Need For Speed: SHIFT - Preview
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Its was hard to say that I was excited for yet another Need For Speed installment but after meeting
Stephen Viljoen - Chief Operations Officer of
Slightly Mad Studios and after seeing his new racer in action its hard for me not to be.
This next chapter in the long-standing series is going to be quite different from the versions of old. The focus is being taken away from the Arcady, Underground familiarity that has been met with a lack of eagerness to the very reason why we all fell in love with the series in the first place. SHIFT is taking Need For Speed back to its roots, to a driver centric racing game.
The engine that the Slightly Mad folks have built is so accurate to real world physics that they actually had to take it down a notch in order to make the game a little more playable and more importantly, to bring in the balance between the real world and fun. The games graphics are rendered photo-realistically and will feature lots of colour, something that will be a welcomed change from the dark and grungy games that seem dominate the charts these days.
The game features 3 levels of difficulty; Novice, Normal and Pro, each iteration moving toward a more realistic simulation than the previous one, thereby catering for the casual, fun gamer to the hardcore racing fan who wants every twitch of that steering wheel to count. Customization options will be abound, and not only allowing the player to customize the outside of their car but the cockpit too.
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New to the series is the incorporation of emotional effects; subtle details that have been added to not only provide a deeper level of immersion but a simulation of physical reactions to certain situations. For example, when you hit a wall it really feels like your head is banging all over the place and you become disorientated as your vision blurs for a few moments after the crash and as you race toward those ever-illusive high speeds the cockpit area begins to blur, dramatizing the drivers focus on the road and making you feel like you are right there on a knifes edge.
Viljoen said that their goal was to make a “true driving, racing game “ which means that you cannot win a race by simply rebounding off of barriers without any regard for braking or the drivers around you. The game will punish you for crashing and not only by the damage and performance decrease your car will receive but with the emotional effects of disorientation which are sure to slow you down.
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The games sound effects are eardrum mind blowing, each and every sound that you hear the car make has been taken from the real world, gritted up and made to sound just as it would if you where in the real version of that car and I’ve got to say; careening down a long strait in a Pagani Zonda sounds awesome.
Three engines have been engineered separately for each specific consol that the game will run on ( 360, PS3 and PC), meaning that is has been optimized meticulously for each system and will run and look exactly the same no matter your choice.
SHIFT looks like its panning out to be a great racing game that will completely immerse the driver in a world of blinding speeds and hair raising engine roars, it has most definitely made an impression on me and I will await in great anticipation for its release this September.
