Hi ladies and gentlemen, the reason I skipped 'Hot Pursuit (2010') is because I want to review the 90s NFS titles first since it's based off those games, and the Burnout series because it's developed by Criterion, those games also feel similar to 'Hot Pursuit (2010)'. It's about making predecessor comparisons on this channel to see how a follow-up improves from its predecessors. Also, I'm reviewing Forza Motorsport 4 next, and that and Shift 2: Unleashed both came out the same year directly competing between each other in 2011...
ColourShedProductions - Need for Speed: Shift Unleashed 2 and Need for Speed: Shift 2?? I own Shift Unleashed 2, but I had no idea there was a Shift 2.
I actually adore Hot Pursuit. It's what happened when Burnout's developer create a racing game based on pre-Underground NFS and it's top speed based gameplay is very refreshing. And the graphics, damn still beautiful even until now. Definently the Crysis for racing genre
And the sense of speed was always something else that has yet to be replicated in modern titles. It felt like dangling on an edge of a knife when cornering or driving over at speeds of 200 km/h and any crashes or g-forces had impact on your driver.
I agree, and the people below are right about the other games. Also, who loves a racing game where, when using the interior view, and looking behind you, it's show out the interior rear window of the car (provided it has one)? So few games do that, but it's a nice touch.
Shift 2's drifting was vastly improved. I actually loved this game but yeah, I remember how annoying it was with the constant adjustment during a straight line.
Shift 2 had it's own special charm. The sense of speed, the music, I loved it! Winning races felt like I actually acomplished something and it didn't feel like "yeah, whatever..." This game will always have it's place in my heart
The Nurburgring levels on this game WILL make your heart beat faster than anything because they are the hardest and most demanding races i've ever had. Still i really enjoyed it
This game had each song on the ost remixed 4 times by the composers to make variants with 4 different auras that were used in different parts of the game. It was just an amazing idea that never came back unfortunately
When that game plays "Bravery" after I won a race, god damn I feel like I won the entire game! Too bad we don't get those anymore with modern racing games, kinda boring even though I do play racing games with a wheel (Mainly a G29) for hours on end.
@@victorleon67 IKR? Help is on the way just gives you goosebumps. The menus had a dark murky vibe that speaks to you. If you get in this car you could die. There's nothing like it...
Yeah man. They take the music and the athmosphere so serious and dramatic, i love it. Too bad i dont have a steering wheel, so driving the faster sports cars (Even the Gumpert Apollo whichs imo pretty forgiving and fast sports car) is near impossible. :(
Shift 2 still offers one of the immersive experiences to be found in a racing game. It just has that emotional/adrenaline factor that is simply lacking in other simulators. Ultimately its flaws and lack of refinement kept it from being truly great, but I think games like Forza, GT and the others could learn a lot from this gem, starting with Helmet Cam.
lacking? more like they don't need silly gimmicks at all. Simracing focuses more on how tracks and cars feel (and Shift 2 fails to simulate both), your head is your cam, the screen does the cockpit. The whole point is that you are supposed to feel like you're inside the car, not inside someone's head, your rig (seat, wheel, shifter) is where your seat is positioned in the car's perspective. games like rFactor 2, Assetto Corsa Competizione, RaceRoom Racing Experience, iRacing and the likes are better left off as is.
Well, Shift 1&3 are not Sim Racer. They don't simulate the driving Physic like in RL, Assetto Corsa, RFactor, RaceRoom and a handful more SimRacer out there are real SimRacing Games. Shift 2 simulat not enough to be categorized as SimRacers. And no, Project Cars 1&2 are not SimRacing games.
@@JohnPaul-sh7hh you don't have to own a rig just to enjoy simracing, but you do need an extra level of patience to learn with controller. But that's not what we're talking about. I need to put the first and foremost point here; Shift's helmet cam is the worst you'd ever wish for, even for a simracing as the OP stated. And let me say this again, a sim does not require such gimmick because as I said, your screen needs to focus on the cockpit to simulate that you're driving, not you being in a swaying camera. It doesn't make sense as of why you need such feature, even if you simrace without a decent rig (heck, I play simracing with a controller). And the main thing about simracing is that it's a simulation, a rig is not a "must have" and it's more to a "best recommended to play with". And here's the thing: your screen is locked on the cockpit with your rig set so that you feel more like you're inside the car. There's no way in a sane mind any simracer would want such gimmick. And yes, I'm talking about "It just has that emotional/adrenaline factor that is simply lacking in other simulators" (we finally came to the so-called topic you're trying to tell and... of course, my nitpick) which is the whole point of this topic, hence I'll just say that your "HURRDURR NOT EVERYONE OWNS A RIG" doesn't make much sense. It'd be a different story if he's simply saying racing game like he stated in the first sentence which what I'm saying is arguable as arcade racing tends to add any gimmicks they can to shove into the game, but no, he had to add simulator in his paragraph.
@@Avalische Hey,I'm talking from my experience. I love the helmet cam from Shift 2 and I never considered it to be a simulator. Maybe that's why I like the game. The only things I find wrong with the game are the ridiculous crash and contact physics,the fact that there is no rain and the poor optimization. So what I'm saying is...there are people who love the game exactly because it's an over the top wannabe simulator. I play with a keyboard and believe me when I say it's stressful. But it's fun.
The menu music in this game was amazing. Actually helped get me into orchestral scores. I'm kind of sad no one else has really done anything like that, mixing popular songs with ambience.
I've spent a lot of my free time doing physics mod for this game. The main reason cars handled badly was tire stiffness. It was around 4 times less than it should be. As a result cars handling was delayed in feeling, erratic at times and generally not that great. Imagine just driving on gummy bears. However when stiffness was bumped up other issues surfaced, like very sudden weight transfer on the limit (which is still present in pCars 1 and 2, expecially on drift cars). All in all it's a real shame SMS decided to develop their own tire model instead of using older, proven one from GTR2 or just buying an upgrade to rFactor1. As rest of the physics engine is basically GTR/early pMotor anyway. Apart from driving Shift2 did a lot of things right. It's a shame that most important piece was missing.
Slightly Mad gonna get tires handling/physics recreation as their permanent pendant subject. One way or another. There's no need to dig deeper as Project C.A.R.S. III took a polemic turn into gameplay compared to the already criticized II because, again, tires handling/physics recreation.
i'am guessing you mean late 90's early 2000's................some where later in 2000's is where all the NFS games just started to feel & look the same. i think underground started off that style i liked: Need for Speed: High Stakes (1999) Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (2000) Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (2002) Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005) & the shift games
they went with pure rock bands for the soundtrack, and the Gladiator remixes made them much better, that's how i got introduced to Hollywood Undead lol
15:19 I think that this combination is actually quite interesting. I really like Shift 2, especially it’s sense of speed. Although I like to play sims like Assetto Corsa or iRacing, Shift 2 is a nice change of pace from time to time.
I loved the first Shift game, and was hyped for Shift 2 to come out. Then when I played it, the input lag completely ruined the game. They made it hard to drive in a straight line!
I don't understand how they could have messed it up that badly. Completely unplayable - I returned it after only a few "races" due to the delay and the really annoying race engineer guy.
I would love to see the Motorstorm series reviewed.. It's one of the most chaotic racers in existence. I know you have a lot of games in a list for you to review. Maybe keep this game in the back of your mind... 0_0
I actually had bought a controller specifically to play the drift on my pc. I actually liked this game because this was the first semi sim racing game back in the day. I actually now have a wheel and it still is fun to play with the wheel.
I remember that in Shift 2, the difficulty decreased with the weight of your car. In a light car (relative to the other cars in the starting field), it was very hard to overtake anyone because every collision made you spin out so you had to be extremely careful around the other cars.
the cinematic aspect was added by Ramin Djawadi, also known as the "Gladiator" in the remixes, Mick gordon and troels folsman did the "Dirty", and the "Cinematic" remixes, bit the cinematic versions were more euphoric than cinematic, also there was some bootflows tracks which were a mix of the three categories or similar, the best part of the soundtrack were the Ambiences in Shift 1, those were like the traumas of a racing driver in an attemp of being music as a call for help, shit was intense.
even after all those years, that fucking tracklist was stuck in my head, and i had the chance of finding them like a year ago, and thanks to that guy who uploaded the ambiences from Shift 1 here in youtube
My favorite NFS of all time. One thing you didn't talk about is the soundtrack. The "Gladiator" tracks(the ones in the main menu) on their own was great. The "Cinematic" tracks had crowd cheers mixed in, sounds fantastic when you are watching the replay after you've just won.
You practice driving it. That's because you're driving on a raxe track that was designed for racing cars with slick tires installed. Slidy because your car isn't tuned to race yet, if you tuned a race car & drive it on race track, then you'll either smoke your opponents or you'll get smoked😅🤣 anyway, once you get your attention to the car & performance, you'll know what to do & adjust your driving style based on the car's performance.
The controls in Shift 2 were optimized for Logitech wheels, so you can select the G27 profile in options menu and remap it with the gamepad buttons. It will fix most of the issues with driving, decreasing the input lag and floaty feeling.
Really like your reviews for every genre of game's you've done so far. But when it comes to the racing Genre, you're the best at reviewing these in my opinion, they are also nostalgic too, especially with the classic racing games you've been reviewing. They have a great attention to detail that most of the popular reviewers reviewing a racing game would miss out on.
Shift 2 on PC with proper calibration of the controller or wheel is very nice driving-wise. Installing some physics overhauling mods brings out the full potential of the game. It will always have a special place in my heart.
Hey, doubt you’ll see this but I really genuinely enjoy your reviews. They’re just so well made. You clearly research the development of a game and consider the intentions of the developers when judging a game’s merits, yet you don’t pretend that you know 100% why certain aspects of the game are designed how they are. You strike a perfect balance between including research, a retroactive perspective, and your own opinion that just makes your videos so much more interesting and enjoyable to watch. Thanks for the content man : )
I remember when I bought shift 2, my mom had given me extra money for the dlc and I mistakenly bought the timesaver and wondered why all the cars were free. After that me and a close friend raced all of the cars in one night
I absolutely love this game and I exclusively played with the helmet cam on, which is one of my favorite thigs about this game. I never really played any other racing sim, so I always assumed the handling was supposed to be like that and ended up getting used to it.
The driving in this game is good when the car is smooth but when the car decides to lose control its handling is really horrible, the cars are unpredictable.Assetto corsa a simulator made for a wheel is easier on a controller then a arcade game thats made for a controller, thats saying something
I stuck with only a few cars, cause it was so hard to get used to so many different cars. Which, was fine, because that's how realism works. My ford escort was usually my go to. Loved that game though.
The one thing this game had that made it a standout was the soundtrack, the so called "Gladiator Remixes" for the main menu are truly some of the most epic sounding remix's of rock songs I have ever heard.
I would say the handling works fine. Its simcade after all. Its simcade but is more arcade than sim. One weird thing about this game is that the steering doesnt fade (lower sensitivity) whenever you're at high speed, so a small tug of the joystick will make the car lose control. It is very much possible to play this game without TCS and at hard difficulty, just know that you need to have more careful inputs like in most sims.
I actually loved that game and the helmet camera. This and the first Grid were my kind of racers. I guess this game got it right for one kind of players, those who want more gameplay like a sim without being too hard to play.
Huh, never knew that Project Cars was developed by the same studio as Shift 2, pretty neat. Great review, I never got the chance to play this as a kid but now I'm definitely gonna check it out!
I started this game again just a week back after playing a lot of Gran Turismo and as a professional motorcycle racer I can say the game has done a lot of things right,and I couldn't appreciate it back then when I played it for the first time! In the hardest difficulty with all assists off,this game has a better sense of weight,traction and throttle control than Forza and GT and is right up there with Project Cars! And the choice of cars were the best in any racing game,most of the cars there belong to the track and the tuning was so ahead of its time it baffles me now when i look at it.
I was harsh towards both Shifts since i grew up with Most Wanted,Carbon,Prostreet and Underground 2 but after i tried and completed both,i felt regret for not getting them earlier and couldn't believe how stupid and blimd my judgement was.These are so good and in my opinion,the best in whole franchise.Tweaking with gameplay settings and quick tuning in tuning menu help a lot.Practice makes perfect and i don' t have problem switching to different cars and speaking of collisions,best way to avoid them is to be patient and overtake at right moment.Braking a bit later,driving fast through corners and straights and truly mastering the track,along with beeing a bit cunning and careful,is key to winning and blocking also helps from beeing rammed.Visual customization is not that bad.Managed to make some nice liveries in first Shift without mirroring.Just a little patience and it can be done,although i'm glad they brought back mirroring in Shift 2.Honestly,these are nice break from street-racing titles,which i found to easy to beat,save for first Underground,which was tough,while these sim cades are anything but easy and that's good because it's good when there's actual challenge-winning feels more rewarding.
I can recommend you to play the game from the cockpit view. That's making it easier to handle the car. It is like Project Cars, which is made by Slightly Mad Studios too.
Can we all agree that this game is extremely underrated for how actually good and ambitious it was? Just makes me wanna show two middle fingers to the NFS gaming community made of unappreciative casuals, which preferred some arcade trash over a better, more complex game.
On PC there are mods that help with some problems. The lag in input can be fixed by editing a file in notepad ("game directory -> Controller Defaults -> PC", select the file corresponding to the preset you will use, and change "DampeningEnabled" from "1" to "0"), and there's a handling mod that adds more grip to the tires (minimod). This is 100% guaranteed to work. There are also mods that add new cars, including unlocking the collectors edition bonus cars (that you can't even get anymore even if you DO have the collector's edition version of the game), and improve the lighting on night tracks, amongst other thing. But I had some problems with these. I never got to see the new cars appear, and the rest worked once, but then after formating my PC it didn't want to work anymore.
You can still see and feel residues from Shift 2 in both Project Cars and Project Cars 2. One of the few NFS games I own on disc, and quite different from most other games in the series - except for maybe the org Shift, of course, and it really stands out compared to arcade racers in general. Good review.
i still play this and this is by far still the best feeling and sensation of driving a high speed car in any game to this day the hemet cam is sensational lighting and that blur effect when reaching crazy speeds cant be beat.i love gran turesmo but man it has a stiff in car view that is lifeless.this is where its at even little details like little rocks flying up and hitting your window are present and the crazy high beam lights blindly shining through your car in a race at night while the other car is near.this game was made i 2011 folks and still is as beautiful as the day it was released
Someone posted these settings online somewhere to offset floaty boat like handling. Tire pressure - Set to around 30 (stock is 0!!) Purchase a suspension to adjust spring rate. 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.
I think i already said it on the first Shift review, the game mechanics it's more flowey, more like a feel, idk, and really i don't feel like going faster and faster and smash on my opponent's bumper just because yes. It's a nice match between realistic, with the over and understeering and the emotions of the arcade, the crashes and the sense of speed. I just really love it and still play it, sometimes to chill, sometimes to race and sometimes to really get into it
I loved shift 2 night racing. Fun fact: if you start playing Project Cars 1 after this, it feels like Shift 2.5. Almost all sounds are the same, similar graphics and almost same physics. Just one step towards simulation again.
Shift 2 and Hot Pursuit 2010 are still my fave 'recent' NFS games. If Shift 2 had more cars, less of the PTSD handling model and lowered the volume when Vaughn Gittens interjected at the end of a race it would have been perfect. The PC port is still a very good looking game.
the most tragic thing is that after Shift 2 EA cancelled their next game and Patrick Soderlund (ea guy) told the heads of Slightly Mad Studios that when they laid off their devs they would hire them. Some of the best devs left and Slightly Mad almost went under only for them to make Project Cars and save the company. Some of the devs that left for EA even back back since EA is trash. This all came from a podcast from the head of Slightly Mad, that guy dislikes EA. thing is that Codemasters bought Slightly Mad Studios and like one year later EA bought Codemasters...
@@channe3049 of course they approved they will get a ton of money. sadly the games will eventually be ruined and the studio will be milked and eventually closed.
@@reallybigmistake It's unlikely for Codemasters to get shut down by EA, they'll get expand outside of UK and gained more budgets for making their games. Not to mention that SMS has history with EA and NFS, which can help Criterion Games since both studios are in UK. Respawn Entertainment has second studio after bought by EA as well.
I really struggled with shift 2 when it came out, especially since I enjoyed the first one. I agree that the cars tend to want to understeer too much, so I eventually gave up. I'm wondering if it is to do with the tunnel vision camera lens- I think it makes it to hard to judge your speed going into a corner.
5:02 Monaco is not a fictional circuit. It exists in real life and is seen in motorsport shows and is also featured often in other motorsport games. Edit: Things I hate about the game: Event objectives are precision based. You can still get aggressive by drafting, blocking and corner sliding and earn xp. You can get physical with your opponents like in shift 1 but it's very challenging here in 2 and if you actually succeed in getting physical with them, you get no points for doing so for your xp. And the cockpit cam (Inside the car but outside the helmet) on some cars are weak Everything else about the game is absolutely awesome.
New subscriber here. I’m loving all of your reviews. Your so entertaining! Can’t wait to see reviews for NFS2015 and Heat. Hell, I can’t wait for you to review all video games!
Great review, as always! Thanks for bringing us some much needed quality entertainment in such difficult times. I reckon you really like to do reviews chronologically but would you consider reviewing Project Cars 2? You will certainly not regret it. I hope you and your family are all safe and healthy. Cheers from Germany
Shift 1 & especially 2's cockpit views are the reasons why I can't play a sim racing game in 3rd person view. They knocked it out of the park and I still haven't found anything close to it yet.
Slightly Mad also developed one more title before Project CARS, that being Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends. It was built using the same engine as the Shift titles and released in 2012. It's also the latest video game to be officially licensed by Ferrari to date. I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned when talking about the Shift series ended, but there you are. It's most well known today for being featured in a video by Raycevick on Ferrari branded racing games.
The funny thing is project cars is shift 2 with some fan made patches for the tire physics and other fixes then they made some new tracks, slightly upgraded the visuals and there you go. They also banned people who backed them for asking questions that were critical.
The naming scheme always confused me. On most platforms it is not called "Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed". Only "Shift 2: Unleashed". So in a digital library, the game sits around all the way down at S.
I just dusted off my Need For Speed Shift 1, rewatched your review on that and was wondering if you would do one on this cause I was looking at prices to maybe buy it! This is great timing lol Kind of scary actually 😂😂
Man when i saw that Forza Motorsport 4 game play i got really excited. I have been waiting for the next Forza Motorsport review for like a year so i am really excited for it.
@@lawofgravity1979 And this is why many NFS fans hated Hot Pursuit...it played too much like Burnout Paradise. I'm not a fan of Burnout and as soon as I started Hot Pursuit, I was turned off. Hot Pursuit and this Shift series were so off putting.
@@DV-ou1yu I enjoyed hot pursuit(2010) but I wouldn't put it very high in my list. It to me didn't feel like nfs mainly cause i grew up with black box but HP(2010) does good at what it's meant to be and plays ok.
I bought this in December 2021 via the PS Store out of curiosity. As of lately, all I've been doing is racing at Miyatomi and the Riviera Momentum Loop since I happen to have an oval racing addiction.
This game was great and no one appreciated it back on it's day, it might not have realistic physics but it definetly has the best inmersive experience of any sim out there, it truly makes you feel like you're driving a racecar
Hi ladies and gentlemen, the reason I skipped 'Hot Pursuit (2010') is because I want to review the 90s NFS titles first since it's based off those games, and the Burnout series because it's developed by Criterion, those games also feel similar to 'Hot Pursuit (2010)'. It's about making predecessor comparisons on this channel to see how a follow-up improves from its predecessors. Also, I'm reviewing Forza Motorsport 4 next, and that and Shift 2: Unleashed both came out the same year directly competing between each other in 2011...
I say you better pick up the pace, just because you still have that vision of Need for Speed, from 2017's payback
o sweet poopie haed looking for poopoo
babby?
ColourShedProductions - Need for Speed: Shift Unleashed 2 and Need for Speed: Shift 2?? I own Shift Unleashed 2, but I had no idea there was a Shift 2.
I actually adore Hot Pursuit. It's what happened when Burnout's developer create a racing game based on pre-Underground NFS and it's top speed based gameplay is very refreshing.
And the graphics, damn still beautiful even until now. Definently the Crysis for racing genre
@Master Fardin yeah, i agreed that MW2012 sucks. It's exciting at first but after that the game feels monotone
The sense of speed in this game is amazing. Fun fact: Project Cars 2 uses almost the same sound effects and music for some menus
same devs, Pcars 2 is pretty much Shift 4
Project cars 1 is basically shift 2.5. Game has the same feeling, almost all sounds and graphics.
Shift and Shift 2 is pretty much Project Cars beta
I had no idea these games had anything in common lol. I prefer Shift vs shift 2 tho.
@@TheBoostedDoge Except physics are way different. Shift is arcade
Shift 2: The Racing Game Formerly Known As Need For Speed
You could say the NFS are SHIFTing to something that is not their expertise
Hehe
the game where slightly mad studios became more independent
need to yiff
Only for Slightly Mad Studios to be acquired by EA (considering they're a subsidiary of Codemasters).
Can I just say. Shift 2s presentation was utterly astounding. The music, the gritty looks, it's amazing
And the sense of speed was always something else that has yet to be replicated in modern titles.
It felt like dangling on an edge of a knife when cornering or driving over at speeds of 200 km/h and any crashes or g-forces had impact on your driver.
i didn't appreciate it years ago.. the rawness of it is refreshing now
the music was one of the things which have been etched into my mind. still takes me back immediately when i hear the gladiator anthem songs.
Favorite part of this game was the car's specific clusters being displayed in the bottom right in third person view
That was actually a feature on NFS High Stakes on the PS1 too.
@@TRACKSTARRR That's right! I hope @ColorShedProductions reviews TDU some day.
PGR4 have it too.
It sucks that it doesn't change when cockpit upgrades are applied.
I agree, and the people below are right about the other games. Also, who loves a racing game where, when using the interior view, and looking behind you, it's show out the interior rear window of the car (provided it has one)? So few games do that, but it's a nice touch.
Shift 2's drifting was vastly improved. I actually loved this game but yeah, I remember how annoying it was with the constant adjustment during a straight line.
Shift 2 had it's own special charm. The sense of speed, the music, I loved it! Winning races felt like I actually acomplished something and it didn't feel like "yeah, whatever..."
This game will always have it's place in my heart
I like how you could color the front wheels diff from the back
The Nurburgring levels on this game WILL make your heart beat faster than anything because they are the hardest and most demanding races i've ever had. Still i really enjoyed it
I always have a soft spot on Shift 2. Heck, one of the reasons this game makes me keep coming back was the music soundtrack.
This game had each song on the ost remixed 4 times by the composers to make variants with 4 different auras that were used in different parts of the game. It was just an amazing idea that never came back unfortunately
yes the music makes my weewee shoot white sticky stuff
When that game plays "Bravery" after I won a race, god damn I feel like I won the entire game!
Too bad we don't get those anymore with modern racing games, kinda boring even though I do play racing games with a wheel (Mainly a G29) for hours on end.
@@victorleon67 IKR? Help is on the way just gives you goosebumps. The menus had a dark murky vibe that speaks to you. If you get in this car you could die. There's nothing like it...
Yeah man. They take the music and the athmosphere so serious and dramatic, i love it.
Too bad i dont have a steering wheel, so driving the faster sports cars (Even the Gumpert Apollo whichs imo pretty forgiving and fast sports car) is near impossible. :(
3:40 "Leave ne alone, I know what I'm doing." Best Kimi Räikkönen quote ever.
Shift 2 still offers one of the immersive experiences to be found in a racing game. It just has that emotional/adrenaline factor that is simply lacking in other simulators. Ultimately its flaws and lack of refinement kept it from being truly great, but I think games like Forza, GT and the others could learn a lot from this gem, starting with Helmet Cam.
lacking? more like they don't need silly gimmicks at all. Simracing focuses more on how tracks and cars feel (and Shift 2 fails to simulate both), your head is your cam, the screen does the cockpit. The whole point is that you are supposed to feel like you're inside the car, not inside someone's head, your rig (seat, wheel, shifter) is where your seat is positioned in the car's perspective.
games like rFactor 2, Assetto Corsa Competizione, RaceRoom Racing Experience, iRacing and the likes are better left off as is.
Well, Shift 1&3 are not Sim Racer. They don't simulate the driving Physic like in RL, Assetto Corsa, RFactor, RaceRoom and a handful more SimRacer out there are real SimRacing Games. Shift 2 simulat not enough to be categorized as SimRacers. And no, Project Cars 1&2 are not SimRacing games.
@@Avalische Not everyone has a rig.
@@JohnPaul-sh7hh you don't have to own a rig just to enjoy simracing, but you do need an extra level of patience to learn with controller. But that's not what we're talking about.
I need to put the first and foremost point here; Shift's helmet cam is the worst you'd ever wish for, even for a simracing as the OP stated. And let me say this again, a sim does not require such gimmick because as I said, your screen needs to focus on the cockpit to simulate that you're driving, not you being in a swaying camera.
It doesn't make sense as of why you need such feature, even if you simrace without a decent rig (heck, I play simracing with a controller).
And the main thing about simracing is that it's a simulation, a rig is not a "must have" and it's more to a "best recommended to play with". And here's the thing: your screen is locked on the cockpit with your rig set so that you feel more like you're inside the car. There's no way in a sane mind any simracer would want such gimmick.
And yes, I'm talking about "It just has that emotional/adrenaline factor that is simply lacking in other simulators" (we finally came to the so-called topic you're trying to tell and... of course, my nitpick) which is the whole point of this topic, hence I'll just say that your "HURRDURR NOT EVERYONE OWNS A RIG" doesn't make much sense. It'd be a different story if he's simply saying racing game like he stated in the first sentence which what I'm saying is arguable as arcade racing tends to add any gimmicks they can to shove into the game, but no, he had to add simulator in his paragraph.
@@Avalische Hey,I'm talking from my experience. I love the helmet cam from Shift 2 and I never considered it to be a simulator. Maybe that's why I like the game. The only things I find wrong with the game are the ridiculous crash and contact physics,the fact that there is no rain and the poor optimization. So what I'm saying is...there are people who love the game exactly because it's an over the top wannabe simulator. I play with a keyboard and believe me when I say it's stressful. But it's fun.
The menu music in this game was amazing. Actually helped get me into orchestral scores. I'm kind of sad no one else has really done anything like that, mixing popular songs with ambience.
I've spent a lot of my free time doing physics mod for this game. The main reason cars handled badly was tire stiffness. It was around 4 times less than it should be. As a result cars handling was delayed in feeling, erratic at times and generally not that great. Imagine just driving on gummy bears. However when stiffness was bumped up other issues surfaced, like very sudden weight transfer on the limit (which is still present in pCars 1 and 2, expecially on drift cars). All in all it's a real shame SMS decided to develop their own tire model instead of using older, proven one from GTR2 or just buying an upgrade to rFactor1. As rest of the physics engine is basically GTR/early pMotor anyway. Apart from driving Shift2 did a lot of things right. It's a shame that most important piece was missing.
Slightly Mad gonna get tires handling/physics recreation as their permanent pendant subject. One way or another. There's no need to dig deeper as Project C.A.R.S. III took a polemic turn into gameplay compared to the already criticized II because, again, tires handling/physics recreation.
Is there any mod that makes this game bearable with a wheel?
Its Pretty good that Someone's taking a Deep Look at the 90's NFS Titles.
They Deserve more credit than they get.
90's?
Need for speed started in 1994
EA sprorts made suck ass games like Need for speed most wanted/
i'am guessing you mean late 90's early 2000's................some where later in 2000's is where all the NFS games just started to feel & look the same.
i think underground started off that style
i liked:
Need for Speed: High Stakes (1999)
Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (2000)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (2002)
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005)
& the shift games
I wish more sim racing games would copy this sense of speed. I love how in Shift 2 drving at 150mph speeds really felt dangerous as all hell.
This was my favorite NFS, the only downside was the fact that the NPC's purposely teamup together and try to ram you off the road on a racing sim....
It's not a Sim !
@@BlueShift2000 Not exactly. This game is definitely a Simcade. I do consider Shift 2 a Racing Sim, just slightly more arcade-y than Project CARS.
@@X1erra i didn't say that it isn't a SimCade, it is just not Sim racer.
Good choice man
not really, they have a set line on the track too, it is just "aggressive" thats it
Genuinely love this nfs. I remember seeing a review that called it the best survival horror of the year
Still one of the most criminally slept on youtube creators. Great video as always.
The soundtracks in this game were amazing. Hell, they had Thirty Seconds to Mars in one of them
they went with pure rock bands for the soundtrack, and the Gladiator remixes made them much better, that's how i got introduced to Hollywood Undead lol
15:19 I think that this combination is actually quite interesting. I really like Shift 2, especially it’s sense of speed. Although I like to play sims like Assetto Corsa or iRacing, Shift 2 is a nice change of pace from time to time.
I loved the first Shift game, and was hyped for Shift 2 to come out. Then when I played it, the input lag completely ruined the game. They made it hard to drive in a straight line!
I think the same... I also hate the darkness of the panel
I don't understand how they could have messed it up that badly. Completely unplayable - I returned it after only a few "races" due to the delay and the really annoying race engineer guy.
Just disabled the clampmode from "1" to "0" in the controller folder
@@K3ntucky123 Did that fix it?
You're an underrated reviewer man! Keep up the racing and crime game reviews
I would love to see the Motorstorm series reviewed.. It's one of the most chaotic racers in existence.
I know you have a lot of games in a list for you to review. Maybe keep this game in the back of your mind... 0_0
I recently bought a PS3 and found the OG Motorstorm. That game is fucking insane!
Most chaotic? *FlatOut has entered the chat*
@@Yaz27 dont forget wreckfest
I actually had bought a controller specifically to play the drift on my pc. I actually liked this game because this was the first semi sim racing game back in the day. I actually now have a wheel and it still is fun to play with the wheel.
I remember that in Shift 2, the difficulty decreased with the weight of your car. In a light car (relative to the other cars in the starting field), it was very hard to overtake anyone because every collision made you spin out so you had to be extremely careful around the other cars.
You're forgetting mick Gordon had a hand on the soundtrack.
huh, no wonder they sounds soo good and cinematic
Jessen's Channel Imagine BFG division playing while racing in a drift event. Shit would be crazy
the cinematic aspect was added by Ramin Djawadi, also known as the "Gladiator" in the remixes, Mick gordon and troels folsman did the "Dirty", and the "Cinematic" remixes, bit the cinematic versions were more euphoric than cinematic, also there was some bootflows tracks which were a mix of the three categories or similar, the best part of the soundtrack were the Ambiences in Shift 1, those were like the traumas of a racing driver in an attemp of being music as a call for help, shit was intense.
even after all those years, that fucking tracklist was stuck in my head, and i had the chance of finding them like a year ago, and thanks to that guy who uploaded the ambiences from Shift 1 here in youtube
@@04liverydesign7 oh yeajh how can i forgot him, he also did the soundtrack for medal of honor right?
My favorite NFS of all time. One thing you didn't talk about is the soundtrack. The "Gladiator" tracks(the ones in the main menu) on their own was great. The "Cinematic" tracks had crowd cheers mixed in, sounds fantastic when you are watching the replay after you've just won.
The main issue I had with this game is the physics feels like you are driving a boat, it is so slide-y and float-y.
I remember people complaining the same thing with the exact same wording, when the game was released.
You practice driving it. That's because you're driving on a raxe track that was designed for racing cars with slick tires installed. Slidy because your car isn't tuned to race yet, if you tuned a race car & drive it on race track, then you'll either smoke your opponents or you'll get smoked😅🤣 anyway, once you get your attention to the car & performance, you'll know what to do & adjust your driving style based on the car's performance.
the main issue for me is the darkness of the panel... i hate this, we can't even see the rpm needle
The controls in Shift 2 were optimized for Logitech wheels, so you can select the G27 profile in options menu and remap it with the gamepad buttons. It will fix most of the issues with driving, decreasing the input lag and floaty feeling.
I have it on pc and i remember hating the handling with the gamepad
Really like your reviews for every genre of game's you've done so far. But when it comes to the racing Genre, you're the best at reviewing these in my opinion, they are also nostalgic too, especially with the classic racing games you've been reviewing. They have a great attention to detail that most of the popular reviewers reviewing a racing game would miss out on.
Shift 2 on PC with proper calibration of the controller or wheel is very nice driving-wise. Installing some physics overhauling mods brings out the full potential of the game. It will always have a special place in my heart.
11:41 "similar to riding a motorbike in Grand Theft Auto 4"
Shows a video of GTA V
Me : Wait. What?!
I know I wasn't losing it when I heard this
Yeah, made me rewind back to see if I really heard "4" instead of "5".
Mistakes happen. I'm sure he meant to say 'V' instead of 'IV'.
Hey, doubt you’ll see this but I really genuinely enjoy your reviews. They’re just so well made. You clearly research the development of a game and consider the intentions of the developers when judging a game’s merits, yet you don’t pretend that you know 100% why certain aspects of the game are designed how they are. You strike a perfect balance between including research, a retroactive perspective, and your own opinion that just makes your videos so much more interesting and enjoyable to watch. Thanks for the content man : )
The first one was my first Platinum, trophy-wise. That holds a special place in my heart.
I remember when I bought shift 2, my mom had given me extra money for the dlc and I mistakenly bought the timesaver and wondered why all the cars were free. After that me and a close friend raced all of the cars in one night
Thank you for uploading yet another quality review my friend, your videos always make me very nostalgic and remind me of a much simpler time.
Hell Yeah!
A New Review!
Cheers from Greece
I really liked the soundtrack in this game. It is impressive. It is better than in some RPGS
I absolutely love this game and I exclusively played with the helmet cam on, which is one of my favorite thigs about this game.
I never really played any other racing sim, so I always assumed the handling was supposed to be like that and ended up getting used to it.
Shift/ shift 2 are probably my favorite track racing games
The driving in this game is good when the car is smooth but when the car decides to lose control its handling is really horrible, the cars are unpredictable.Assetto corsa a simulator made for a wheel is easier on a controller then a arcade game thats made for a controller, thats saying something
I stuck with only a few cars, cause it was so hard to get used to so many different cars. Which, was fine, because that's how realism works. My ford escort was usually my go to. Loved that game though.
I found, that switching to the G27 profile and remapping it with the gamepad buttons will fix most of the issues with the driving in Shift 2.
The physics aren't bad it's just default settings that make it impossible
It's the same as project cars default settings
I used the gyro form dualshock 4 and it feels good, i have perfect control of the car. Well basically it's just more low budget steering wheel
The one thing this game had that made it a standout was the soundtrack, the so called "Gladiator Remixes" for the main menu are truly some of the most epic sounding remix's of rock songs I have ever heard.
I would say the handling works fine. Its simcade after all. Its simcade but is more arcade than sim. One weird thing about this game is that the steering doesnt fade (lower sensitivity) whenever you're at high speed, so a small tug of the joystick will make the car lose control. It is very much possible to play this game without TCS and at hard difficulty, just know that you need to have more careful inputs like in most sims.
The Kimi Raikkonen treatment is great.
"Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing!"
"Where is the drink?"
Great review, as usual. I miss this game though, I wish I hadn’t traded it in years ago. Might try and track down a copy.
I actually loved that game and the helmet camera.
This and the first Grid were my kind of racers.
I guess this game got it right for one kind of players, those who want more gameplay like a sim without being too hard to play.
you are the most underrated channel ive ever seen
one of the coolest intro in any need for speed series
bruh we appreciate your videos a LOT! beautiful reviews and great narration. i hope you reach 100k subs someday!
Yess keep them coming bro
Huh, never knew that Project Cars was developed by the same studio as Shift 2, pretty neat.
Great review, I never got the chance to play this as a kid but now I'm definitely gonna check it out!
I started this game again just a week back after playing a lot of Gran Turismo and as a professional motorcycle racer I can say the game has done a lot of things right,and I couldn't appreciate it back then when I played it for the first time! In the hardest difficulty with all assists off,this game has a better sense of weight,traction and throttle control than Forza and GT and is right up there with Project Cars! And the choice of cars were the best in any racing game,most of the cars there belong to the track and the tuning was so ahead of its time it baffles me now when i look at it.
if u have ps3 play with me this
Been following for a while, wasn't expecting this. But geez, much appreciated.
I was harsh towards both Shifts since i grew up with Most Wanted,Carbon,Prostreet and Underground 2 but after i tried and completed both,i felt regret for not getting them earlier and couldn't believe how stupid and blimd my judgement was.These are so good and in my opinion,the best in whole franchise.Tweaking with gameplay settings and quick tuning in tuning menu help a lot.Practice makes perfect and i don' t have problem switching to different cars and speaking of collisions,best way to avoid them is to be patient and overtake at right moment.Braking a bit later,driving fast through corners and straights and truly mastering the track,along with beeing a bit cunning and careful,is key to winning and blocking also helps from beeing rammed.Visual customization is not that bad.Managed to make some nice liveries in first Shift without mirroring.Just a little patience and it can be done,although i'm glad they brought back mirroring in Shift 2.Honestly,these are nice break from street-racing titles,which i found to easy to beat,save for first Underground,which was tough,while these sim cades are anything but easy and that's good because it's good when there's actual challenge-winning feels more rewarding.
I can recommend you to play the game from the cockpit view. That's making it easier to handle the car. It is like Project Cars, which is made by Slightly Mad Studios too.
and deadzone all the way to zero
Can we all agree that this game is extremely underrated for how actually good and ambitious it was? Just makes me wanna show two middle fingers to the NFS gaming community made of unappreciative casuals, which preferred some arcade trash over a better, more complex game.
Cant wait for "The Run" review
Project Cars is the Shift 2 sequel. It's made by the same studio, but after leaving the EA. They went even further into sim direction.
On PC there are mods that help with some problems.
The lag in input can be fixed by editing a file in notepad ("game directory -> Controller Defaults -> PC", select the file corresponding to the preset you will use, and change "DampeningEnabled" from "1" to "0"), and there's a handling mod that adds more grip to the tires (minimod).
This is 100% guaranteed to work.
There are also mods that add new cars, including unlocking the collectors edition bonus cars (that you can't even get anymore even if you DO have the collector's edition version of the game), and improve the lighting on night tracks, amongst other thing. But I had some problems with these. I never got to see the new cars appear, and the rest worked once, but then after formating my PC it didn't want to work anymore.
Shift 2 Unleashed seen a ton of hours on my ps3 from me. I loved that game
Project Cars 3 coming out this summer is from what I have heard a Shift 3 with mixing sim and arcade, super hyped, I loved Shift
You can still see and feel residues from Shift 2 in both Project Cars and Project Cars 2. One of the few NFS games I own on disc, and quite different from most other games in the series - except for maybe the org Shift, of course, and it really stands out compared to arcade racers in general.
Good review.
i still play this and this is by far still the best feeling and sensation of driving a high speed car in any game to this day the hemet cam is sensational lighting and that blur effect when reaching crazy speeds cant be beat.i love gran turesmo but man it has a stiff in car view that is lifeless.this is where its at even little details like little rocks flying up and hitting your window are present and the crazy high beam lights blindly shining through your car in a race at night while the other car is near.this game was made i 2011 folks and still is as beautiful as the day it was released
i agree that the driving is very demanding, but trust me once you get used to it, itll be extremely rewarding
I love the detail in your reviews
Someone posted these settings online somewhere to offset floaty boat like handling.
Tire pressure - Set to around 30 (stock is 0!!) Purchase a suspension to adjust spring rate. 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.
I think i already said it on the first Shift review, the game mechanics it's more flowey, more like a feel, idk, and really i don't feel like going faster and faster and smash on my opponent's bumper just because yes. It's a nice match between realistic, with the over and understeering and the emotions of the arcade, the crashes and the sense of speed. I just really love it and still play it, sometimes to chill, sometimes to race and sometimes to really get into it
I loved shift 2 night racing.
Fun fact: if you start playing Project Cars 1 after this, it feels like Shift 2.5. Almost all sounds are the same, similar graphics and almost same physics. Just one step towards simulation again.
Shift 2 and Hot Pursuit 2010 are still my fave 'recent' NFS games.
If Shift 2 had more cars, less of the PTSD handling model and lowered the volume when Vaughn Gittens interjected at the end of a race it would have been perfect.
The PC port is still a very good looking game.
the most tragic thing is that after Shift 2 EA cancelled their next game and Patrick Soderlund (ea guy) told the heads of Slightly Mad Studios that when they laid off their devs they would hire them. Some of the best devs left and Slightly Mad almost went under only for them to make Project Cars and save the company. Some of the devs that left for EA even back back since EA is trash. This all came from a podcast from the head of Slightly Mad, that guy dislikes EA. thing is that Codemasters bought Slightly Mad Studios and like one year later EA bought Codemasters...
The thing is that the directors of Codemasters and that's included Ian Bell (Head of SMS) are approved of EA's acquisition right now.
@@channe3049 of course they approved they will get a ton of money. sadly the games will eventually be ruined and the studio will be milked and eventually closed.
@@reallybigmistake It's unlikely for Codemasters to get shut down by EA, they'll get expand outside of UK and gained more budgets for making their games. Not to mention that SMS has history with EA and NFS, which can help Criterion Games since both studios are in UK. Respawn Entertainment has second studio after bought by EA as well.
Just found your channel. Binging it all. Great work 🙏
That helmet cam nighttime experience is something I've been chasing ever since I needed a change of pants over a decade ago.
I really struggled with shift 2 when it came out, especially since I enjoyed the first one.
I agree that the cars tend to want to understeer too much, so I eventually gave up.
I'm wondering if it is to do with the tunnel vision camera lens- I think it makes it to hard to judge your speed going into a corner.
I thought you were going to do hot pursuit 2010!
Great vid as always my dude
I have completed 100% NFS Shift2 :)
I really want need for speed to come back with these versions of their games as this is just an amazing title. Underrated
Damn I'm early, love your vids dude excellent work, shift 2 was such a great game
Shift 2 with the physics mod (Ptmu) and the community patch is borderline masterpiece territory!
Just in time!! I installed this game few days ago :D
Heccin masterpiece, best nfs game in my opinion.
5:02
Monaco is not a fictional circuit. It exists in real life and is seen in motorsport shows and is also featured often in other motorsport games.
Edit:
Things I hate about the game: Event objectives are precision based. You can still get aggressive by drafting, blocking and corner sliding and earn xp. You can get physical with your opponents like in shift 1 but it's very challenging here in 2 and if you actually succeed in getting physical with them, you get no points for doing so for your xp. And the cockpit cam (Inside the car but outside the helmet) on some cars are weak
Everything else about the game is absolutely awesome.
Especially F1, it's a historical track that has been raced for decades, maybe a century as of now.
@@KevinAbillGaming whoa I had no idea it existed for decades. I first heard about Monaco in 2010
New subscriber here. I’m loving all of your reviews. Your so entertaining! Can’t wait to see reviews for NFS2015 and Heat. Hell, I can’t wait for you to review all video games!
Great review, as always! Thanks for bringing us some much needed quality entertainment in such difficult times. I reckon you really like to do reviews chronologically but would you consider reviewing Project Cars 2? You will certainly not regret it.
I hope you and your family are all safe and healthy. Cheers from Germany
Shift 1 & especially 2's cockpit views are the reasons why I can't play a sim racing game in 3rd person view.
They knocked it out of the park and I still haven't found anything close to it yet.
I remember trying to complete the Drift events of this game. (It was the first and the only controller that I have ever thrown!)
i used for most of them a slow car, because the opponents would used one too
3:39 you got me. That was a good one
Slightly Mad also developed one more title before Project CARS, that being Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends. It was built using the same engine as the Shift titles and released in 2012. It's also the latest video game to be officially licensed by Ferrari to date. I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned when talking about the Shift series ended, but there you are. It's most well known today for being featured in a video by Raycevick on Ferrari branded racing games.
thanks for clarifying all music
The funny thing is project cars is shift 2 with some fan made patches for the tire physics and other fixes then they made some new tracks, slightly upgraded the visuals and there you go. They also banned people who backed them for asking questions that were critical.
The naming scheme always confused me. On most platforms it is not called "Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed". Only "Shift 2: Unleashed".
So in a digital library, the game sits around all the way down at S.
I just dusted off my Need For Speed Shift 1, rewatched your review on that and was wondering if you would do one on this cause I was looking at prices to maybe buy it! This is great timing lol Kind of scary actually 😂😂
Man when i saw that Forza Motorsport 4 game play i got really excited. I have been waiting for the next Forza Motorsport review for like a year so i am really excited for it.
Why did you skip Hot Pursuit? It's actually a pretty good game
I just finished Hot Pursuit a couple of weeks ago since I have never played it. Awesome game! Criterion brought a lot of the Burnout vibe to it
@@lawofgravity1979 And this is why many NFS fans hated Hot Pursuit...it played too much like Burnout Paradise. I'm not a fan of Burnout and as soon as I started Hot Pursuit, I was turned off. Hot Pursuit and this Shift series were so off putting.
@@DV-ou1yu maybe just you that hates it, dont talk for other fans
@@DV-ou1yu try need for speed hot pursuit 2 first
@@DV-ou1yu I enjoyed hot pursuit(2010) but I wouldn't put it very high in my list. It to me didn't feel like nfs mainly cause i grew up with black box but HP(2010) does good at what it's meant to be and plays ok.
Found this in my collection yesterday funny enough and was looking up if it was worth playing, funny to see this video just posted within this hour
play with me in ps3 shift 2
Enjoyed this game A LOT. Always on PC with G27, dialed in with a couple mods.
I did not expect an F1 reference in a ColourShed video, a surprise for sure, but a welcome one
ngl, this is one of those racing games that stand out from the rest. it really is a game that you wouldnt see others do now or at the time.
The intense on this game combined with epic cinematic style soundtrack could give the player their own PTSD
I remember playing this and i kept crashing because i was amazed that the wheels could come off
I bought this in December 2021 via the PS Store out of curiosity. As of lately, all I've been doing is racing at Miyatomi and the Riviera Momentum Loop since I happen to have an oval racing addiction.
This game was great and no one appreciated it back on it's day, it might not have realistic physics but it definetly has the best inmersive experience of any sim out there, it truly makes you feel like you're driving a racecar