Shift 2 Unleashed

[Preview] Shift 2 Unleashed

Driving a car at speed can be exacting, thrilling and really, really rewarding. That much has powered the likes of Gran Turismo 5 or Forza Motorsport 3, but there's one thing those games don't convey so well; driving a car at speed can also be absolutely terrifying, and that's a facet that's at the very core of Shift 2: Unleashed, EA, DICE and Slightly Mad Studio's second krack of the racing whip.

When it released late in 2009, Need for Speed: Shift brought some welcome flair to the well-worn art of pounding the tarmac. Its depiction of speed was sensational, the colours draining from a screen that was smeared with a liberal splash of motion blur. Shift 2: Unleashed takes that idea and runs with it, the result the all new helmet cam. 

Framed by the visor it's a driver's eye view that exaggerates the extreme. Head towards a corner and the eyes will shift towards the apex, pull alongside a driver and it'll likely glance over while colliding will again dramatically shift the depth of field - and it's all performed to the terrifying soundtrack of an engine's exaggerated bark and roar. It's certainly immersive, and it feels like the experience of racing a car as seen through the lens of Gaspar Noe. 

It's not just its depiction of speed that's sensationalist – its driving is too. Like its predecessor it skirts around that twilight zone between sim and arcade that few racers have managed to tread well. A burst around a night-time Spa confirms that it's working well with the GT car we drive skating around with an overload of nervous energy, but there's still a sim heart beating beneath it all. 

"If you go to Elite mode, you get all the benefits of a totally accurate physics model," says DICE's Marcus Nilsson, and with his boss Patrick Soderlund's involvement in the FIA's GT series we're inclined to believe him. "If you get into the GT3 car which Patrick drives, that feels like that car does in real life. We've got a good mirror of how to create that. The physics engine is very sim, and we can tweak it to make a more sensational feel for the player who wants that." 

There's also the expected boost in content – Shanghai and Bathurst help fill out the track list, and the addition of the official FIA GT licence brings with it a fleet of desirable race cars as well as an opportunity for Soderlund to play as himself. The track list runs to around 100 with 130 cars to hurl around them - numbers that are eclipsed by Gran Turismo 5, though EA's not particularly bothered. "We're not trying to innovate with the numbers like other games in the genre do," boasts Nilsson, "we're trying to innovate behind the wheel, where it really matters." 

It's a thinly veiled potshot at Polyphony's opus, and EA's not being shy about its expectations for Shift 2: Unleashed. The original Shift was, until a few weeks back, quite easily the best Need for Speed game for nearly half a decade, but this time out it's got bigger concerns than simply reviving an ailing franchise; now it's got Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport in its sights. "This game is built to become number 1," says Nilsson in a typically Nordic and brilliantly matter of fact way. 

And why not? With DICE now heading up the franchise and Criterion delivering what could be the best arcade racer of this generation with Hot Pursuit, the Need for Speed series has never looked healthier. Shift 2: Unleashed may be bashful about its heritage – the Need for Speed part is relegated from the title and will merely be part of the game's box branding – but its immediate bloodline is apparent. 

Autolog, the social networking feature that formed the backbone of Hot Pursuit, is here in tweaked form, providing a thread that's set to continue with future Need for Speed games. Within the more serious-minded world of Shift 2: Unleashed its benefits are obvious – competing for fastest times amidst a group of friends has already proved addictive in Hot Pursuit, and when it's transferred over to the more precise art of race car driving that's only going to be amplified. 

XP earnt by beating friends times on the speedwall (Autolog's own take on friend's leaderboards) will feed into the overall progression system, and again it's a system with depth, doling out points for various on-track achievements. In the original Shift the feature was smart and compelling, and there's no reason to believe that won't be the case second time around. 

And second time around it's heartening that, in the new helmet cam experience, DICE and Slightly Mad Studios is finding room for innovation in a genre that can be slow to move forward. Expect to read more in the run-up to its Spring 2011 release.


Minimum System Requirements:

    * OS: Windows XP (Service Pack 3) or Windows Vista (Service Pack 1) / Windows 7
    * CPU: Intel Core2 Duo 1.6 GHz or faster
    * RAM: 1 GB for XP; 1.5 GB for Vista/7
    * HDD: 6 GB free disk space
    * Graphics: 256 MB Graphics Memory with support for Pixel Shader 3.0*
    * Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
    * DirectX: Version 9.0c
    * Online Multiplayer – 512 Kbps or faster
    * Optional: USB Steering Wheel / Dual Analogue Gamepad
    * *Supported video chipsets: ATI HD 3000 Series or greater; NVIDIA GeForce 8000 Series or higher

Recommended System Requirements:

    * OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
    * CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz or AMD Phenom 8400 Triple-Core
    * RAM: 3 GB
    * HDD: 10 GB free disk space
    * Graphics: 512 MB Graphics Memory
    * Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
    * DirectX: Version 9.0c
    * Online Multiplayer – 512 Kbps or faster

Source : IGN

Download  : Shift 2 [Mediafire]
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