Shift 2 Unleashed: Need for Speed for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

If you plan to play this with a wheel, do not.

There is a very bad input lag that cannot be fixed at the moment, and it ruins the experience quite badly.

The cars feel dead and floaty just like the first one, you CANNOT get your cars to oversteer at all, it's completely understeer.

All in all a terrible game that had potential but EA messed it up.

After reviewing some of the major publication reviews I was expecting a game that would deliver, but the car handling was so terrible I put it down near an hour after trying. I've put a lot of time in GT5 and this doesn't feel no where like a simulation racing many are calling. I then tried to use my Logitech G27 and thats where I returned the game to GF. As some of the reviewers here have noted, there are a lot of issues using a racing wheel.

What bothers me the most is how IGN, Joystiq and a few others gave this game the same rating GT5 has.

Quite honestly I am going to state that racing games have become overly traditional and just keep to the same mechanics. Only few games such as Split/Second and Motorstorm really change it. This is a really really bland racing game.

Story - 3
It is a racing game -_- what story do you want? Honestly I gave it a 3 because they try to place a basic story.

Gameplay - 6
The gameplay rather stiff and loose at the same time. This game is for race lovers because after awhile it just gets irritating. Also I read that you can't change camera view, yes you can. It simply does not make it better.

Graphics - 8
As most racers graphics are clean and polish and car damage looks great.

Sound - 7
Good car sounds but when I think of racers I think of awesome background music. That was not the case here. Although this is just a personal preference.

Overall - 6
There is nothing special or new here really. This is for the race lover not for the general community.

Need For Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed is a game with a bit of an identity crisis. It's trying to be a simulation title, containing a myriad of professional racing and drifting events, a healthy selection of cars to purchase and customize, and a wonderful selection of tracks to race on (including staples like Spa and Donington, as well as the thrilling Mount Panorama).

Unfortunately, the gameplay is heavily slanted in a more arcade-friendly direction, with cars handling unlike any real world facsimile, to the point that a new player will require a healthy dose of practice and quite a bit of driver assistance to simply get around the track. That disconnect is ever-present too, lingering through every level of your driving campaign. You never feel like you're driving a racing car, so much as playing along with a fantastical interpretation of what an auto race should look like.

Online play, meanwhile, is a mess. The autolog system is required to be turned on when playing, and through my experience it had a nasty habit of shutting off mid-race, tossing you back out to the main menu. And that is setting aside the sorts of drivers that populate the online space, four out of every five of whim believe that the best way to brake for a corner is to use the rear bumper of the car in front of them. You'll find yourself praying to start on the back row of any given race, just so you can dodge the inevitable first corner pileup.

This is all quite sad, because the game succeeds on a number of graphical levels. The game looks quite nice in motion, with impressive car-models, pretty tracks, and the helmet camera makes a very welcome addition (though it does take some getting used to for newbies). The menus are sharp as well. That said, I did have some issues with the custom livery creation system, which was FAR from user-friendly.

Shift 2 is not a bad game, but it has so many problems and failings that I can't suggest anything more then a short rental.

Caveat: This game was not what I was looking for, and that has a lot to do with my review of it.

I wasn't looking for an incredibly realistic game to play. I was looking for something that was fun, where you can drive fast and ask questions later. This game is nothing like that. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but if it's not what you're looking for, you won't enjoy it.

Having said that, despite being very realistic in certain ways (read: very difficult to drive), the lack of realism in other areas (AI) makes it very frustrating to play.

Remember the pre-views? Best ever graphics. Most realistic racing EVER. It was all hype and no delivery. The handling is so bad it is practically impossible to race even with the controller. Your experience may vary to mine if you have a wheel.

It is also very obvious that they were showing PC graphics for the game and not console graphics. The very first track, I recognized immediately from playing GT5 extensively. To compare the two is a joke.

Shift 2 is unfortunately a huge disappointment.

This game is a very poor man's Gran Turismo 5. The controls feel quite rigid, the car modification settings are stripped down and ripped right out of GT5 but affect the driving significantly less. It has some of the same courses and vehicles as Turismo but the look and feel of these vehicles and courses pale in comparison to Tursimo. Now I recognize that it's not fair to compare a game with a huge budget and epic development period like Turismo to smaller titles like SU2 but it sticks out blatantly. If you're going to rip another game off at least do it right. Don't waste your money or Q space on this game, you're much better off with Turismo as a driving simulator or split/second and hot pursuit for an arcade racer. This game attempts to be both and falls short all around.

There's nothing in Shift 2 that GT5 doesn't do better.NFS Shift was better.Not even worth a rent.

Unrealistic in every single aspect of handling. Nitrous has no affect on acceleration. Whoever designed this game knows nothing about how cars handle. Worthless. I'm so glad it was free.

I must say I was a little reluctant to even rent this game given all the low reviews, but I'm glad I tried it out. The game is a bit less refined and detailed than GT5, but it does offer full damage from the very first race instead of requiring you to virtually beat the game before unlocking it as in GT5.

The graphics are on the same level as GT5, but the crashes far exceed anything I've seen in any game so far. Intense crashes will blacken and blur your vision temporarily, and leave you with a ringing in your ears. Go sliding sideways off the road hit the sand and you'll be rolling over a few times, destroying your car (try keeping up with only 2 wheels).

Now don't get me wrong, overall GT5 is a better game in my opinion, but Shift 2 does have it's good qualities and may even be preferable to someone looking for an insane audio-visual experience and a game somewhat less serious than GT5.

This is a pretty good arcade/semi-sim racer with many of the car upgrades one would expect from a racer claiming to attack the sim racing world. The main problem for me was that the calibration of the GT Force Pro steering wheel was not as precise as other sim racers I have played such as Gran Turismo. I did enjoy the different feel of shifting gears on manual in the game. The in game menus do provide you with variable settings that you can tweak manually to your liking to come close to the steering wheel responsiveness of Gran Turismo but I personally was unable to get it to that total control level but maybe you might be able to. I usually do not play driving games without the use of a steering wheel on any home consoles or PC but the game is very enjoyable with a control pad. The head cam which is the staple difference that separates it from others is interesting and takes some getting used too but I found myself switching back to regular in cockpit view when races got close. Probably should have given the user more in game points as an incentive to use the helmet cam more like how it was done in GRID with the locked to head cam. Very good car body damage/physics in the game though, I especially liked the way the car would roll over if you got into a turn wrong and get wheel lock. Lots of fun.

All the features that make a good racing game must have been copyrighted, because nfs shift 2 has no good features. The graphics are ok but thats the best thing. It kinda seems like your driving a car that weighs as much as a semi or something. I didnt really play it all that much im not big into racing games anyways so i sent it back after like an hour of playing it. So it may get better but I seriously doubt it.

I would recomend renting this game first before buying, because chances are your not going to like it too.

Overview
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It seemed to me like they were trying to clone GT5. They just didn't succeed in being as good. I found the steering to be very hard. On the straight away it still seemed like the car was constantly pulling. I'm not much of a racing simulator fan....but I did play GT5 and thought it was better.

Pros
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1) nice graphics

Cons
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1) poor controls

I have Gran Turismo 5 and I was a bit disappointed my real life car wasn't in the game. (Turbocharged Cobalt) Now before you hate on my car just know that it's fast and there's no reason why it should be hated on. I beat Evo's and STI's on regular basis. Anyway that wasn't a deal breaker for me. I love the handling, control and realism of the game.

So when EA made the statement that Shift 2 was gonna be the most realistic racing game to date, I believed them. Then I found out the supercharged cobalt was in the game (even though significantly slower than the turbocharged cobalt) I was pretty excited. I got the email probably a day before I ran out and bought it.

So now that I have it in my PS3 and I'm ready to play, Right away during the tutorial I notice I don't like it. Sound, controls and graphics weren't great. I buy the Cobalt and notice the steering is lame, Graphics aren't nearly as good as I want them to be and the sound bad. I kept getting this weird clunk type noise. I keep playing and buy a Evo X and same noises, same bad controls, and I'm sick of the tracks.

I just didn't enjoy the game.

It's an ok racer. Not on par with how the cars handle in GT5. If you are using a wheel, the force feedback is inconsistent and can make you crash on the straights. You can change the driver view to all the views GT5 has. It has some neat features, but only good for people who want a more arcady style sim.

I refuse to play any of these new games requiring an "online pass".

awful.

stick to blur or burnout or NFS's... EA doesnt add anything good here..

I wish I would've know that this game has a fundamental flaw that is unfixable before I rented it! The steering is delayed so badly that it ruins the entire gaming experience! It was so frustrating that I'm surprised gamefly even offers to rent this game!

This game is way to difficult to play, what ever happened to fun enjoyable video game EA used to make where I don’t have to take 30 min. to complete one race…

This is the second NFS game I have played in as many weeks and just like the last it completely blows. Game controls are awful. Don't wast your time unless you like being frustrated with poor steering and lack of any real control.

very boring game dont waste your time

i felt the method of steering they used was to realistic for me =]

+epic action + realistic crashes -hard events -drift events are super hard

I've got Shift 1 when it came out and loved it! I loved how it felt you were really in and driving the car. So now I got Shift 2. And I like it even better!! It is for hardcore racers though, this is not typical N4S game, it shouldn't even be a part of that franchise.

And yes you can switch views but the in car view is best!