DAY 123 / GAME 123
Need For Speed: Shift 2
Need For Speed has been a very long running series that began in 1994 with the first game titled 'The Need For Speed' for MS-DOS and the 3DO. Over time it's become a huge franchise that includes over 20 games to date and an upcoming feature film adaptation starring Jesse Pinkman.
Need For Speed games have really splintered off over time. At first, each game released was produced by EA and released about a year or so apart from each other. But recently EA has started to outsource more of their games to companies like Criterion in order to produce a wider range of racers. NFS: Shift and Shift 2: Unleashed was developed by Slightly Mad Studios in the UK and is probably their only simulator style racer.
The first Shift title restricted your racing view to cockpit only. Reminiscent of the very first Need For Speed games. The second Shift title included exterior views, which was new for the series, but still focused primarily on playing from the car's interior view. Although I'm not big on driving from a first-person perspective, Shift really made a strong game around this viewpoint and does what no other game has. Pushed me to enjoy driving from behind the wheel.
There's a few reasons why I enjoy driving from a third-person perspective. First a foremost, it's easier. You know exactly where your car is which makes riding your line easier, drifting around corners easier and not hitting other cars easier. Secondly, I want to see the cars I'm driving. With Shift, they've gone through the trouble of very extensively modelling the interior of these cars. Accurate interiors and realistic racing gear on the driver make this game like none other. I can even vouch for how accurate the interiors are since this game includes a BMW 135i, which is almost identical to my 128i interior.
They also really pushed the realism of driving from a first-person perspective. As you round a corner, your head/camera actually looks into the turn like you would if you were driving. Closing in on a top speed in a straightaway starts to narrow your field of view and blur the edges of the screen as you begin to focus more on the distance. Getting into a crash, depending on the severity can leave you with a bit of messed up vision, requiring a second to get your bearings again.
Need For Speed: Shift 2 is great also simply due to it's fantastic car selection. Over 150 cars including the DLC, some of which are my all time favorites. Nissan GT-R34, Various BMW's including the 1 series, a few 3 series including my favorite E30 M and the Z4. Lexus' LFA, various Lamborghinis, Ford Shelby GT-500, Caterham R500, Dodge Challenger R/T and so on. And with a game that reproduces a car's interior, handling and feel this faithfully, it really is a good substitute for never being able to get behind the wheel of most of these fantastic machines.
There's also kind of a funny story behind this game. When I went to PAX East one year they had this on display in a great booth with some fancy driving rigs. While in line to try it out they had a professional driver there signing autographs and just generally hanging out. I had figured they had just hired someone local to look good and generally show off, so I had just chatted with him about racing in general and how I hit up the track frequently with my bike. A year later or so when I finally get the game, it loads up and there's a video introduction to the game by Team Falken driver Vaughn Gitten Jr. who also does the voiceover for the entire game. Turns out this was the same driver I was chatting up at the time and had no idea he was actually this professional.
So that was pretty cool.
Need For Speed: Shift 2
Need For Speed has been a very long running series that began in 1994 with the first game titled 'The Need For Speed' for MS-DOS and the 3DO. Over time it's become a huge franchise that includes over 20 games to date and an upcoming feature film adaptation starring Jesse Pinkman.
Need For Speed games have really splintered off over time. At first, each game released was produced by EA and released about a year or so apart from each other. But recently EA has started to outsource more of their games to companies like Criterion in order to produce a wider range of racers. NFS: Shift and Shift 2: Unleashed was developed by Slightly Mad Studios in the UK and is probably their only simulator style racer.
The first Shift title restricted your racing view to cockpit only. Reminiscent of the very first Need For Speed games. The second Shift title included exterior views, which was new for the series, but still focused primarily on playing from the car's interior view. Although I'm not big on driving from a first-person perspective, Shift really made a strong game around this viewpoint and does what no other game has. Pushed me to enjoy driving from behind the wheel.
There's a few reasons why I enjoy driving from a third-person perspective. First a foremost, it's easier. You know exactly where your car is which makes riding your line easier, drifting around corners easier and not hitting other cars easier. Secondly, I want to see the cars I'm driving. With Shift, they've gone through the trouble of very extensively modelling the interior of these cars. Accurate interiors and realistic racing gear on the driver make this game like none other. I can even vouch for how accurate the interiors are since this game includes a BMW 135i, which is almost identical to my 128i interior.
They also really pushed the realism of driving from a first-person perspective. As you round a corner, your head/camera actually looks into the turn like you would if you were driving. Closing in on a top speed in a straightaway starts to narrow your field of view and blur the edges of the screen as you begin to focus more on the distance. Getting into a crash, depending on the severity can leave you with a bit of messed up vision, requiring a second to get your bearings again.
Need For Speed: Shift 2 is great also simply due to it's fantastic car selection. Over 150 cars including the DLC, some of which are my all time favorites. Nissan GT-R34, Various BMW's including the 1 series, a few 3 series including my favorite E30 M and the Z4. Lexus' LFA, various Lamborghinis, Ford Shelby GT-500, Caterham R500, Dodge Challenger R/T and so on. And with a game that reproduces a car's interior, handling and feel this faithfully, it really is a good substitute for never being able to get behind the wheel of most of these fantastic machines.
There's also kind of a funny story behind this game. When I went to PAX East one year they had this on display in a great booth with some fancy driving rigs. While in line to try it out they had a professional driver there signing autographs and just generally hanging out. I had figured they had just hired someone local to look good and generally show off, so I had just chatted with him about racing in general and how I hit up the track frequently with my bike. A year later or so when I finally get the game, it loads up and there's a video introduction to the game by Team Falken driver Vaughn Gitten Jr. who also does the voiceover for the entire game. Turns out this was the same driver I was chatting up at the time and had no idea he was actually this professional.
So that was pretty cool.
Need For Speed games have really splintered off over time. At first, each game released was produced by EA and released about a year or so apart from each other. But recently EA has started to outsource more of their games to companies like Criterion in order to produce a wider range of racers. NFS: Shift and Shift 2: Unleashed was developed by Slightly Mad Studios in the UK and is probably their only simulator style racer.
The first Shift title restricted your racing view to cockpit only. Reminiscent of the very first Need For Speed games. The second Shift title included exterior views, which was new for the series, but still focused primarily on playing from the car's interior view. Although I'm not big on driving from a first-person perspective, Shift really made a strong game around this viewpoint and does what no other game has. Pushed me to enjoy driving from behind the wheel.
There's a few reasons why I enjoy driving from a third-person perspective. First a foremost, it's easier. You know exactly where your car is which makes riding your line easier, drifting around corners easier and not hitting other cars easier. Secondly, I want to see the cars I'm driving. With Shift, they've gone through the trouble of very extensively modelling the interior of these cars. Accurate interiors and realistic racing gear on the driver make this game like none other. I can even vouch for how accurate the interiors are since this game includes a BMW 135i, which is almost identical to my 128i interior.
They also really pushed the realism of driving from a first-person perspective. As you round a corner, your head/camera actually looks into the turn like you would if you were driving. Closing in on a top speed in a straightaway starts to narrow your field of view and blur the edges of the screen as you begin to focus more on the distance. Getting into a crash, depending on the severity can leave you with a bit of messed up vision, requiring a second to get your bearings again.
Need For Speed: Shift 2 is great also simply due to it's fantastic car selection. Over 150 cars including the DLC, some of which are my all time favorites. Nissan GT-R34, Various BMW's including the 1 series, a few 3 series including my favorite E30 M and the Z4. Lexus' LFA, various Lamborghinis, Ford Shelby GT-500, Caterham R500, Dodge Challenger R/T and so on. And with a game that reproduces a car's interior, handling and feel this faithfully, it really is a good substitute for never being able to get behind the wheel of most of these fantastic machines.
There's also kind of a funny story behind this game. When I went to PAX East one year they had this on display in a great booth with some fancy driving rigs. While in line to try it out they had a professional driver there signing autographs and just generally hanging out. I had figured they had just hired someone local to look good and generally show off, so I had just chatted with him about racing in general and how I hit up the track frequently with my bike. A year later or so when I finally get the game, it loads up and there's a video introduction to the game by Team Falken driver Vaughn Gitten Jr. who also does the voiceover for the entire game. Turns out this was the same driver I was chatting up at the time and had no idea he was actually this professional.
So that was pretty cool.
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