Need for Speed Shift - Falken Demo

The Need for Speed franchise has made the leap from arcade to simulation and vice-versa quite a few times during its long history, always managing to surprise the fans and offer them something new. This time, the series took a turn for realism yet again, featuring a heavy damage model, realistic car performance and a lot of other gimmicks to make you feel like you're on the race track.

Need for Speed Shift – Falken got its name from a collaboration between the developers and the famous tire manufacturer and, as a game, emphasizes much more on your ability to drive, rather than decorate your car with stickers and colorful lights. Hence, most of the races take place on real-world circuits and the cars, while they can still be modified in some aspects, are actually models designed specifically for these kinds of competitions.

Since the main focus of this title is to show off how brutal and unforgiving motor sports are, you definitely cannot employ the same tactics as in the previous episodes, because walls are not made of rubber anymore and they do take their toll on your car whenever you brush of on them a bit harsher. The driver's senses go a bit haywire each time you accelerate beyond a certain speed, which is represented on screen by heavy motion blur effects.

In case you are not prepared for too much realism and you do not want to stretch your nerves as the car loses traction with every forced turn, the game provides you with a long list of driver assists that can be activated, going as far as to break for you a bit whenever a turn is approaching. Thus, while it may be a bit degrading, it is a good way to see what needs to be done and slowly deactivate them one by one.

Lastly, the franchise always manages to impress from a technical standpoint and Shift is definitely no different, since it employs a very nice-looking graphic engine to render the cars and the environments. Thus, the geometry level seen in the vehicles and the staggering reflection quality are more than enough to fool the eye and really make you believe that the cars are real, especially since they get very damaged if you're not careful with them.

Even if Need for Speed Shift might disappoint a few fans, those who appreciate a good racing game should find almost everything they need in this game, since a lot of effort went into providing the player with a very close depiction of the actual race environment. The powerful graphic engine gives you plenty to admire as you are fighting your way to the podium, especially on the slightly more detailed tracks available.