Shift 2: Unleashed

 PC
User Score
6.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 297 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 130 out of 297
  2. Mixed: 86 out of 297
  3. Negative: 81 out of 297
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  1. tutyit
    Mar 30, 2011
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. @Neons
    Dude youre seriously mistaken there.
    All the features or bad things you talking about are ADJUSTABLE.
    Lol
    Maybe read the manual for the game or maybe you should stop playing games the way they are :D

    To the game !
    SHIFT 2 is a masterpiece.
    Working physics (handling,RWD,FWD,AWD, working suspension, car reacts to every action you do, the new inside helmet view is awesome) , overall the game is a huge achievement!
    Well it has some flaws too , some cars missing the "arm wheel" movement sometimes, flickering textures,shadows...
    These are all just small bugs compared to an overall great game !
    Good job SlightlyMA :D    … Expand
  2. snowman2149
    Mar 29, 2011
    10
    Its not the game that you want, that does NOT matter u **** **** its the game that it actually IS! and what is this game? The best racing simulator ever. Graphics,sound,gameplay everything is just outstanding. and hot pursuit & shift r very different, one's an ARCADE game and another is a SIMULATOR keep that in mind ****
  3. SimonOverlord
    Nov 14, 2011
    10
    With G27 Shift 2 do somehow really feels like real thing, and totally enjoyable. The graphic setting is a total console port, but eventually you can tweak it on your own, and it looks way better than GT5. Besides that I have nothing to say about Shift 2, it's simply a great fun racer (or simulation) for people who want to have a taste of some real racing.
  4. GameReviews
    Sep 3, 2012
    9
    This game may be the best racing game I have ever played. It's realistic, and really fun. The best NFS to date. This game includes a great class of cars, and terrific, exciting races. SIngleplayer was great, but multiplayer was simply fantastic. The game may be hard sometimes, bu It's really challenging. 92 out of 100
  5. kumicho
    Aug 18, 2012
    8
    Just picked this up, and shocked at the low scores. Gameplay with a wheel is *great* once you set it up correctly. The biggest settings for me were wheel sensitivity, auto-center (on the wheel), "wheel lock" (in the game), and increasing the spring rates (which all cars start at 0, which leads them to be floaty and hard to control). Once you do those, the gameplay is extremely, extremelyJust picked this up, and shocked at the low scores. Gameplay with a wheel is *great* once you set it up correctly. The biggest settings for me were wheel sensitivity, auto-center (on the wheel), "wheel lock" (in the game), and increasing the spring rates (which all cars start at 0, which leads them to be floaty and hard to control). Once you do those, the gameplay is extremely, extremely fun and challenging. The graphics are amazing, and the sense of realism from the **** view is incredible. AI can be a bit of a pain (they sometimes send you off-course if you're in the line they want), and the tracks/walls are *very* unforgiving. You can't use a wall to scrub some speed like in other games, and if you do much more than rub fenders with another car, you're off into the gravel pit.

    That being said, there are some aspects of the game otherwise that I really, really, really wish that they'd improve, particularly getting around the game when you're not actually racing.

    1) There's no tuning or testing out your car inside of a race. Once you sign up for a race or series your car runs with whatever settings it had on it previously (or set up for that specific track). The only way to tailor your car to that race series is to see which tracks are involved, go to your garage, tune the car on each track, save it to that track, and then go race the series. 2) There's also no testing of the tracks (outside of tuning), so if you're unfamiliar with the track the first race is usually spent trying to figure out where you're going. Then the next race is usually the one where you're going for the win.

    Both of those issues could be fixed by just allowing tuning (and testing) at each track right before each race.

    For smaller pet-peeves, the early racing isn't as expansive, although if you use a class D car in some of the "open" races you'll race against other class D cars (and then can go back and beat your time with class C, B, A, etc giving you more exp each time). The "points" system allows you to max out cars in their respective category, giving you an edge over cars that are probably just average. There's also quite a few races involving "loaner cars" which are annoying as %*)&$ since so much of the game comes from setting cars up exactly as you like to drive them. Since no tuning is allowed (and the loaner cars come with the same crappy stock settings like "0" for spring rate), for those races I usually drop the handling back down to "easy" and allow the computer to do all of the work for me. Would definitely rather just have more run-what-you-brung series instead.

    Also, the DLC content seems a bit... lacking, although there are 2 packs released for the PC (and FREE!). It's definitely not like Forza which comes out with new car packs every month.

    Overall a great game, though, and can't really complain. The gameplay is fantastic, and the negatives are minimal. Now just fix those negatives for Shift 3, will you?    … Expand
  6. 4Cyberpunk
    Aug 5, 2019
    10
    Best racing game.Just went to replay it thinking its time has passed but hell no.Such amazing handling.Altough drift seems too tough or maybe just requires lots of practice.Cars feel alive,sounds and sense of speed.Feels so dynamic compared to anything i have ever played and i have probably played everything,including their own much newer Project Cars which dont come close to how goodBest racing game.Just went to replay it thinking its time has passed but hell no.Such amazing handling.Altough drift seems too tough or maybe just requires lots of practice.Cars feel alive,sounds and sense of speed.Feels so dynamic compared to anything i have ever played and i have probably played everything,including their own much newer Project Cars which dont come close to how good Shift is.Here every car feels like its own.Night time races and headlights are crazy awesome.Still cant believe this game is from 2011 and still so fresh and then some.Latest i played was Forza 7 and you can fall asslep during those races.Too bad it seems EA tried to smother Slightly Mad Studios.Because they are really quite mad in a good way.We could have had Shift 3,ahh well.Apparently they will try to make Project Cars 3 more like Shift.Cant wait.Yes Unleash the madness once again.… Expand
  7. philgreg
    Aug 27, 2011
    10
    The main concern about this game is that it takes a lot of tweaking to get it working properly. I have never played it with a controller so I cannot comment about how it drives with one, but with a wheel one has to do many adjustments to get it to feel correct. Because of this I would not recommend this game to someone who wants to just pick it up and go. If you have patience and areThe main concern about this game is that it takes a lot of tweaking to get it working properly. I have never played it with a controller so I cannot comment about how it drives with one, but with a wheel one has to do many adjustments to get it to feel correct. Because of this I would not recommend this game to someone who wants to just pick it up and go. If you have patience and are looking for a solid simulator using a wheel, then I would highly recommend this game.
    There are a few problems I see that people keep complaining about in this game. 1) It is too hard. One must understand that the Shift series is a simulation based racing game, not arcade like most NFS games.
    2) Cars are impossible to drive or they don't feel like they should. This is a problem most people are complaining about. The main underlying cause of this is the car setup. For some strange reason the stock set up of every car has the spring rates at 0 and the tire pressure at 50 or so. Due to this, it makes all the cars feel like they are boats. With this floppy set up it makes the car very unstable and uncontrollable in a corner or a slide. To fix this problem one must tune the tire pressure down to around 30 and purchase a suspension that can adjust spring stiffness and adjust it to at least 3 for normal cars and higher for race cars. Every car has to be fixed in this way, which can be annoying to some. After they are fixed you will find that Shift 2 has extremely good physics and car dynamics.
    There are many internal settings for the wheel that can be adjusted, this makes Shift 2 more dynamic and customizable if you know how to adjust these settings properly. I found that the easiest way to adjust the wheel is to set it up so that it drives and turns properly with a normal car, which will have the highest degree of turn. After that, one must go to tune setup for every car to adjust the steering sensitivity for that particular car. The higher one tunes the sensitivity on a car, the less one has to turn the wheel to make that particular car turn. By doing this one can adjust race cars to turn with less degree of movement in the wheel than normal cars, without having to readjust the wheel every time you change cars.
    In conclusion there is a very good game hiding inside Shift 2 but it takes some adjustments and digging to find. If you have to patience to work out the problems then it is a fun and solid racing game.    … Expand
  8. Yousuf
    Oct 27, 2012
    10
    The graphics are sharp and the gameplay is awesome this is one of the best need for speed games ever. The music rocks and i also like the selection of cars.
  9. KillAllHumans
    Jun 4, 2013
    8
    The only reason I even bothered to check SHIFT 2 out was the colossal disappointment GRID 2 has become.

    I was convinced there has to be a game that is a good mix of arcade vs sim driving and on PC. Then I remembered long ago, playing just such a game on 360. Not a perfect game but it felt like a hardy mix of said arcade vs sim. That game is SHIFT 2. Granted the game does need a    The only reason I even bothered to check SHIFT 2 out was the colossal disappointment GRID 2 has become.

    I was convinced there has to be a game that is a good mix of arcade vs sim driving and on PC.

    Then I remembered long ago, playing just such a game on 360. Not a perfect game but it felt like a hardy mix of said arcade vs sim. That game is SHIFT 2.

    Granted the game does need a fair bit of patching before it's truly playable. You'll need to visit www.nogripracing.com and read their how to guides on patching SHIFT 2 up to par.

    I'm not sure why SHIFT 2 is so overlooked. There has to be something I'm missing right? What do so many people hate about SHIFT2? Maybe the initial release was a train wreck of bad coding? Who knows I missed that part.

    For me I love it, it's the perfect mix of the exact game play I'm looking for. As a controller user this game plays very well after the community patches have been applied. Now, steering wheel, pedals, users I'm not sure. I wish I had a wheel to test this game out with. It looks like it would be amazingly uber with a wheel and pedals.

    Make sure to grab all of the community updates. That is the single most important thing you need to do. If you want to try this game out.

    From what I've read the Origin Version is the preferred one to have. This is the Version I have. I'm not sure why Steam version is frowned upon. From what I've gathered it's a little bit more complicated to patch the game.

    You can find this game for less than 10 bucks right now. Go for it, if you're like me and hated GRID 2. This might be what you're looking for.    … Expand
  10. hirsty95
    Apr 3, 2011
    9
    Overall a very good game. The Helmet cam is an interesting concept, I would it worked well on the early races in the slower cars, however when it comes gets to faster cars and trickier tracks then other views are far easier. The graphics are nothing special, they are clean and crisp but the textures and anti-aliasing could be deep and higher. The AI is still aggressive and can beOverall a very good game. The Helmet cam is an interesting concept, I would it worked well on the early races in the slower cars, however when it comes gets to faster cars and trickier tracks then other views are far easier. The graphics are nothing special, they are clean and crisp but the textures and anti-aliasing could be deep and higher. The AI is still aggressive and can be frustrating especially with some of the erratic braking they make. The handling is good, but by no means perfect. With all settings turned off the cars are lively and react how you would expect. The force feedback is very good, by tuning the car you can actually notice a difference in the car's handling in the force feedback with is defiantly a positive. However at times the steering seems a little to light and a little twitchy. In terms of content the 130+ cars and 35 locations with 80+ track layouts will keep you amused for hours. Some of the new tracks added are fantastic including the tracks based on Monaco and Shanghai. The Dubai Autodrome is also a breath of fresh air with plenty of hair raising and exciting corners. The rate of unlock in the career is nice, by the time I had finished the first set of races I had unlocked over half the career races meaning I had a big variety of races to choose from. Perhaps my biggest concern with this game is the drift mode. No matter what ingame settings I turn on, or alterations to my wheel set up I make I found it almost impossible to drift round a single corner never mind link drifts. Many people are moaning about no rewind feature, however most of the races are around 5 minutes therefore if you bin it on the last lap it isn't that big a deal. I haven't booted up the game online yet so I can't comment on that aspect.

    Overall 9/10

    Gameplay -9/10, some issues with AI aggression and drifting. However the helmet cam is fun and the handling is good. Night mode is a great new feature
    Graphics - 8/10, nothing wrong with them, however plenty of scope for improvement
    Content - 10/10, loads of cars and loads of tracks no complaints    … Expand
  11. chiroben
    Apr 4, 2011
    9
    I felt the need to add my comment since I felt the user rating was far lower than it should be. I have been a fan of the racing genre for many years enjoying both on and off-road titles. Obviously if you're looking for a pure arcade racer and are allergic to using the brake button this is not the game for you. It may not be the most hardcore racing sim either. What it is is a veryI felt the need to add my comment since I felt the user rating was far lower than it should be. I have been a fan of the racing genre for many years enjoying both on and off-road titles. Obviously if you're looking for a pure arcade racer and are allergic to using the brake button this is not the game for you. It may not be the most hardcore racing sim either. What it is is a very satisfying racing game that leans more towards the sim than the arcade. One particular joy of mine is the feeling of weight to the cars. Many of the racing games I have played recently I have felt that this is sorely lacking. Collisions also have a real meatiness. Whilst there are not hundreds of tracks I never felt like I craved more (like I did for the rally tracks in Dirt 2) and I was so delighted to see Bathurst's Mount Panorama. The game is also very pretty and on more than one occasion I was forced to let out a "Damn that's pretty" at my screen. If you're a fan of challenging racing games then I really cannot recommend this enough. *Oh... one disclaimer. It does have a bit of that godawful Dirt 2 "Cool" American race driver patronizing banter that I cannot stand. You can turn the volume of it off but you still have to watch a cut-scene every time you unlock a new race type. It's only a brief annoyance but excruciating whilst it is going on. I'm not mentioning it as it's a deal breaker but in the vain hope that a developer reading this decides not to do it in their game.… Expand
  12. BRUNO_cz
    Apr 18, 2011
    10
    Surprisingly very nicely done racing game with realistic feelings. not simulation at all but its a fun to drive these expensive cars (elite mod with helmet camera+steering wheel) and sounds are just brilliant ! very similarly like a grid game. good job ! ! ! sry for my english.. :)
  13. ACMELtd
    Apr 27, 2011
    8
    its a good game with few flaws. the requierements are a bit too high (altough i can play it on max in fullhd with anti aliasing on high, the game requires an good pc to be played with 30fps+) i will say that this game is in between of an arcade racer and a simulation. its not as static as gt5, but its also not as arcade as grid. it a good experience thats worth looking onto (check thisits a good game with few flaws. the requierements are a bit too high (altough i can play it on max in fullhd with anti aliasing on high, the game requires an good pc to be played with 30fps+) i will say that this game is in between of an arcade racer and a simulation. its not as static as gt5, but its also not as arcade as grid. it a good experience thats worth looking onto (check this game out if you haven't already. its not a racing game for everyone, but you may like it… Expand
  14. 12GaugeShotty
    Dec 3, 2011
    9
    I'm a big racing fan but it has to impress me. I got a PS3 just to get Gran Turismo 5. Needless to say I was unimpressed by the graphics, game play and lack of being remotely realistic. Shift 2 isn't completely realistic but the graphics are stunning, the game play fun for hours on end and the realism borderline enough to keep me playing often. The engines sound legit and powerful, theI'm a big racing fan but it has to impress me. I got a PS3 just to get Gran Turismo 5. Needless to say I was unimpressed by the graphics, game play and lack of being remotely realistic. Shift 2 isn't completely realistic but the graphics are stunning, the game play fun for hours on end and the realism borderline enough to keep me playing often. The engines sound legit and powerful, the braking noise blows me away and the tires on the pavement don't have that dull boring noise that Gran Turismo has been well known for. This game is the first since Race Driver GRID to just make my jaw drop. I also really love the damage realism. Although even if your entire front end is gone you will still see headlights. They should fix that. If they had more car selection I'd score it a 10. I also like that every car can be viewed from the inside and they are all detailed to the actual car. Gran Turismo 5 can't even do that.… Expand
  15. Ruggo
    Apr 6, 2011
    9
    This game fills a niche nicely. The wheel/controller support needs some work, but overall the game is still very playable. The AI leans a bit too far on the aggressive side and in a real race would get black flagged.
    Graphics look great. Sound is spot on. The tracks are all there, especially for GT races. Oh yeah it has Mt Panorama, Bathurst, in there. :)
  16. PKeith
    Apr 10, 2011
    9
    First of all, disregard the reviews trying to compare this game to Forza or Gran Turismo. Those games are about physics calculations and getting it so that that EVERY car handles EXACTLY as it does in real life. Shift 2 is about making you feel like you really are driving at 180 mph in a Gumpert Apollo. The new helmet cam really conveys the g-forces you feel when taking a turn on a track.First of all, disregard the reviews trying to compare this game to Forza or Gran Turismo. Those games are about physics calculations and getting it so that that EVERY car handles EXACTLY as it does in real life. Shift 2 is about making you feel like you really are driving at 180 mph in a Gumpert Apollo. The new helmet cam really conveys the g-forces you feel when taking a turn on a track. It takes some getting used to, but once you master the shifting view, it becomes very immersive. The performance of cars has been greatly improved as well. Too many cars in the last game were essentially useless due to unpredictable handling and poor power. That has been changed. Even the lower cars on the totem pole are still a lot of fun to drive. The graphics have been improved, with much better damaged modeling, though the effect on the cars on-track health is still negligible. On the up side, tires throw up debris as they race across the surface of a track and the in-car view has gotten even sharper. The cars do sound a bit samey, but the cool part is that cars sound different when you swap out engines. Still, the engines sound good and the tire-screeching and exhaust flares sound great. The soundtrack can feel repetitive, but the remixes of licensed songs sound good and fit the racing dream/nightmare presentation that the Shift games are known for. The voice over by...uh...that drift racer is adequate, though honestly I prefer the unidentified British pit boss from the first game. On the PC, there are some patch-worthy problems, such as no SLi support and control issues. but as long as they patch these, which I'm sure they will, I don't see that being a problem. So, long story short, lots of improvements over the first Shift, and NOT for the fans of the boring, plastic racers like Forza or GT.… Expand
  17. MustisTheCat
    Jul 6, 2011
    9
    THE game that is mandatory for every single racing fan. The driving is very nice. The cars act pretty much like in real life, maybe a little (but just a little) too forgiving. The graphics are up to date, very detailed and much better than in SHIFT. The driving helmet camera doesn`t exaclty catch my taste as it is completely useless, although the standard pit camera is also available.THE game that is mandatory for every single racing fan. The driving is very nice. The cars act pretty much like in real life, maybe a little (but just a little) too forgiving. The graphics are up to date, very detailed and much better than in SHIFT. The driving helmet camera doesn`t exaclty catch my taste as it is completely useless, although the standard pit camera is also available. There is really lots and lots of content for a pc game - something like 30 tracks, almost 200 cars of which all are customizable. Career presents many different events, very varied with car type, difficulty, track types, time attack, invitational, old vs new, contructor races, american, japanese etc. In this respect nothing short of Gran Turismo. The interface is very well done, again much better than in SHIFT. Everything that is needed to be customizable has been made like that. The optical and mechanichal tuning of the cars is though tiny compared to FM or GT. Still, the racing never gets boring as the Autolog feature lets you make all sorts of racing against your friends - who`s the fastest, who has the most badges, who made the most points, who dominates online and so on. I`d say : until your buddies use this game, the replayability of it is unlimited. In my opinion it is the first NFS title that reaches to the same quality level as the Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo. You just want to take those cars for a ride, even if you were the only guy on the track - because every car feels unique. What I`m saying is - you can take the Alfa Romeo Giulietta to the Nordschleife and race it for 10 minutes - you won`t get bored because what SHIFT series accomplished is the feeling of speed and inertia even at 140km/h. And if what I write isn`t enough go to youtube and see real folks say the same : that car in the game almost perfectly resembles mine.
    I won`t write on which features SHIFT 2 is better than SHIFT, but believer when I say it - there are lots of examples where it is visible that the devs took notes and changed the things that were bad in SHIFT (ok one example : the user garage can have infinite number of cars). In one sententce I`d say that SHIFT 2 is a well thought racing game that gives much satisfaction from driving and which progressed significanlty over its predecessor.    … Expand
  18. SJ_pl
    May 22, 2011
    8
    Very good racing game. I'm really surprised that you can do anything more on the genre! Pluses: menu design, customization of racing style, head movement on corners, good game quality all around, good music
    Minuses: hard to engage in this game for longer then an hour or two... not enough diversity and motivation I think
  19. foxjumper
    Apr 2, 2011
    10
    O jogo está ótimo, belos gráficos, e jogabilidade excelente, ...diferente do GT5 que mais parece carrinho de bate bate.
    O menu desse jogo é diferente de tudo que você já viu, é impressionante, os carros e seu interior, as modificações que você pode fazer    O jogo está ótimo, belos gráficos, e jogabilidade excelente, ...diferente do GT5 que mais parece carrinho de bate bate.
    O menu desse jogo é diferente de tudo que você já viu, é impressionante, os carros e seu interior, as modificações que você pode fazer estão detalhadas e simples, você não precisa ser um mecânico pra se dar bem no jogo. rs, esse jogo me lembrou o bom NFS Pro.    … Expand
  20. MaddogGT
    Apr 11, 2011
    10
    Shift 2 by far is the best looking NFS, and the most realistic driving experinec ever in a PC game. The graphics cannot get much more detailed and perfect..they just cannot. I have Shift and Shift 2 setup in a driving sit-down arcade cabinet with steering wheel, 6 speed shifter, racing chair, 28" HD monitor, 5.1 surround, and clutch, gas, brake pedals....and Shift 2 runs as smooth as realShift 2 by far is the best looking NFS, and the most realistic driving experinec ever in a PC game. The graphics cannot get much more detailed and perfect..they just cannot. I have Shift and Shift 2 setup in a driving sit-down arcade cabinet with steering wheel, 6 speed shifter, racing chair, 28" HD monitor, 5.1 surround, and clutch, gas, brake pedals....and Shift 2 runs as smooth as real life at 1920x1200. Smooth perfection. I cannot understand why some comment it runs slow, useless, uncontrollable, etc... Maybe their PC's are bad. Mine is just a 4GB, AMD Quad 965, and Nvidia 260 video and it runs flawlessly....yet I've seen people with better cards and i7's not be able to run it as well, all depends on the crap on their PC's. That said, its a 20/10 for me. Way above 10. Now if you are using a game pad or not old enough to actually drive for real, dont even bother with the game as the skills and handling of it requires skill unless its on easy. A wheel is almost a necessity. It does not handle like NFS World or Hot pursuit where its more an arcade like response. Shift 2 is more realistic to what a real car would handle like.… Expand
  21. Kinglame
    Mar 31, 2011
    10
    So normally i dont post reviews, but this is **** This is by far the best racing game of the year, no.. THE MILLENIA. Giving a game a poor score because you are a poor driver or because you want a second chance is the same reason that games like Ultima Online and Darkfall Online wouldnt make the fully populated long haul. Once the carebear mobile is set in motion ALL THE **** JUMP ON BOARDSo normally i dont post reviews, but this is **** This is by far the best racing game of the year, no.. THE MILLENIA. Giving a game a poor score because you are a poor driver or because you want a second chance is the same reason that games like Ultima Online and Darkfall Online wouldnt make the fully populated long haul. Once the carebear mobile is set in motion ALL THE **** JUMP ON BOARD and then what happens? All the hardcore players, risk takers, people who like thier games hard, take the fall for it, because there are more **** and whiners in this world than people with nuts. Oh i hear you, "Its just a game Kinglame" Well **** you, youre the same **** that would sue me for tripping your ass and kicking in your teeth. So yeah, buy this game. Its amazing.… Expand
  22. wasd0109
    Apr 4, 2011
    10
    This game really did give me the feeling that i'm really in the car
    I don't know why did people say that the night is much worse than HP
    Of course! What do you want on the track? Some fabulous neon light?
    This is a brand new game for me
    It's great
    If you want fog or stuff like that
    GO play GT5
    I'm enjoying what I have now here
  23. eriksonis
    Feb 23, 2013
    8
    This is best need for speed since high stakes. Awesome simulator, feels really realistic with wheel. If you can drive well, you will finish race without crashing in the wall 1000 times like it was in previous NFS games. Many different and fun cars. Perfect graphics.
  24. tayfuntuna
    Feb 18, 2014
    8
    I've seen some user reviews, they complain of input lag, which I have not encountered. I played the game with Saitek R660 Force Feedback wheel and my overall experience was pleasant, the tilted view when approaching the corners feels like I'm actually there. This is not the best racing game out there, but it's a pretty damn solid one.
  25. voiders
    Jun 17, 2014
    9
    Very nice game to play with a steering wheel. For PC I think is the best.
    Its not at the nivel of GT or Forza, but is a great game.

    Has nice sounds, graphics, controllers... Just the carerr could be better.
  26. nemystic
    Nov 25, 2013
    10
    This is a "sexy" simulation, that's not a game for young gamers, better than old Race07, GTR and Rfactor, I use a g25 controller, it's really realistic, it's necessary to set some parameters (I set sensitivity to 100%), I invert some default settings.
    This game is for passionated drivers, not for "trackmania" gamers
  27. KacperFlak
    Dec 27, 2013
    8
    What I've liked:
    - nice driving physic (with PTU mod is even more realistic!)
    - simple, interesting and flexible career mode - very good quality of 3d car models, enviroment and visual effects - quite good sounds - real prices of cars and car parts - drift races are awesome - resonable amount of cars - simple and effective menu -quite realistic AI of opponents - helmet view and    What I've liked:
    - nice driving physic (with PTU mod is even more realistic!)
    - simple, interesting and flexible career mode
    - very good quality of 3d car models, enviroment and visual effects
    - quite good sounds
    - real prices of cars and car parts
    - drift races are awesome
    - resonable amount of cars
    - simple and effective menu
    -quite realistic AI of opponents
    - helmet view and inside car view
    - tuning mode for professional use

    What I've disliked:
    - unbalanced car's engines sounds (mod fixed it)
    - unrealistic damages
    - poor forece feedback support for gamepads
    - music soundtrack would be better
    - no "LAN" ,"HotSeat" and "SplitScreen" multiplayer mode
    - no ghost cars
    - no "Flashbacks"
    - no sponsor stickers on opponents cars
    - would be more race tracks    … Expand
  28. Nevryon
    Jul 24, 2014
    8
    This game is very good, graphics are excellent as you would expect for a port from console. Driving games traditionally work better on console because of their controllers, HOWEVER I would like to address that, marking down a PC game because it doesn't work well with keyboard is a little silly when it is very very obvious that such a game genre deserves the purchase of an inexpensiveThis game is very good, graphics are excellent as you would expect for a port from console. Driving games traditionally work better on console because of their controllers, HOWEVER I would like to address that, marking down a PC game because it doesn't work well with keyboard is a little silly when it is very very obvious that such a game genre deserves the purchase of an inexpensive controller, you can buy a wired Xbox 360 controller or clone for less than £20 and for some games it will bring them alive for you, stop marking down games for keyboard control and invest in a pad, just for heavens sake don't try playing an FPS on one! :)… Expand
  29. arislaf
    Jun 10, 2015
    10
    Graphics are awesome. Engine sound is awesome. Gameplay, career, cars, tracks, all so outstanding, that any racer should be ashamed of the games glory. It makes feel the heat of race, some minor bugs on release that already fixed... Makes you wonder, what SMS did wrong when they had such a great game game, and release a crap as project cars...
  30. SteelTalons
    Mar 15, 2017
    10
    the best part is how who voted less than 9 points, really not know what they want, or what is doing here or what the game is, or how the life works.

    this game still rocks, people said that is not a sim, but is a sim for sure, if we config it, the physics are really identical to Assetto Corsa, i really don't know and not know how somebody think this game is not realistic, way more than    the best part is how who voted less than 9 points, really not know what they want, or what is doing here or what the game is, or how the life works.

    this game still rocks, people said that is not a sim, but is a sim for sure, if we config it, the physics are really identical to Assetto Corsa, i really don't know and not know how somebody think this game is not realistic, way more than gt series and forza.

    awesome soundtrack, awesome options, awesome visual, awesome optimization, is light and more beauty than major games, best game ever made sold by EA, 6 years already passed and this game still looks better than most modern games today, and ya... i'm a racer, and yes this game is realistic.

    well... some problems exist, not all cars was reviewed, but is more like a luxury had some weaker cars, when the focus in game is the sport cars and hypercars.

    who attacked this game, give strange reasons, and say things without connection, people need to stop hating titles and look with more realism    … Expand
  31. r03vg
    Apr 15, 2020
    8
    Понравилась продвинутая правдоподобная физика, хорошая графика и отличные возможности тюнинга.
  32. TURBO0-0
    Jan 21, 2023
    9
    Графика.
    Хорошая, не блевотная. Хоть местами и сдаёт позиции для 2023 года, но жить можно. 7/10
    Физика. На клавиатуре играть проблематично и сложно. На руле это прекрасно. Очень удобно управлять машиной. На клавиатуре при повороте машину в 90% случаев заносит, а на руле всё прекрасно и удобно, машину не заносит. Не знаю почему так. На руле 9,5/10 На клавиатуре 6/10 Трассы. Очень    Графика.
    Хорошая, не блевотная. Хоть местами и сдаёт позиции для 2023 года, но жить можно. 7/10
    Физика.
    На клавиатуре играть проблематично и сложно. На руле это прекрасно. Очень удобно управлять машиной. На клавиатуре при повороте машину в 90% случаев заносит, а на руле всё прекрасно и удобно, машину не заносит. Не знаю почему так. На руле 9,5/10 На клавиатуре 6/10
    Трассы.
    Очень хорошо сделаны. Есть как легендарные трассы по типу Spa и Nürburgring так и мене известные. 9/10
    Машины.
    Машин достаточно. Тюниг очень хороший. Единственное внешнего тюнинга хотелось бы больше. 7,5/10
    Музыка.
    Хоть композиций всего 8 и играют они только в меню и после гонок, но он шедеврален.
    Очень классные композиции. Советую к ознакомлению. 10/10
    Звук машин.
    Очень хороший и качественный. Но местами он прорывает децибельный потолок и приходиться снижать громкость, ибо ушкам больно. 8,5/10
    Итог.
    Игра шикарна. При наличии руля это будут незабываемые ощущения. Я считаю, что это один из самых лучших нфс.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

28
#28 Best PC Game of 2011
63
#63 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
59
#59 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. PC PowerPlay
    Jun 9, 2011
    70
    As PC's only alternative to GT5, Shift 2 is satisfactory at best. But true racing enthusiasts will need to go elsewhere to really satisfy their...need for speed. [July 2011, p.74]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    May 22, 2011
    90
    NFS series is back where we want it to be. Perfect graphics, enhanced driving model and the view from the cockpit are the features you will Shift 2 piously worship. [Issue#203]
  3. GamingExcellence
    May 11, 2011
    83
    Overall, Shift 2 Unleashed is a fantastic driving game that should satisfy fans on either side of the arcade/simulation spectrum. The game may not be as sheer fun as Hot Pursuit was only six months ago, but could easily occupy a cherished spot on your shelf right next to it.
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