Shift 2 Unleashed Standard Edition - PlayStation 3

This game is ok as a racing game that is just average.

I wanted to like this game. So badly. I still play NFS Shift and though that game's physics take some getting used to, it was really a great game to keep me busy between GT4 and GT5. I had high hopes that Shift 2 would be like NFS Shift but better. And in almost every aspect, it seemed to be - the few but great cars in the game are done really well, the visuals and audio are spectacular, and new cars and circuits have been added. NFS overall is a much more combative, gritty, potentially more exciting series than GT and its polished look, problematic audio and dim AI, and I'm sure if I had played longer I could have commented that Shift 2's racing was more competitive. The element where Shift 2 falls apart is the driving physics - all the unaddressed problems of NFS Shift but much worse. The steering is vague and numb, the braking and throttle lack any subtlety that is absolutely vital to racing a car at its limit, and both are so astonishingly laggy that your inputs are always half a second late to affect the car's attitude - so it refuses to hit its marks (or drive in a straight line for that matter). I cannot endure a racing game with poor handling response - that defeats the whole purpose of racing (which is so much about the thrill of developing your accuracy, timing and reflexes). And no amount of tweaking to the otherwise impressive array of game options made the driving experience acceptable (options shouldn't be the difference between a game that is playable or unplayable - they should merely fine tune for your personal style). You know it's bad when you rage-quit a race *while you are winning*. Playing Shift 2 felt like an incessant argument with the car and temporarily trained my muscle memory with all kinds of bad habits. So close to being amazing. Disappointing miss.

I think this a pretty good follow up to the original. I think they have improved on just about every aspect of the original. There seems to be plenty of racing action in this game. I thought the night races would have been more difficult, but it seems the AI is dumbed down a bit for these races. The menu's take a little getting used too. I kinda miss the "stars" system used in Shift. Now you just have Check marks for clean lap, lead lap racing line. I actually have to say the steering and handling is much improved. I have mastered more corners and had more clean laps in one day, then I did in a week with the old Shift. Maybe they are just more forgiving this time around. Either way, It's good. When you hit a wall or another car, you hit hard. Remember the first Shift when it went black and white for a second? It's a little more of a harder hit now. It's like they doubled the blurriness and the recovery time. It makes you not want to crash! lol Also you can't just plow through a field of cars anymore. Which in my eyes is good. Makes the game about racing, not demolish derby. If I want to wreck cars, I will pop in my burn out paradise disc :) Please keep in mind, this not like an arcade style racer. I love need for speed: Hot Pursuit. I love Burnout Paradise. Heck, I even like Split/Second. But with Shift unleashed, you have to have a bit of precision in steering. Knowing this, you have to sometimes go at 50% or even 75% throttle. YEs, your gas button has different degrees of pressure! You can't just hold the gas down and pray it will work like an arcade style racer! I hate calling games a "sim" because to me, there is no such thing. Nothing will ever be close to real life. I call this game a more refined, more precise polished racer.