Shift 2: Unleashed

Once you get used to drifting its pretty easy and enjoyable
 
Tried drifting with the wheel... not a chance.

Then decided to go for it with the controller as Id heard it was easier and by god was it! It's not actually too bad with the controller, still annoyingly different in the physics department to the regular racing, which is what annoys me most, but it is possible to get some proper "drifts" going and link them as well if you practice a bit. More about throttle control than steering.

In saying that, not played this since PSN went tits up, I found the Autolog feature more fun than the career mode itself, even though I only have about 2 friends playing it, haha.
 
I've just got this game this weekend, for £14. Love it, but it's crazy hard. Handles so differently to other racing games I've played.

I also bought a cheap wheel and pedals, no way did I want to spend £100 or more on a wheel so took a gamble on this Datel Wheel for £29.99. So far it's hard but I love it, especially with Shift 2. You can alter tons of settings, it has rumble, and it works for Xbox, PS3 and PC. Brilliant. I'm sure it's shit compared to more expensive wheels but it does the job, and Shift 2 feels great. It's really got me into racing games again.

Cornering in this is so hard though, cars feel heavier and more drifty than other games. Not a bad thing, just different, so will take more game time to get used to it. So buying this game and wheel for the same price of a full price game is pretty good value :)
 
It's a decent game but unfortunately beset with bugs and flaws, many of which I'm sure you'll come across.

The main issue is the control sensitivities. I found the game almost unplayable with the pad. It's much better with the wheel, but even then the sensitivities need to be adjusted to make it feel right. Unfortunately there is noticeable controller lag which ruins the experience a bit.

On the plus side, the selection of tracks is as good as it gets, the car mods are great (check out the works mods) and the AI and sense of being in a battle in every race is what sets it apart.

The game needed a lot of patching to sort out the many bugs and issues, and true to form, after two patches EA washed their hands of it and have parted ways with Slightly Mad Studios. Hence, I'm not sure if there will be a Shift 3, which is a shame as the series has promise.
 
Yeah I was terrible with the pad, equally terrible with the wheel but with that there's the added combo of getting used to the wheel, getting used to Shifts' car handling, and getting used to the different levels of sensitivities the wheel and game offer! I only tried the demo of the original Shift 1, but don't remember the cars handling so oddly in that. Not sure why it was changed for the sequel.

That's sad if there's no Shift 3, I suppose the studio ditched by EA can't just take the game somewhere else, EA will probably prevent them from doing that in some way. It's a shame because the game has so much going for it.
 
LTFC said:
Yeah I was terrible with the pad, equally terrible with the wheel but with that there's the added combo of getting used to the wheel, getting used to Shifts' car handling, and getting used to the different levels of sensitivities the wheel and game offer! I only tried the demo of the original Shift 1, but don't remember the cars handling so oddly in that. Not sure why it was changed for the sequel.

That's sad if there's no Shift 3, I suppose the studio ditched by EA can't just take the game somewhere else, EA will probably prevent them from doing that in some way. It's a shame because the game has so much going for it.
Click to expand...

There will definitely not be a Shift 3 as we know it because Slightly Mad Studios owns the Shift engine. If the franchise is to continue it will not only need new developers but a new engine.

The cause of the split was apparently over patches. After two patches that failed to fix much at all, SMS asked to release a third patch, but EA declined, taking the view that the issues should have been addressed already. So that was that. Quite petty really. I can see both sides really, but the biggest loser is the fans. They are left with a game that is buggy and broken in places, but EA would rather kick the game into the long grass.

What's doubly frustrating is that EA no longer has a sim racer on its roster, i.e. no competitor to Forza 4 or GT5, so why do they now chose to withhold the Porsche licence? Need For Speed: 'The Runs' isn't a competitor ffs. Hence why I'm angry with EA.

From what I've read, SMS are working on another racing game project called C.A.R.S. It's supposedly a community driven and funded project based on a free to play model where extra content such as cars and tracks can be bought. According to their lead developer it will be cross platform, not just PC, so hopefully they make something of it.
 
That is a shame but thankfully there are so many racing games for me to catch up on that I'll hopefully be occupied for a while :)

I've not really tried the Forza series yet, still have Forza 3 to get through before 4 comes out, then there's F1 2011, and really old games I still want to try such as GRID which must be available for under a tenner now. I've decided to give Gran Turismo a wide berth on PS3 this time, just doesn't look like fun. I'm not a huge petrol head at all so I'm content with Shift's style of arcade 'ish racing. Forza's not like that, but the great thing I think with that game is that there are all sorts of options to play the game how you like. And choice is always king!
 
Speaking from experience you are right to steer clear of GT5. I've put a hell of a lot of time into that game, playing it for about seven months solid, and if it wasn't for the online mode I would have traded it six months ago. Considering the six year development period and huge budget, the result was an unfinished, inconsistent, messy game with very archaic design and AI straight from the PS1 (and 800 of the 1000 cars look like they are ported from the PS2). The only reason I played as long as I did was because I got in a with a good crowd of racers on another forum and we raced once or twice a week for all those months. Otherwise the game was pretty much dead to me.

I wasn't a fan of GRID either. That got traded within two weeks as I couldn't get on with the strange driving physics. But if you like Codemasters racing games like DIRT then it may be worth a look.

From what you've said I think Forza 4 could be worth looking at as it's aimed at all types of racers from casual to hardcore. It sounds like they've pushed the sim driving physics on even further which will keep the hardcore like me happy, but then you have the Top Gear licence which brings the reasonably priced car laps, and mini-games like car bowling and car soccer. I think car soccer could be a great laugh online with a bunch of friends. You can have different cars for different positions, such as an SUV in defence and a Ferrari up front. :P
 
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