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. BriTisH
    Nov 15, 2011
    7
    at first i was down on this game , its real easy starting out upgrade you car you blow you competition away . Challenge comes from you vs the speed and the speed keeps you on the edge the whole time .. its not much of an improvement over shift 1 more cars and more tracks . still limited customization . grfxs is just more bloom then shift 1 the car models are grate tracks lookat first i was down on this game , its real easy starting out upgrade you car you blow you competition away . Challenge comes from you vs the speed and the speed keeps you on the edge the whole time .. its not much of an improvement over shift 1 more cars and more tracks . still limited customization . grfxs is just more bloom then shift 1 the car models are grate tracks look ok performance is not grate but not terrible dips to 28fps for me at night at the start of the race but picks it back up the game looks so ugly with no aa so you gota maxx the aa at the end of the day if you want a intense racing game pick it up… Expand
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. Rcoop
    Nov 22, 2012
    7
    After getting used with driving in this game you get to like it. It isn't easy, but if you spend the time it gets rewarding.

    I scored it 7 due to limited tuning options. There is a lot in there, but not as far as I would like to see. Any tuning you do is not that obvious unless you spend a lot of time for EVERY circuit and EVERY car.... A bit boring.

    And the game should have more cars.
  9. Vic
    Dec 9, 2011
    5
    The only thing that kills this game is driving mechanics, they are just horrible, the cars are absolutely uncontrollable, it's almost impossible to beat this game even on easy difficulty! I dropped this game half way through cause I just couldn't struggle with this anymore!
  10. 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
  11. GuyIncognito
    Apr 6, 2011
    0
    UNBELIEVABLE INPUT LAG. Believe it or not, people, this is a driving game with broken driving. Don't buy this game, until EA fixes the incredible input lag. You can easily find videos of this on youtube. What were the game "journalists" doing? Which incompetent journalism school dropouts wrote these "professional" reviews and gave this turkey an 85?
  12. 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.
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 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.. :)
  17. Silverblade
    Apr 7, 2011
    0
    I was hoping that Slightly Mad Studios had learnt from the mistakes of Shift 1; that marketing what is essentially an arcade game as a simulation was a big mistake. Since they were pushing the idea of a good physics engine this time round, i figured that maybe they'd simply decided to make Shift 2 actually feel like a simulation, but i was let down for a second time. The physics are justI was hoping that Slightly Mad Studios had learnt from the mistakes of Shift 1; that marketing what is essentially an arcade game as a simulation was a big mistake. Since they were pushing the idea of a good physics engine this time round, i figured that maybe they'd simply decided to make Shift 2 actually feel like a simulation, but i was let down for a second time. The physics are just as terrible as the first; make no mistake, this is nothing like a simulation and i can assure you that the handling isn't even fun when taking it as an arcade game. There is, as another reviewer pointed out, a very large lag between you turning using your controller or wheel and your car responding in game which makes it all but impossible to drive in the first place. The other problems are that it feels like you're driving on something like jelly; your car slides sideways at every opportunity and is very unstable in all situations. The feel of grip is appalling and the collision physics are the worst i've seen in a racing game. Do not buy, don't even think about it.… Expand
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. Feriatus
    May 9, 2011
    3
    I regret spending my money on this game. I play it with Logitech g27 and I can tell that this game doesn't stand near GT5 feeling of driving a car. Car handling feels very unrealistic, you have to learn to drive by the physics of the game and not of the real world. Also very disappointed with 3D VISION support as there is none. Only things that looks great is a headcam and maybe nightI regret spending my money on this game. I play it with Logitech g27 and I can tell that this game doesn't stand near GT5 feeling of driving a car. Car handling feels very unrealistic, you have to learn to drive by the physics of the game and not of the real world. Also very disappointed with 3D VISION support as there is none. Only things that looks great is a headcam and maybe night raicing if you not playing it with 3d vision, but handling spoils it all… Expand
  21. bzzzzt
    Apr 20, 2011
    2
    Oh look, it's another tail-happy arcade-racer from EA that's pretending to be a "simulation!" Shift 1 had some challenges with controls that are pretty well documented by now, but Shift 2 takes it a step further by making them almost inexplicable. Even after a rethink of balancing out the deadzones and sensitivity (on an XBox 360 controller, which was autodetected, and really should haveOh look, it's another tail-happy arcade-racer from EA that's pretending to be a "simulation!" Shift 1 had some challenges with controls that are pretty well documented by now, but Shift 2 takes it a step further by making them almost inexplicable. Even after a rethink of balancing out the deadzones and sensitivity (on an XBox 360 controller, which was autodetected, and really should have a decent standard setup, right?), it's still a mess. Noticable lag in control inputs, followed by overboosted and inconsistent resonse. You're constantly encouraged to be "smooth" with the controls, which is fine, however I'm not sure that it's really necessary on the straights. This is particularly hilarious with the rear-engined cars, and I'm not sure actual 911 owners will be pleased to see their cars represented as unintentional Tokyo-Drift machines.

    The engine notes all sound auto-tuned: there are noticable steps in the pitch that are poorly synthesized. Seriously, how long ago did Polyphony and Turn 10 sort that out? I own one of the cars featured here (Evo IX), and the engine note isn't anything like this. So the problem sure doesn't stem from managing real-life recordings.

    PC-specific notes? Surprise-surprise, it's a pretty shallow port. The UI makes no sense (and is compromised on an Xbox 360 controller as well), the graphics engine needs work (just ask anyone with ATI/AMD hardware) and FPS can dip and swell like a rollercoaster through corners, goofing with your rhythm. The graphics issue is kind of puzzling, because frankly, it's not much of a step up from Shift1.

    I bought this new yesterday for $18, less than a month after release. I wish I could say that I got my money's worth from it.    … Expand
  22. 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. :)
  23. HighwayUK
    Apr 21, 2011
    7
    Ok first out, the car handling is attrociously poor compared to just about every other game on the market (except maybe the equally terrible Test Drive 2 Unleashed), I've been a big fan of driving games over the decades but even with a dedicated steering wheel this game has very flakey handling. Ok so what about the rest of the game? well the graphics are above average, theres a decent setOk first out, the car handling is attrociously poor compared to just about every other game on the market (except maybe the equally terrible Test Drive 2 Unleashed), I've been a big fan of driving games over the decades but even with a dedicated steering wheel this game has very flakey handling. Ok so what about the rest of the game? well the graphics are above average, theres a decent set of cars and modding options, and it's probably the best of the NFS titles thus far.... but seriously it's not a patch on GRID or DIRT2 and with DIRT3 due next month.... I'd save your pennies for that.… Expand
  24. discohero
    May 6, 2011
    7
    I was surprised by the dismal user score for this game. I was never a fan of NFS series in general and this game on launch day was definitely incomplete it is definitely better than 5.8 and much better than Hot Pursuit, which was a joke.
    I regret buying it at launch. It appears it is always better to wait for a couple of patches to land before giving this a shot unless you know where to go    I was surprised by the dismal user score for this game. I was never a fan of NFS series in general and this game on launch day was definitely incomplete it is definitely better than 5.8 and much better than Hot Pursuit, which was a joke.
    I regret buying it at launch. It appears it is always better to wait for a couple of patches to land before giving this a shot unless you know where to go for mods/tweaks (nogripracing) to make handling decent and your wheel work as it should. At first I was very disappointed but once I had a couple of mods up and running that fixed car handing issues and sorted out driving wheel annoyances the game was fun to play. Not as fun as I hoped it would be though and I wish I didnâ    … Expand
  25. rez
    Jun 30, 2011
    6
    I desperately tried for almost 15 hours of gameplay to like this game, and I failed.

    Yes, the new helmet-cam feature is an awesome addition to any racing game, the car selection and customisation is cool and the visuals aren't bad (if you ignore a handful of horrendous background textures), but the driving mechanics... they're the stuff of nightmares. This game seems intentionally    I desperately tried for almost 15 hours of gameplay to like this game, and I failed.

    Yes, the new helmet-cam feature is an awesome addition to any racing game, the car selection and customisation is cool and the visuals aren't bad (if you ignore a handful of horrendous background textures), but the driving mechanics... they're the stuff of nightmares. This game seems intentionally designed to be borderline unplayable. Does this make the experience more challenging? Sure... but so would tying your shoelaces together before a 100 meter sprint. It doesn't mean the challenge is fair, and it certainly doesn't make it more fun.

    If you want sim racing, stick with GT and Forza. If you want a fun Need For Speed title, pick up last year's infinitely superior Hot Pursuit by Criterion.    … Expand
  26. genetix
    Apr 14, 2011
    2
    Sad attempt for a game, if I want reality I buy Codemasters products. Most Wanted was last NFS I've seen which actually was worth playing 'Carbon' was already a sad case of idioticy.

    All these new NFS games literally sucks, they are not fun and they have no value to be bought. It took me an hour to download the thing, 5 minutes to fight with activation, 60 seconds to play and determ I    Sad attempt for a game, if I want reality I buy Codemasters products. Most Wanted was last NFS I've seen which actually was worth playing 'Carbon' was already a sad case of idioticy.

    All these new NFS games literally sucks, they are not fun and they have no value to be bought. It took me an hour to download the thing, 5 minutes to fight with activation, 60 seconds to play and determ I don't ever want to see this game again and another 2 minutes to uninstall and watch activation to spam my firewall.    … Expand
  27. kentMOsabe
    May 10, 2011
    0
    I will be honest with you, this is a bad game. Starting right of the bat with the poor graphics that look ported from the old ps2/original xbox days. Even with all the graphics options turned on high, this game still suffers from poor textures and lighting. In some maps the shadows are so intense that you can't even see where you are going. This is supposed to be a racing game, yet theyI will be honest with you, this is a bad game. Starting right of the bat with the poor graphics that look ported from the old ps2/original xbox days. Even with all the graphics options turned on high, this game still suffers from poor textures and lighting. In some maps the shadows are so intense that you can't even see where you are going. This is supposed to be a racing game, yet they included no drift, yep, you cannot drift in this game, and what is worse: get this, your car automatically brakes for you on turns. The NPC cars do not face this restriction, so you are constantly getting overtaken by 4 to 6 cars on the turns because your car slows down by itself, and the others don't. NPC cars smoke you like nothing, there is no cutting them off on the track, instead you have to follow a green path behind them in order to catch up, which is bad because you cant go through them if you want to pass them. When you think your about to win, about to hit the finish line, even if you are going your fastest an NPC car smacks you from behind and three or four of them whiz past the finish line, leaving you in last place. So what is wrong with this? you were about to win the race and about to cross the finish line, but all of a sudden you get smacked from behind and a cars pass you like nothing across the finish line and you loose...WOW so much effort for nothing. The physics are horrible, car is hard to steer even with xbox360 gamepad on PC, I will probably not try it with the keyboard ever. Camera options are a joke, ans your view is constantly getting blocked by your own car. Overall I would not recommend this game to anyone who is into racing games, Instead I would save my money for Dirt 3 by Codemasters.… Expand
  28. 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
  29. ozgeek
    May 20, 2011
    0
    This game has no captions/subtitles, therefore not suitable for deaf/hearing impaired players. I will NOT purchase any games that show disregard for disabled players. Anyway gameplay is similar to NFS:Shift 1. But if you can run NFS:Shift 1, then you can run this.
  30. skankyjoe
    Jun 10, 2011
    3
    Straight up, i have no qualms identifying myself as a casual racing fan. Racing games that i have and love are Dirts 2&3 and GT5, but i would consider myself a novice at best at those games and simply really enjoy playing them.On the whole, there are a lot of great ideas in Shift 2, and the quirks don't bother me too much: the stylised, oversaturated graphics can be shrugged off as a NFSStraight up, i have no qualms identifying myself as a casual racing fan. Racing games that i have and love are Dirts 2&3 and GT5, but i would consider myself a novice at best at those games and simply really enjoy playing them.On the whole, there are a lot of great ideas in Shift 2, and the quirks don't bother me too much: the stylised, oversaturated graphics can be shrugged off as a NFS hallmark, the non-optional music is AWFUL unless you are 16, but you can turn that down low, the 'Yo Dude, that was AWESOME' kind of encouragement you get after winning is a pain, but you can grit your teeth and bear it. What lets this game down TERRIBLY is the awful and synthetic handling. The cars turn on a centre pivot, so there's never any feeling of weight shifting or traction being lost. I seem to recall one review mentioning this as if it were a minor quirk, but as far as i'm concerned it ruins the game. Ridge Racer has a more solid handling model than this. Even after you've sorted out the dead zone issues with the wheel and ticked the driving aids that keep the car from going into a slalom while you're speeding down a straight, the handling is just extremely unsatisfying.
    As far as i'm concerned, all the other niggles can be dealt with, but this is the fundamental aspect of what makes a racing game tick and Shift 2 just falls desperately short in this regard.
    Other things that are negatives but don't actually affect my scoring is that there seem to be problems with NVIDIA graphics card drivers, those might have been fixed but at first i needed to reboot my system before launching the game to prevent broken textures and lighting; also the apparent lack of DLC for PC customers is just a slap in the face.    … Expand
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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

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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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