Shift 2: Unleashed

Shift 2: Unleashed takes its rightful place between the "behemoths" of the industry, such as Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport. And this is achieved through the most realistic helmet camera ever, a superb sense of driving, great graphics and the all-mighty Autolog!

Shift 2 has finally created a racing sim that gives car geeks like myself numbers to tweak, but puts the real focus where it belongs, on the visceral joy of actually racing the car.

Thanks to the quality of its singleplayer and multiplayer, the richness of contents and, most of all, the realism of the whole driving experience, Shift 2: Unleashed proves to be one of the best, if not the best, driving simulator currently on the market. Turn 10 and Polyphony have now found a worthy rival.

Shift 2: Unleashed is the most exciting racing game available. What happens on the track, with a little help from several camera settings, is almost a magical performance in which we take part not as a spectator but as an active participant.

It really emproves on its predecessor's original formula. The simulation feels more tight and controlled, and at the same time gifted with an incredible first person driving experience. It might not be suited to simulation fanatics, for its sometimes forgiving and inaccurate phisycs, but it is once again an original and thrilling take on Turismo driving. Excellent graphics, Autolog, a long career mode and some multiplayer goodness make it worth all of its price.

For those who have passion for cars and especially speed, Shift 2: Unleashed is an obligatory choice.

Unleashed has significantly improved on the original and found an almost perfet blend of arcade racing thrills and technical simulation challenge. [May 2011, p.84]

Shift 2 is technically very impressive, but like Hot Pursuit, it's the social features surrounding the game that define it as an experience. If you're a serious fan of the genre, know that Shift 2 does several things better than anything else on the market right now, which makes it an essential purchase.

Shift 2: Unleashed builds upon the firm base of the previous game and offers more features and better features. More tracks, vehicles and multiplayer options thanks to the inclusion of the social system Autolog, and also better physics and simulation, which have improved the right way. It is not a perfect simulation experience, but will please most gamers.

Shift 2 Unleashed is a wonderful racing game. Only the agressive AI and the sensitive drifts are a little annoying.

Though it still can't be considered as a full-fledged racing sim, it is a great game to play.

One of the best racing games this year. The game has an extreme good feeling of speed, it feels realistic and to complete the campaign will take weeks. Need for Speed: SHIFT was a good game, but this is a lot better because Slightly Mad Studios did listen to the feedback of the community.

SHIFT 2 Unleashed does some things differently and gives the franchise the extra boost to completely dissociate itself from the arcade experience that Need For Speed is known for.

For those looking for something a little bit different to other racers this could be the answer, Shift 2 provides exciting arcade feeling racing that revolves and intense circuit style racing. For those willing to overlook a few minor issues and they are willing to be patient with the handling will find a truly satisfying, albeit terrifying racing game.

Embellishing the high-impact racing simulation even further, Shift 2 proves enough appeal for both racing purists and casual fans.

Overall Shift 2 is an excellent racing game that really tries to throw you behind the wheel of a professional driver. With great graphics minus a few debris issues and impressive car mechanics, Shift 2 will challenge the best of drivers during the single player campaign and online. Fans of Forza Motorsport 2 and Gran Turismo 5, or just racing games in general, should definitely think about getting Shift 2 to keep you busy.

One of the most authentic racing games of all time – unfortunately, not the best of all time. One of the things that holds it back is the sometimes unfair enemy AI.

Due to the impressive graphics and the authentic gameplay, Need for Speed: SHIFT 2 Unleashed is an extremely realistic and thrilling racing-simulation. The ultimate challenge for your driving skills.

Rare in that it gives you real cars in real locales, but also provides an intensity and excitement that other sim games can't offer. While the steering isn't as polished as it could be, you won't be thinking about that in the tense, white-knuckle, high-speed races that this game offers.

Slightly Mad Studios really has found a good formula for keeping a game feel like an arcade racer while mixing in a healthy amount of simulation. It does have its faults, but for the most part, I can look past them.

Shift 2 Unleashed is a great racing game, with some nice touches like the helmet cam or the presence of rubber on the tracks. But its frantic gameplay makes the Elite game mode the only one that's truly playable and realistic. Overall, the AI is excellent, and that's nice. Recommended for all the racing fans out there.

A violent and immersive racer that recreates the driving experience like no other game on the market. In doing so it builds well on the first Shift's foundations, benefitting from Slightly Mad Studios' more refined touch and the inclusion of Autolog, but its handling is still too loose and its steps forward too small for it to truly beat Gran Turismo and Forza – although it does enough to ensure that it's pulled ever closer.

Shift 2 defines the franchise in a way that the first one didn't. Although the cars can feel like they swivel on a center axis, the racing is pretty good, and the overall experience gets a boost from the graphics and the erratic nature of the AI racers. It doesn't blow by the competition, but by improving its lap times, Shift 2 is on its way.

Like the original, Shift 2 is a flawed sim but still manages to become greater than the sum of its parts. The wonky handling and annoying load times haven't been completely eliminated, while the new reduced methods of earning XP make getting through career mode more time-consuming than it should be. However, despite its flaws, the overall game is definitely worth a purchase. Not at $60 though - given the flaws and its nickel and diming of players through DLC, I'd say that it's worth paying $40 for if you enjoyed the first. Since there's no demo available, if you didn't play that one, then either download Shift 1's demo or just go ahead and buy it for the $10 or so it goes for now. Then, you'll have an idea of what to expect from this game, and if its problems don't really bother you there, they won't bother you much here.

A rewarding experience. Sure, it doesn't have 1,000 cars made up of more polygons than the moon or a vinyl editor Michelangelo would have deemed 'adequate,' but it's still a complete package.

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.

Shift 2: Unleashed is a very good racing game, but it's not quite refined enough to be a great racing game. Shift 2 is fun, but you need to know how to play it in order to appreciate it and get the most out of the experience. When played correctly, this is an intense, borderline terrifying behind-the-wheel experience, and it's worth checking out the game for that aspect alone. Shift 2 may not be ready to play with the top dogs in the genre, but it's still a wild ride from start to finish.

Who knew that having the frame of my vehicle obscure my view of the racetrack in a corner or that trading the inside lane for the clarity of my headlights during a nighttime race would bring me an enjoyment I've never found in sim racing games before?

Due to its awesome cars, nice graphics, realistic handling and amazing atmosphere (night racing + in-car-view rocks!), Shift2 is a perfect pick for every Gearhead and car enthusiast out there. If you consider yourself a mere "NFS-Fan" though, you're still better off with the "other" NFS: Hot Pursuit.

If you found Forza or Gran Turismo to be too austere, polite, and reverent, but you still crave a bit of sim-style racing, you'll surely enjoy Shift 2 Unleashed -- as long as you're willing to deal with the consequences of its lack of manners.

Shift 2 is again a solid iteration to continue building a simulation saga for Electronic Arts. Unleashed tries to accomplish as many goals as its first entry but doesn't quite manage to fully achieve them all.

At its best, Shift 2 is one of the most intense and rewarding racing games around. There's some flaws (like the entire drifting part), but the overall package is really solid and fun.

It's a reminder that 'accessible' - along with 'Project', 'Gotham', 'Grid' and 'arcade' - isn't such a dirty word after all. [May 2011, p.92]

The core of the experience is the racing. [May 2011, p.100]

An impressive follow-up to a great racing game. Rich in content and with the online system autolog for great competitive value.

Just don't expect many things you haven't seen before.

Shift 2 is an outstanding driving game, if not quite the "real racing" experience its slogan so boldly promises.

Shift 2 is one of the very few driving games where we'd actually prefer to boot-up its predecessor rather than this new iteration. It's still a thoroughly decent and innovative racer but fans of the original may be justifiably disappointed by the many missed opportunities here.

Shift 2: Unleashed is a really good game, but it is not a Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo beater. However, it's still very fun to play.

Shift 2: Unleashed might not be the realistic racing game of which the developers speak, but it does offer an intense racing experience we haven't seen before on the consoles. You literally experience the race through the eyes of the driver which offers a lot of exciting moments which will keep you interested from start to finish.

If you're not so keen on the more sim-like nature of Forza or GT, it's a great buy. And if you like either or both those games, but want to experience raw and exciting racing, Shift 2 certainly delivers enough frenetic action to make it a great additional purchase. In that respect, it's a winning formula.

A good sequel that will serve as an enjoyable entry point to serious racing; however, more experienced racing game players should stick to Shift's more realistic rivals.

Quotation forthcoming.

Shift 2: Unleashed delivers intensive racing for real gear-heads, with a daunting difficulty level and impressive physics. The Autolog function is excellent, but the experience is marred somewhat by the cumbersome controls, far too agressive opponents and a too hard easy mode for newcomers.

Shift 2: Unleashed offers quality racing with nice simulations to some degree, but hasn't been improved since the original as much as it should have been.

Lots of great stuff but this raucous attempt at racing needs some settling and organization.

Shift 2 has a bevy of neat ideas but none of them are executed to a degree that makes them worthwhile. [Issue#204, p.82]

A solid racer ruined - on PS3 - by lag. Wait and hope it's patched. [May 2011, p.82]

I have a feeling that I would love Shift 2 as I loved Gran Turismo 5 if it was a little more welcoming to series newbies. The high learning curve and stiff controls, however, are anything but welcoming, and it hurts the overall experience.

Shift 2 is full of wonders: a unique helmet camera view, immensely immersive, its full of races and cars to customize, it's extensive, visually splendid, and blessed with quite good physics... But sadly, all those pros are spoiled by really crippling shortcomings, preventing it to overcome the two references that are GT and Forza. An annoying AI that continually hits you for no reason, and this even more enraging latency in the steering dynamics. With those two defects corrected, EA would have delivered something truly outstanding.