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Need for Speed: Shift for PlayStation 3 Reviews - Metacritic
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Need for Speed: Shift PlayStation 3
Need for Speed: Shift Image
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 55 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 102 Ratings

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  • Summary: Need for Speed SHIFT brings a true driver's experience to some of the world's most iconic racing tracks, including the storied Brand's Hatch in the UK. The game also features the largest roster of high-performance cars in Need for Speed history including race cars such as the Pagani Zonda F,Need for Speed SHIFT brings a true driver's experience to some of the world's most iconic racing tracks, including the storied Brand's Hatch in the UK. The game also features the largest roster of high-performance cars in Need for Speed history including race cars such as the Pagani Zonda F, Porsche 911 GT2 and Lotus Elise. Players are thrust into the loud, intense, and athletic experience of racing a car from the driver's perspective through the combination of perception based G-forces, the hyper reality of the cockpit view, and the all-new brutally disorienting crash dynamic. Need for Speed SHIFT features an accurate, accessible physics-based driving model that allows you to feel every impact, every change of track surface and every last bit of grip as you push yourself to the edge. [Electronic Arts]… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 52 out of 55
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 55
  3. Negative: 0 out of 55
  1. GameSpy
    100
    If you're a number-munching automotive aficionado with a penchant for judging games the way an accountant judges a financial portfolio, know that this is a racing game dedicated to the act of racing rather than the actors, more intent on refining the experience of driving rather than celebrating car culture with scads of vehicles.
  2. Cynamite
    90
    Go, NfS! I had serious doubts about this one, but it delivers like a Porsche.
  3. Playstation: The Official Magazine (US)
    90
    The most substantial upgrade the NFS series has ever received, along with some of the best visuals in the genre's field. [Nov 2009, p.83]
    All this publication's reviews
  4. Gameplanet
    85
    Forget what you have come to expect from an NFS game, because SHIFT takes the series away from the street scene and into the grown-up world of motorsport. It makes a few mistakes along the way, but with great looks, solid handling and some unique features, there is plenty of fun to be had behind the wheel.
  5. Gamer 2.0
    83
    If you’re a fan of games like Project Gotham Racing and Grid, you’d really be doing yourself a disservice in missing out on this game since it’s probably right up your alley.
  6. Game Informer
    80
    This game goes from zero-to-60 fast enough, but that only brings it upon the question of “now what?” that much more quickly. I don’t want to say that being a sim-racer is a dead end, but it’s hard to know where the Shift branch of Need for Speed can go from here.
  7. Metro GameCentral
    60
    In their panic EA has made a game which has no place in the current market. Neither arcade racer, nor simulation it also pales next to the well-established rivals which manage to be both.

See all 55 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 35
  3. Negative: 3 out of 35
  1. SnaggyD
    Nov 30, 2009
    10
    Really good driving game, recent patch has cleared up the previous problems and regularly get 12 player races now..
  2. SageSmith6079
    Aug 20, 2010
    9
    Great mix of arcade and simulation and.....woah.....speed. I loved Forza 3 and GT5P and hated all th previous NFS franchise offerings butGreat mix of arcade and simulation and.....woah.....speed. I loved Forza 3 and GT5P and hated all th previous NFS franchise offerings but Shift really is in a class of its own. Loved every minute of it and the cockpit view is one of the best of any racing game on the market right now.
    Really looking forward to NFS Shift 2. Please don't mess with it too much you guys at Slightly Mad Studios. It's not too far off perfect as it is. Favourite car - the Pagani Zonda R is an absolute beast of a motor. Bring in a track editor for the next installment please.    … Expand
  3. ShadowRamen
    Mar 19, 2012
    9
    excellent game. just started playing it again for my second playthrough. the only thing i dont like, is the fact that there isnt any classicexcellent game. just started playing it again for my second playthrough. the only thing i dont like, is the fact that there isnt any classic muscle cars (aside from the old tier 1 gtr, but that hardly counts), and the customization is pretty difficult to use. you cant rotate you car in a free camera mode, you also can mirror the images you make on one side of the car to the opposite side. i also found that a lot of the vinyls that you create look fine on the car in your showroom, but when you bring them out on the track, they skew and rotate into odd angles. i just decided to either go with a flat colour, or choose a preset. other than that, the game looks and plays extremely well, and the addition of "Works" is fantastic. i'm really starting to like the "off the streets" racing games since i played ProStreet.… Collapse
  4. SimG.
    Sep 20, 2009
    8
    I'm not that much into Gran Turismo, Forza or the street racing gig. SHIFT offers the right balance between simulation, arcade and car I'm not that much into Gran Turismo, Forza or the street racing gig. SHIFT offers the right balance between simulation, arcade and car modifications. However, I have one big issue with the PS3... the FRAMERATE. The framerate is very unstable. There are so many visual and audio glitches, menu flickers and there is polygon clipping all over the place. If someone has enough power and influence, they should arrass EA to release a patch to fix that. I'm having a lot of fun with the driving mechanics and the overall game structure, but I see myself putting the game aside really soon if there's not hope that it'll be fixed. I didn't bought a 1080p HD TV to play games like this.… Expand
  5. timc
    Oct 18, 2009
    8
    Some cars are very challenging to drive others are easy. But alll in all i very much enjoy the game. the sence of speed is very real. fist Some cars are very challenging to drive others are easy. But alll in all i very much enjoy the game. the sence of speed is very real. fist racing game in along time ive been able to enjoy.… Expand
  6. Palp
    Jul 16, 2011
    7
    Need for speed SHIFT can be seen as either a departure from what the NFS series had been trying to establish by way of releasing illicitNeed for speed SHIFT can be seen as either a departure from what the NFS series had been trying to establish by way of releasing illicit street racing games such as NFS Carbon and Undercover for years, or can be seen as a refinement and cleanup of the uneven and heavily flawed NFS ProStreet. The result is a gorgeous attempt at a racing simulator that doesn't quite have what it takes to compete with the best on a gameplay front.

    The best part about this game is easily the graphics, which were the best ever in an NFS game at this time. The tracks, cars, and environmental effects such as lighting all looked incredible on an HD tv, and made this game a graphical showpiece for the multiplatform market, and in a way, the graphical aspect of this game is the only part that really made this game stand above the only other high profile racing sim at the time in the form of Forza 3.

    The gameplay in SHIFT is where Slightly Mad Studios decided to cater to newbies and racing sim vets all in one go with mixed results. While the cars do handle somewhat believably, the sense of speed is absurdly exaggerated, giving the game an awkward blend of both realism and arcade. The result of this middle ground makes gives the game a hard time satisfying either the arcade fans, who want something more along the lines of NFS Most wanted and those who want something more along the lines of Forza 3.

    Had this game committed to being one genre, it could have been so much greater, but it ended up being a solid racer sandwiched between two genres that that ultimately feels disappointing to both the arcade and simulation crowd.    … Expand
  7. lolsorisnub
    Aug 22, 2010
    0
    "0" -very bad console port: all the menus are a pain and being able to use the mouse to select stuff would be so much easier. -it doesnt add"0" -very bad console port: all the menus are a pain and being able to use the mouse to select stuff would be so much easier. -it doesnt add anything new to the genre, apart from non-steering cars (reminds me of gta IV) -requests an even longer-than-usual "grind" through low-tier cars before you can unlock anything worth driving. -physics engine makes for fun times, because its a joke
    i dont understand why they bothered to add vinyls and such when there is no way you can see them since there is no 3rd person camera, meaning driving different cars doesnt change the experience by much. all you'll notice is better speed, etc
    ive been playing and loving NFS since porche unleashed. ive completed the careers for underground 1&2; most wanted, carbon, i liked them all, yet i uninstalled shift after 2 days.. -all the (terribly boring) cutscenes (for example before and after each race) cannot be skipped.
    the critics who gave this an 83 mustve been either high or very well paid.    … Expand

See all 35 User Reviews

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