Shift 2

Shift 2: Unleashed

Rating: E10+

Score: 8.5/10

                You surely had the thought come into your head: You're driving to work, just about late with a while yet to go, and you just want your car to transform into a stock car. The petty 50 kilometers will be cake when you're flying at 190 km/h! You could turn to video games, but they're unrealistic in style, so it's just not the same. The original Need For Speed: Shift challenged the last statement, having the most realistic cockpit, and with the same great sound quality Need For Speed is known well for. Welcome the sequel to that game, which drops the Need For Speed part of its own title out of awesomeness. This game is available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.

                Your rookie *insert generic name here*, and you want to win in professional racing. Race by race, you get faster, richer, and popular. You climb the ranks until you're driving the fastest and nicest cars. Simple enough story, and it works.

                For any familiar to Need For Speed: Shift, the gameplay will not be surprising. For any familiar with professional racing in general, this won't be a big SHIFT for you. Unlike arcade-style racers, you'll need to slow down to about 40 km/h to take the sharp turn, not drift around them clocking at 350 km/h. It's much more systematic, and in my opinion, quite dry. Shift gave it some life, made it faster, cleaner, and nicer.

                Speaking of nicer, this game looks gorgeous. I don't think I could try these cars on these tracks in real life and it look this good. That, plus the addition of the most realistic-looking cockpit view you've ever seen, and you're set for a great looking experience that massages your eyes. That's saying a lot when the past games have either looks amazing (Fight Night, Crysis) or have opened up a whole new dimension (3D).

                The music hold well as well. The designers were quick to brag they had the musical talent of professional movie musicians, and several musicians who made popular original pieces in past games. Along with those, we have Rise Against, 30 Seconds to Mars, and Jimmy Eat World. Of course, the roar of a finely-tuned Corvette beats the best music, and always will.

                Guess what makes another showing: The Autolog! It's first addition to the series was Hot Pursuit, and it added more than words can describe. A whole new world opened up, one of pure competitive heart and head-to-head racing, online! It returns, and serves much of the same purpose as before. It keeps track of track times, who beat what times, and controls the "Speedwall", which keeps tracks of friend's times against yours. With this in your face, it makes you want to be on the top of it. Not always easy, but either way you don't notice you got suckered into playing the game for several hours longer than intended.

                It's been a while (two games) since Need For Speed had role-playing elements, the role being mechanic. You upgraded your car to make it faster, handle better, whatever you need. Some upgrades can make your car too powerful for some events, as I learned the hard way. Either way, I have no regrets on installing that V8 into that small Honda.

                It's much of the same as the original Shift, which is good and bad. Good because Shift was awesome, and gave new life to a genre of acquired taste, bad because it's not much of a shift itself. There's plans to make this a full-out series, so hopefully we can see a shift into high gear for the next!