The newest addition to EA’s Need For Speed garage, NFS Shift, distinguishes itself from the arcade racing of NFS Undercover by providing more of a simulation type experience with an emphasis on the correct braking and proper racing line rather than spectacular collisions, cops or storyline.

  

Weather or not this appeals to you depends on how much you like GT type racing over a closed track without police interference a la Firemint’s Real Racing as opposed to the more arcade street racing found in Undercover, Fast and Furious or the Asphalt series.  Admittedly, those street racers only give the illusion of open city racing with slight shortcuts and the ability to crash through signs, trash cans and barriers.  But along with the police, Undercover in particular created a more vibrant and varied racing world.  NFS Shift feels somewhat cut-and-dried in comparison.

To be sure, Shift offers challenging racing, fantastic looking licensed vehicles, great accelerometer control, a really nice sense of speed once you upgrade and all the usual  customizations (minus vinyl) and should appeal to the racing purist.

The races take place on 18 tracks in only  3 locations (Chicago, London and Tokyo) and the scenery, well nice, serves more as background as most of your attention will be focused on the green, red and yellow arrows on the ground that show the optimum racing line, when to brake and when to accelerate.  London looks pretty drab with its fog. There are seven races in each location and you pick up stars for podium finishes, running a clean race, beating the track record or staying on the racing line.  This accumulation of stars determines which races, cars and locations you unlock.

You’re given a wide range of driving views along with the ability to turn on or off steering assist, auto braking or racing line and changing from auto to manual transmission to tailor the difficulty. Drifting is accomplished by a quick tilt left or right. The AI racers provide a good challenge but they aren’t as aggressive as Real Racing in bumping and jostling you off your line.  Multiplayer is available only via Wifi and Bluetooth and on my older Iphone there is some graphical slowdown.

  

Need For Speed Shift does everything well in high speed flat track racing from point A to point B and gets 4 stars but in the crowded field of Iphone racing it doesn’t really do anything  to separate itself from the pack.  The Iphone has already shown it can handle high speed racing along with open-world driving (Gangstar, Driver) and the next step would seem to be combining them into a Midnight Club game but sadly Rockstar has shunned the Iphone and its 10 million downloads a day.



goyami@comcast.net