Exclusive preview, screens and interview for Need for Speed: Nitro
With Need for Speed: Shift settling in the charts nicely, EA has turned to the next Need for Speed game it has in the pits. Need for Speed: Nitro is the Wii and DS NFS game this year. It is not a conversion of Need for Speed: Shift – that’s strictly a next-gen experience. Instead they have opted for creating a NFS game from the ground up for the less powerful Wii, and have come up with a great arcade racer.
Issue 33 of PlayZine has a preview of Need for Speed: Nitro complete with exclusive screens and a developer interview. You can download the magazine for free now.
Issue 31 of P3Zine has our full review of Need for Speed: Shift in it. Download it for free!
The time is finally here; the embargo is lifted; the crowd is going wild. As long term readers will know, unlike some other quick reviews that have appeared online, we’ve been playing Need for Speed: Shift for months and had lots of time to get into it, get used to it, find out its quirks, and see what we like. Read the rest of this entry »
… it gets a 9/10.
IGN US has run the world’s first review of Need For Speed: Shift, calling the game “a glorious return to greatness”, before plonking a big 9.0 down as the score. High praise indeed. Here’s a snippet:
“Slightly Mad Studios has delivered a driving experience that, while not completely accurate in terms of its simulation aspects, is practically dead-on in terms of what it’s like to race around some of the world’s best racing circuits.”
Check out the full review here.
IGN UK later followed it up with their own review, awarding the game an 8.7 and saying that “driving is an exceptionally visceral experience, with a sensation of sheer velocity that’s unparalleled in the genre.” Nice.
We’re still waiting for the general embargo to lift until we can post our five page review, but it will be featured in next month’s issue of P3Zine, out next Thursday, 17th September. You’ll probably want to give it a read…
Did you know that Need For Speed: Shift wasn’t always called Need For Speed: Shift? No? Well you do now. Instead, EA had initially planned to roll it out as a sequel to Need For Speed: ProStreet.
Shift’s Lead Designer, Andy Tudor explains:
“Yeah. It [Shift] actually started out as ProStreet 2.
“You’ll see the obvious references, like we’ve got the Tokyo track in there, albeit a bit more mature; there’s no balloons or anything like that. The thing with ProStreet was that they couldn’t go straight from street racing to a track racer – that would have annoyed a few people. So it was really the first stage of the transition, mixing courses with the street stuff, and this is where they [EA] always wanted it to go.”
We dare say the association with the ProStreet name wouldn’t have exactly been a big crowdpleaser either, Andy.
Check out the full article on the GamerZines website where Andy talks about EA’s suggestion that cop cars and nitrous should be included in Shift. Hint: he wasn’t a fan.
EA has released a lengthy Flash animation which straps you into the boots of a race driver as he does a lap of Brands Hatch.
The animation lets you upload a picture of yourself, which doesn’t appear to actually do anything other than have a lovely pitgirl ask you to sign your own photo (and if you don’t she’ll kiss you instead), while the name you enter appears on the side of your car. Get creative.
The last part of the video features Shift’s in-game graphics, but we’ve not quite figured out whether it’s controllable or not. We’re pretty sure it isn’t.
So it’s viral marketing, but it’s pretty neat nonetheless. And it’s managed to entertain us for the last half hour, which can’t be a bad thing, can it?
Check it out, here.
A few people have asked what visual differences are made to the cockpit after you upgrade your vehicle with the ‘Cockpit Upgrade’ option. So, rather than explain, we thought we’d show you.
Much has been made of Need For Speed: Shift’s ‘Driver Experience’, which attempts to make the player feel just like they’re behind the wheel of a real racing car.
In addition to simply levelling up your Driver Profile (see yesterday’s preview for more), Shift also features Badges, which are earned upon completing particular objectives throughout your career and similar in essence to Xbox 360 Achievements/PS3 Trophies.
Tags: Badges
UK video games retailer GAME has announced that they’ll be hosting an upcoming UK Championship for Need For Speed: Shift to find the country’s best virtual race driver.
Contestants will need to prove their worth by setting the fastest lap time on an undisclosed track, with the fastest racers progressing through to the Grand Final, held at Thorpe Park on Saturday 26th September. The winner will bag themselves a Nissan 350z sports car, which a quick Google search tells us is worth around £30,000. The runner up will win a NFS: Shift branded racing jacket and Need For Speed Scalextrix set.
And even if you’re not good enough to make it to the final, everyone who competes will walk away with a Need For Speed: Shift keyring and a certificate with their lap time.
The Championship will take place across 46 of GAME’s UK stores, kicking off in Tunbridge Wells next Friday, 28th August. For a complete list of all the stores hosting the event and the relevant dates, click here.
One of Shift’s most talked about features is its innovative Driver Profile system, a mechanic which tracks the player’s actions and helps shape their experience within the game’s Career mode.
The Driver Profile system is essentially a basic XP mechanic similar to what you may have seen in an RPG. As players race they are awarded points from two categories, Precision and Aggression, with the amount of each based on their on-track actions. You can be awarded points from a number of different areas. Drive cleanly by sticking to the racing line or making clean overtakes and you’ll earn Precision points. Alternatively, shunt cars off the track, block off opponents and generally drive aggressively and you’ll earn points for Aggression. You’ll also earn points from finishing the race, with the amount based on your final position.
