Shift 2 Unleashed is the follow up to
NFS Shift, EAs First collaboration with UK based developer Slightly Mad Studios. Shift was the first attempt to gather more towards the racing simulation crowd, but with EA not willing to shock their core audience to much, it ended up as something in between (& rushed). What SMS however did achieve in Shift, was a visceral racing experience, specially in cockpit view, that set it apart from other titles in the genre.
With Shift 2: Unleashed, SMS is trying to move a little more towards the sim side and with the drop of NFS in the title, with NFS Hot Pursuit delivering the arcade racing, it looks EA is more willing to lean towards sim than ever before. More cars, a, if I may say so
,fantastic track list, autolog, real time telemetry, the addition of the bouncy bouncy, can someone pass me a bucket helmet cam, SMS goes even one step further and puts you inside the helmet of a racing driver, it at least looks promising.
Can they deliver this time and challenge other high profiled titles in the genre, or is there still too much Need for Speed, we will wait and see.
Overview: Everything in Shift 2 is build around eXP erience points. For everything you do, racing, winning or loosing, driving the right lines, passing cars, beating friends times, race online, etc., you will be rewarded with XP points. You can then use them either to progress through your career (unlocking events) or buy new/upgrade/tune cars. The main goal of the career mode is to beat Jamie Campbell-Walter in a FIA GT1 boss battle, how you get there is up to you, so if you do not like retro cars or for example drifting, you can pick and choose your favourites. The game is keeping track of the cars you use, tracks you race on (autolog) and is trying to make suggestions of available events in the career, based on that.
The nine main career paths are:
- RETRO: As the title suggest, no modern cars just golden oldies and it pits you against Team Need for Speeds Darren McNamara in his Toyota AE86, which you will unlock if you beat the final challenge.
- MUSCLE: With the Muscle racing discipline, you'll be racing everything from time attacks to circuits (with the exception of drift# while using Muscle cars. Your main opponent in this one is Vaughn Gittin Jr. in his Ford Mustang RTR-X.
- DRIFT: For those that like to go sideways, drifting makes a return in Shift 2. You will score points, based on speed, drift angle and style and the main rival is the same as in muscle, 2010 Formula Drift Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr., this time his Monster Energy/Falken Tire Ford Mustang GT is there for you to win.
- TIME-ATTACK It is all about shaving of tenths to beat best times in this mode. Your main rival in this mode is Chris Rado in his 1200Hp strong Team Need for Speed Scion tC
- WORKS In this mode you can take your works modified cars to the track and compete against others. Your opponent in this one is Mad Mike Whiddett, part of the NFS drift team. The car for you to unlock by beating Mad Mike, is the Team Need for Speed Mazda RX-7.
- ENDURANCE The name sort of gives it away, it is about racing around tracks for a long time, how long is long in EA terms, no idea. Your main opponent in this one is Tommy Milner and you can win his car he drove in last season ALMS championship, the BMW M3 GT ALMS.
- FIA GT3 In this class you will race on real circuits again pure-bred race cars, lets call them GT1s Little brother, well know racing brands with just a little less hp compared to its bigger brother. your main rival in this one is Patrick Soderlund, not in his real job as Senior VP at Electronic Arts, but as driver in his
Team Need for Speed BMW Z4 GT3.
- FIA GT1 The top level reachable in Shift 2 is the FIA GT series. In this racing discipline, you'll be driving in circuit races on a variety of international tracks. The one to beat is as mentioned earlier Jamie Campbell-Walter in the SUMO POWER Nissan GT-R GT1.
AUTOLOG: Autolog was introduced in NFS Hot Pursuit and is a form of Big Brother watching and recording everything you do in game. It will dynamically track your career progress, best times and how they will stack up to your friends.
- You can share, add text, screenshots & replays, so every time you #or your selected friends# starts up the game #or off-line, iPhone app.#, you will receive the updates, on your Wall.
- On your profile you can follow all your racing statistics, career development , latest unlocks and photos.
- Recommends continually serves up event suggestions based on your skill level, progression, and how you and your friends are playing SHIFT 2 Unleashed.
- In the Gallery you will find all you shots and for those using a PC/PS3 #not on Xbox 360#, you will be able to view your in-game videos that were uploaded to YouTube.
- The last tab in Autolog is Friends, which shows and let you compare to everything your selected friends are doing.
Multiplayer: There is not to much info about the MP part of the game yet, but from what I could find:
- 2-12 Players
- Matchmaking based on progress, connection#ping# and driving style # in the background the Shift precision/aggression still logged and used for matching players#
- You can create ranked/non ranked races #?#
- Some form of cat and mouse races #old/new , low power/high power cars#
- You cannot create races restricted on aids, but you can on view #so only helmet cam would be possible, only elite handling mode not)
- Collision are always on, no option to turn them off.
Tuning:
- All, non real race cars, will be upgradable to works conversions. By using your hard earned XP points, you will be able to buy new parts, body/areo/engine/suspension/tire, to increase your cars performance. Engine swaps are limited possible, only within manufactures, drive train conversions however are not possible.
- On the visual side, you can change rims, paint your car (gloss/matt/etc.) and add decals, this time mirrored and they can also be stuck on windows. Like last time if thats too much trouble, you can select a different livery out of the available presets.
- You can fine tune every car, if you have the necessary upgrades, this time with the help of the real time telemetry. I believe it is still not possible to fine tune engines (ECUs). You can (unlimited) save your set-up for each car/track combination.
- Sharing of set-ups, paint jobs or tuning jobs is still not possible.
Overview of in game screen and menu options in a preview by
Gamerzine:
- Semi-Pro 10 | Reached Driver Level 10
- Veteran 75 | Reached Driver Level 20
- Road to Glory 10 | Beaten your first Rival
- Proving Grounds 10 | Won JR's GTR Challenge
- Recommended 5 | Completed an event recommended by a friend
- Cub Scout 10 | Won your first Event Set badge
- The Driver's battle 5 | Completed an event purely from helmet cam
- Dominator 100 | Beaten all the Rivals
- Works Champion 50 | Beat Mad Mike Whiddett and won the Works Championship
- Going the extra mile 25 | Completed 250 Event Objectives
- GT3 Champion 50 | Beat Patrick Soderlund and won the FIA GT3 European Championship
- I. Am. Iron Man. 10 | Placed 1st in 5 consecutive Online events
- GT1 Champion 100 | Beat Jamie Campbell-Walter and won the FIA GT1 World Championship
- Amateur 5 | Reached Driver Level 5
- Day Walker 50 | Mastered every location in day or dusk
- Night Rider 100 | Mastered every location at night
- Pro 50 | Reached Driver Level 15
- Bounty Hunter 20 | Earned $10,000,000 total during your career
- King of the Hill 10 | Won your first Driver Duel Championship crown
- Leno would be proud 10 | Have at least one car from each manufacturer in your garage
- Badge Hunter 10 | Earned 50 Badges
- Badge Collector 50 | Earned 100 Badges
- Badge Earner 5 | Earned 10 Badges
- Workaholic 10 | Upgraded 3 vehicles to Works spec
- Grass Roots 10 | Completed JR's Grass Roots event
- In The Zone 10 | Won an Online event from helmet cam
- Notorious 25 | Played Online for over 10 hours total
- Intercept & Pursue 10 | Completed an Online Catchup Pack and Online Catchup Duel event
- I'm Going To Hollywood! 10 | Got through the Qualifying round in the Driver Duel Championship
- Paparazzi 5 | Shared a photo or replay with others
- Race License 50 | Won 75 Career events on Hard difficulty
- Sizzlin' 10 | Beaten the 1st Target Time in a Hot Lap event
- Competition License 10 | Won 50 Career events on Medium difficulty or higher
- Elitist 10 | Placed 1st in an event using Elite handling model
- Sports License 10 | Won 25 Career events on Easy difficulty or higher
- Tic Tac Toe 10 | Own a Modern, Retro, and Muscle car
- Dialled In 10 | Used On-Track Tuning to save a Tuning Setup for a car
- Globetrotter 20 | Competed at every location in the game
- The World is my Oyster 10 | Unlocked the FIA GT1 Branch
- Nailed It 10 | Track Mastered your first location
Game is like the first one, with different settings, changing feel a lot so will try to pick up some suggestions and post them here:
- ATI owner, I use no AA gives massive FPS boost and better feel responsiveness (wheel)
- People often asked what % sensitivity in the controller setting does, here's an image that explains. (2nd image < 50 , 3rd image > 50)
- G25 PC settings:
