Career Mode Revealed:
Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed - Career Mode Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLH6ULKAf3U#ws)
Team Xbox preview:
http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/2577/Need-for-Speed-Shift-2-Unleashed/p1/ (http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/2577/Need-for-Speed-Shift-2-Unleashed/p1/)
IGN has just posted their review: Shift 2 Unleashed (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/115/1157453p1.html)
Very quick thoughts: I'm a bit underwhelmed by the graphics and thought the first Shift looked better....it seems I'm not the only person that thinks so either. I didn't like the original Shift when I first played it either, so I'll hold off on any final judgements for a while.
How's she driving, mister? Any major handling and AI changes from the first game or am I likely to go bouncing controllers across the room in frustration again?
Like NASCAR, I haven't gotten much time in with Shift 2, but the driving seems a bit less twitchy than Shift 1. Having said that, if you didn't like the handling in Shift 1, I can't imagine you liking them in Shift 2. I'm anxious to get some more hands-on time with it this weekend to see if it grows on me.
I played some more of Shift 2 tonight and enjoyed it a bit more. The selection of tracks is much better this year, but you can only use the cars you own in "Quick Race" mode, so I can't test out any of the good cars t::d . Of course you can pay to download all the cars to your garage c::f . It's a little annoying that EA didn't give you any other cars to choose from and sticks you with a shitty car until you play enough to earn better ones...or pay for them.
Quote from: Jason on March 31, 2011 @ 11:31:48 PM
I played some more of Shift 2 tonight and enjoyed it a bit more. The selection of tracks is much better this year, but you can only use the cars you own in "Quick Race" mode, so I can't test out any of the good cars t::d . Of course you can pay to download all the cars to your garage c::f . It's a little annoying that EA didn't give you any other cars to choose from and sticks you with a shitty car until you play enough to earn better ones...or pay for them.
I had it freeze on me once in the menus too. Apparently many others are having freezing issues too.
I played Shift 2 for a while last night and as expected, the game is growing on me. I used the recommended adjustments to make the handling better:
http://captainstarball.com/news/shift-2-unleashed-advanced-control-tweakguide
I've also upgraded my car, so it handles better now too.
One thing I have to point out is that the game is tough. I'm playing on "Easy" right now and losing a majority of my races (usually finishing around 6-8 place). I was glad to see that other people are having trouble with that difficulty level too, because I was really beginning to think I was ridiculously bad at the game. The Autolog feature is a nice addition and I actually beat one of Adam's times on a track by less than a second. In all fairness, my car had a much higher performance index, but I'll take it anyway ;) . I'm sure he'll beat my time the next time he races on that particular track.
I like the handling out of the box. Really like it, in fact. I might have a look at those changes all the same. They can always be taken straight back out again, after all.
Not that I'm in any way competitive, you understand, but I know Jason beat me on one of the shorter London tracks driving an Infiniti G35 and this will not be allowed to stand. Autolog's an odd one, because it feels like the experience is that much more involving and compelling for having it around, even though it's really nothing more than a well-integrated leaderboard.
I put together some other impressions at DSP and not all of them are a complete match for Jason's. I'll come back to those in a tick. For now, though:
Quote from: Me, elsewhere"- The cockpit view remains excellent. My first car was a Ford Focus ST, selected because it's the tuned version of my real-world daily driver, and the view from the driver's seat is spot-on. Casting a glance downwards, I noticed the stereo was accurate too. Helmet cam is a mileage-may-vary inclusion but I like it. This is partly because it does a reasonable job of conveying the limited field of vision and slightly claustrophobic feeling wearing a crash helmet can induce, partly because having your head automatically turn towards the apex acts as a kind of line guide, particularly on circuits you don't know.
- With the Elite handling model, no aids and manual gears, the cars in the lowest classes (serious machines all the same, mind - Focus ST, Audi S4, BMW 135, that kind of thing) deliver something close to the authentic driving experience Slightly Mad promised. There's a very real sense of weight about the cars, while the steering feels much tighter and more precise than it did in the first Shift game. Dead ahead, a fairly important 'however'...
- However...my garage has a Pagani Zonda Cinque in it. I think I've been given this car because I was kind enough to play some other Need For Speed games at some stage. The Zonda reminds me much more of the handling in the first Shift, though it's still easier to hold a precise line than it used to be. The car has much less weight to it, sensationally powerful brakes and turn-on-a-dime handling which is sharper and more immediate than any purpose-built racing car in the world. If a full-on realistic handling model isn't what you're after, I'm sure you could tune the game to feel like that at all times and not just when the quicker cars arrive. You can probably also tune the game so that the front of a Lotus Exige doesn't weave down the straights. I couldn't.
- The drifting is hateful. It might just be me having no feel for the discipline, but I don't feel like the game does a great job of defining the line between 'sliding, on the edge of control' and 'spinning round in a circle'. You can play through the rest of the game without ever touching a drift event if you want to, though. EA presumably don't want you to, because they've selected drifting champion Vaughn Gittin Jr to act as your mentor, talk you through the races and host the early tutorial videos. He's fine at that, though someone should consider taping his left hand to his side or something.
- Haven't had a chance to get much of a read on the AI. On the early events with the Hard AI, it's possible to get the lead early on and stay there without too much trouble. I've had closer races in a Subaru Impreza WRX which I've sort of ruined a bit by throwing a load of engine tuning at it and not upgrading anything else. With those, I feel like the AI are sticking to a rigid line and running me over if I happen to be on it, but it's very possible that I'm contributing to that while I try to wrestle my way around the corners.
All in all, what I've played through so far is like a less irritating version of the original game."
The one I wanted to come back to was the difficulty. I'm getting through races on Hard in a reasonably straightforward fashion. I know I'm not bad at racing games but I think I had the AI in the first Shift set to either Easy or the level above, because I had great difficulty contending with the higher levels. They used to crash into me on purpose an awful lot, but I'm sure I couldn't run at their pace either. Jason's experience of the Easy level is that it's actually quite difficult.
Where you've gone faster than me on the Autolog, you've done so on a race I won, Jason. Have you tried bumping the difficulty up to see if it gets easier? I know that sounds a little strange, but I'm starting to wonder if they've got the labelling wrong and managed to unwittingly invert the difficulty levels.
Thanks for the impressions on this one, guys. I'll be watching closely, as I'm considering grabbing this.
Any more thoughts on this one? Considering getting it still. On sale anywhere?
Derek, did you enjoy the first Shift? If so, I think you'll enjoy this one too. It took me a little while to come around, but the Autolog feature and the number of new tracks sealed the deal for me. I'd also consider Adam's approval as a major positive too. Having said that, I'd probably wait to buy it on sale at this point.
Quote from: Jason on April 20, 2011 @ 11:45:21 AM
Derek, did you enjoy the first Shift? If so, I think you'll enjoy this one too. It took me a little while to come around, but the Autolog feature and the number of new tracks sealed the deal for me. I'd also consider Adam's approval as a major positive too. Having said that, I'd probably wait to buy it on sale at this point.
Just found some info on the DLC that should be available soon: Shift 2 DLC (http://drivinggamespro.com/videos/shift-2-dlc-unveiled/)
I did enjoy the first shift yes, up until the point where the faster tier cars were just too squirrelly for me. Loved the visceral feel, even knowing the physics were wonky.
Hoping to see it for $40 or less somewhere.
I use the following site to track items I'm interested in at Amazon since they can drop prices randomly and for a short period of time:
http://www.camelcamelcamel.com/ (http://www.camelcamelcamel.com/)
Quote from: webdanzer on April 20, 2011 @ 11:49:08 AM
I did enjoy the first shift yes, up until the point where the faster tier cars were just too squirrelly for me. Loved the visceral feel, even knowing the physics were wonky.
Hoping to see it for $40 or less somewhere.
The visceral feel is still present and correct, Web, so you'll be happy with that. I haven't played Shift 2 for a little while but I haven't offloaded it either, so I must think something of it.
The faster cars are still squirrelly, but I need to add a qualifier to that. I could not drive the fast cars in the original Shift. If I got them to within 20 feet of where I wanted to go through a corner, I came to view that as a success, while I'd regularly find myself completely out of control and completely unsure of why. In Unleashed, I can put the fast cars exactly where I want them to go and when I crash, I always know what I did wrong. They're still feather-light and incredibly responsive (unrealistically so, at odds with the sim-lite cars in the early stages, which are really good fun) but it's perfectly possible to drive them quickly and consistently.
The only major red flag, which might not even be one depending on your approach, is that when you make contact with another car, the game world comes over all screwy. Suddenly your car is very light, prone to having a couple of wheels off the ground for no obvious reason and newly in love with being shoved into the barriers. Don't hit the other cars and you won't have an issue. Hit them anywhere that's not the middle of a corner or the middle of a long straight and you'll probably still be fine.
Patch is out:
Improved steering, DLC trophies/achievements, and new safeguards against cheating;
- Input processing, tweaked default wheel settings and fixed force muting problem. Addresses wheel lag/feel issues. (somewhat understated - a large code change to reduce latency is included improve both input and wheel animation delay)
- Fix Upgrade / garage screen crash / hang.
- Fix Logitech FFB.
- Fix tech hang on vehicle selection if own loaner car and it's upgraded it past initial class.
- Fix occasional logic flaw for redeeming voucher codes.
- Fix restarting or quitting a race while slow motion is active in replay
- Improved validation of lap times, scores and speeds:
- Fix don't report unrealistic records to stat servers.
- Fix don't store unrealistic records to profile if playing online.
- Fix : Reset unrealistic stats stored in the profile after successful signin.
- Fix : All constants controlling record validation can be overridden from server-side config.
- Fix drift scores above 3600 not appearing in Records.
- Fix : Don't send lap times in game reports when playing drift (fixes issue with Nevada Circle Night track sharing leaderboard id with Asia Drag Strip)
Derek, there's someone on OS saying that Shift 2 will be $39 at Best Buy this week and I'd almost guarantee that Amazon will match that price. The new patch that was released yesterday is getting good feedback too.
Derek, did you ever buy the game at BB for $40? I can't tell you how much better this game is post-patch. It's definitely a better game than the original Shift now.
Not yet, but I'm still considering it. I did grab SBK Superbike based on Adam's recommendation, though, and though I've barely touched it so far, I like what I see.
I've been having a racing itch I can't seem to scratch, lately. i may very well end up with shift 2 soon!
Finally got a chance to try Shift 2 with my wheel and it's even better. I've already beaten a lot of my best lap times and I'm mastering a lot of corners that I couldn't nail previously.
I grabbed it. Does this mean your times are set up for me to knock down? ;)
Quote from: webdanzer on May 13, 2011 @ 11:16:04 PM
I grabbed it. Does this mean your times are set up for me to knock down? ;)
I'm sure you'll have no problem beating my times, but if you start beating Adam's I'll be impressed.
Do yourself a favor a don't judge the game on first impressions - once you unlock better cars, it becomes a whole new game.
Quote from: Jason on May 14, 2011 @ 09:34:34 AM
Quote from: webdanzer on May 13, 2011 @ 11:16:04 PM
I grabbed it. Does this mean your times are set up for me to knock down? ;)
I'm sure you'll have no problem beating my times, but if you start beating Adam's I'll be impressed.
Do yourself a favor a don't judge the game on first impressions - once you unlock better cars, it becomes a whole new game.
If you start beating my times, I'll have to start beating yours, and then where will we be?
Oddly enough, I was going to suggest that you
do judge the game on first impressions, because the cars available in the early stages of the game are a lot of fun to drive and to race. Let us know how you're finding it so far, mate.
Haven't played yet, but hope to in the next couple of days.