Shift 2 Impressions

Crap in a can, Batman. This game sure did sneak up on us didn't it? No, just me? Fffrrrt whatever. I sunk a couple hours into the career mode so far and my impressions are thus.

From all the trailers you'd probably think this is a crazy arcade racer with smashes and cars flying everywhere. Well april fools, Dwayne Wayne! This is actually very much a simulation game, for better or for worse. You'll spend your entire play time trying not to get into spectacular crashes.

One review I read called the game a car-based survival horror. Basically that's exactly what it is. The only word I can think of to describe it is tense. You can feel your car constantly fighting for traction, and the tiniest slip up will send you straight into a wall at 200 mph. You feel the crashes right in your gut. They are unpleasant enough that you'll want to avoid them when possible. Which is just as good because one crash will pretty much end your race. When it's not trying to kill you, the AI is usually consistent enough that it's very difficult to make up time on them.

This is really annoying because even with assists on, it's very easy to crash. Why they didn't rip off Grid's rewind feature like Forza did, I'll never know. Every racing game ever from now on should be forced to include this. I found myself restarting races way too often because some dickbutt clipped my bumper on the last turn.

That reminds me, I know all these tracks are based on real race courses. But they were designed with real human drivers in mind, who are concerned with things like not dying. Listen up game developers because here's some free advice. For the love of fucking God Jesus and Yoda, do NOT EVER by ANY circumstances start a race with a straightaway into a sharp corner. YOU HEAR ME? It never fails that the retarded buttshits at the back will plow straight into the cars in front EVERY god damned time. And if any of you ever ram my car online I swear to god I will come to your house and beat you to death with a tennis racket.

Anyway the customization options in the game are huge, and I wish I wasn't such a moron because then maybe I could tune my car to not handle like a washtub on an ice field. Not only can you tune and upgrade what's under the hood, you can also purchase body and 'works' kits that make your car look more bad-ass.

So far I am enjoying this game and even with the stupid AI, the racing is fun and rewarding enough that I want to keep getting better and 'tricking my wheels' as the kids say. Stay tuned for a full review.