this game but the beauty is that they each have their own way of driving and do not “ride on rails” to get past you and all adds to the feel of contact racing.

On the multiplayer side of things, you are treated to 8 player racing on any track and cars that are available with no drops in framerate at all.  It is smooth as silk and I have driven many a lap and had a lot of fun.  Again, it is very easy to access, very easy to setup but in ranked matches you do get the problem of overly aggressive drivers trying to take you off of the track at speed.  Another great feature is that if you start driving the wrong way you will be warned to turn around and if you don’t comply then you will get disqualified which takes the idiotic timmie factor away somewhat and is something that really has to be praised.

Overall, Need For Speed: Shift has great variety of race types from, normal races, head to head races, manufacturer head to heads, time trials and drifting and takes away what some might consider monotonous laps around a track doing the same old thing over and over again.  Need For Speed: Shift has taken a different direction for the better and will sit comfortably in the realms of the other great racers that are out now.  The game is a hell of lot of fun, great to play online and has a great career.  I just feel that when Black Box got their mits on it the simulator that was touted around has lost a little of its edge.  Is it worth buying?  Definitely so but it can improve and I’m sure it will in future incarnations of the franchise.

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