Game Rant's Dwayne Holder reviews Shift 2: Unleashed Electronic Arts and Slightly Mad Studios have had a successful run with racing titles the past few years. The original Need for Speed Shift didn't wow the sim racing enthusiast, but it was a quality title and made enough of a splash to warrant a sequel. A lot of people saw the potential in the Shift franchise and hence, the excitement for Shift 2: Unleashed, especially from those who were not satisfied with Gran Turismo 5.

Read on for our review to see if Shift 2: Unleashed delivers.

The main question on everyone's mind is, "how do the cars handle?" Control is everything in a racing game, and I will say that the car handling in Shift 2: Unleashed is an improvement from that of the original NFS: Shift. However, like the original, some tweaking will need to be done to fit each person's play style. When the game starts, you're greeted by the 2010 Formula D Champion, Vaughn Gittin Jr., who is also your coach throughout the game. He gives you a Nissan GT-R R35 to try out the controls and after a tutorial, the game tailors the gameplay settings based on your performance.

These settings can be changed at anytime, and trust me, you will have to change them. Cars tend to slide too easily with the default settings, and players will have to go out to the main menu options and adjust the steering sensitivity and deadzones to their liking. Once I adjusted these settings to suit my play style, I had a lot more fun on the track.

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Shift 2 does a good job at introducing gamers to the control options, but leaves them to figure out how to use them best. It's frustrating at first, but after some experimentation you'll be on the podium in no time. Speaking of experimentation, a lot of practice will be needed for the Drift competitions. Drift has been improved in Shift 2 and while it's a lot more difficult to play, players do still have a Formula D champion to help them out. Vaughn gives you a Nissan 240sx and a tutorial on drifting. Afterwards, players get to keep the car and a large open hangar lot is made available via the 'Quick Race' menu for future practice.

Just like its predecessor, Shift 2 offers a leveling mechanic which does away with the good vs. evil branches of the first game. These levels unlock the eight main events as players progress. At each new level, players unlock new cosmetic items such as rims and vinyls for their cars, as well as bonus cash. In some cases, players will be rewarded with new special cars. Experience points can be earned by performing various actions on the track like drafting and completing a clean lap. The single leveling system is a welcome change from two paths from the previous title. It streamlines the game (in a good way) and allows gamers to play as they feel and not towards a specific goal. Experience and cash can be earned online however, a lot more of it can be earned during the career.

On top of the racers' experience points, each car also has an experience bar. With every upgrade, the bar increases until it hits the 'Works' threshold, and it's at this level where players can add high level mods to their vehicles. The game also prompts the player before they install a mod that will push it into a new racing class. Altering the class of a car will make it unavailable for certain races and it's great the game tells you before it's too late. In the event a class changing mod is installed, it can easily be removed for later installation.

Continue to Page 2 for the rest of our review of Shift 2: Unleashed!

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The graphics of Shift 2 Unleashed have definitely been improved. Car models are highly detailed, especially their interiors. Slightly Mad Studios made sure that every one of the 140 cars in the game had an awesome looking interior for when players used the new 'Helmet Cam.' I should say that when people hear about this game being 'viceral', they're talking about the experience from inside the helmet. While it might be easier to control the car in the 3rd person, it's a whole different experience when playing from inside the car. This is how the game is meant to be played and those who skip over this feature will be missing out. Hitting a wall at high speeds instantaneously strips the world of color and blurs the players vision, adding to the effect. One gripe about this feature is that this also happens when the car lightly grazes a wall, and there should have been differentiation between light and hard impacts.

While racing, the driver of the car instinctively glances at the exits of corners, giving players a better view of the road ahead. The right analog stick can also be used for quick glances in emergency situations. I was originally skeptical of the helmet cam, but it totally works and it does so better than other racing games.

Shift 2 Unleashed Review Helmet Cam

Getting back to the cars, the damage models are also very well done. In the course of a single race, cars can lose not only bumpers, but also doors, canopy and headlamps. One experience I had was when I flipped my car several times, landing wheels down, only to realize I lost them all in the rollover. The level of damage can be controlled in the menu and can be changed from 'visual only' to 'full damage.' The full damage option can take racers completely out if they're not careful, and too much damage can lead to a blown engine.

The game's audio is another prominent feature. The sounds of the engine are authentic and are muffled when using the helmet camera, adding to the overall experience. The soundtrack was also tailored to create a specific mood for Shift 2. Many overlook the soundtrack of racing games, mainly because they just throw in whatever pop or rock tune is popular at that time. In the case of Shift 2, special attention was given to the music and its library includes standard rock affair that plays at the end of each race. When navigating the menus, the player is treated to epic orchestral remixes of these tracks, which in my opinion sound better than the originals.

Autlog returns in Shift 2 Unleashed with many of the features that made it popular in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Players can still post times and messages to their Speedwall, though Autolog 2.0 isn't drastically different from the original. Other than the fact that the 2.0 verison is tailored to the race and car classes of Shift 2, it's the same experience as it was in Hot Pursuit. Gamers who bought Hot Pursuit may not get Shift 2 and vice versa however, the two systems could have been integrated and accessed via an online website. Even the iOS app isn't able to see Autolog data from Shift 2 - not yet anyway. There's no word on what future updates EA is planning for Autolog, and in this case there could've been larger steps taken to create a full Need for Speed social network.

Shift 2: Unleashed has a couple of issues that effect the gameplay. First, there are the load times. The game does a lot of loading, the bulk of it before and after a race. A lot of games have long load times, but these are more noticeable since its a racing game where players want to go-go-go fast. Like, right now. I've also experienced several lock-ups which occur when upgrading cars. These lock-ups forced me to reset my system each time and are particular annoying when the game hasn't saved my upgrades. This shouldn't ever happen in games. I did some investigating online and others are experiencing these lock-ups on both Xbox 360 and PS3. Hopefully there'll be a patch for this soon.

Prior to the release of Shift 2, the developers made some bold claims that it was their goal to knock Gran Turismo and Forza off the top podium spots. Does Shift 2: Unleashed do this? No, it's not better than those titles, though it's not worse than them either. The competition can get the handling down right off the line, and this is an area the Shift franchise has to work on. Where Shift 2 lacks in handling it makes up in the experience of being behind the wheel of a powerful racing machine. It's not fair to compare Shift 2 to the other established games in the genre because it very much has a style all its own. Slightly Mad Studios made this sequel accessible to new players and encourages experimentation by tuning the experience to suit their tastes. It will be interesting to see what they do with Shift 3.

Shift 2: Unleashed is a unique driving experience that we recommend to any fans of the simulation racing genre, and anyone who is curious about jumping into the driver's seat.

Shift 2: Unleashed is available now for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

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