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Shift 2 Unleashed is a good alternative to Forza Motorsport 3 or Gran Turismo 5. Pity that the content is however not up to par.

Having long sought, the series of Need For Speed ??seems to have finally found his way by opting for two completely different titles: Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit clearly oriented arcade and Need For Speed: Shift more oriented simulation. Today, Electronic Shift is back with 2 Unleashed, a second episode that will delight fans of sports cars and others.

A long career mode but unattractive

Past the surprise of an interface rather ugly , we flew over the different areas available quickly (Fast, Xbox Live, Shop, Options, etc.). for we launch straight into a career as a pilot. After a few laps on the track made ??by Suzuki, mainly to assess our ability to keep our car on track, we can choose what are the different driver aids turned on.

Mode choice, car handling, determination of level of difficulty, or not activation of numerous grants, or display a wealth of information on the screen, and options are available to us. We then take the direction of Options to tweak the controls and opt for manual gear changes. This being done, we can finally take the lead in Monza and Shanghai for our first race driving a class D

Composed of what we might call the chapters (nine in total), corresponding to different types of categories (D Modern, Modern C Retros, Muscle Cars, GT3, GT1, etc..) Shift 2 Unleashed offers us to take part in a multitude of events ranging from simple races for up to 16 drivers racing against the clock (Time Attack), through some tests Drift which we would have gone well (not really a cup of tea yours truly!).

But before you take the wheel of a GT1, we first need to prove ourselves on the track. For this we go over our wanderings store a maximum experience . All means were good to pass new levels, unlocking many bonuses (vinyl, paint, rims, etc..) And of course new tests. So we will dedicate ourselves to finish in first place, perfect our paths, or master curves of different paths.

Soon, too soon, some say, we end up at next experience (20 levels), without needing to participate in all events available. It only remains for us then has to compete for glory, with the sole purpose: to spend hard earned money on buying and track all vehicles by improving the balance of power, why we would we head for power GT1 GT3 conduct or uncontrollable, whereas in the lower grades the cars seem to stick to the road, and again …

” Very demanding side steering Shift 2 Unleashed leaves very little room for error “

Because once again we’ll soon realize that too often we are fighting against our car, rather than against our adversaries of the moment. Having an annoying tendency to slide on the road, our car does not always react as we would like . Yet with a little perseverance, we still manage to keep on course and make good lap times. If everything seems to be fine as long as we remain on track, it is not the same when we put a wheel on the grass or sand. Our car on hand spun, taking with it the driver that we wanted to double braking. Demanding side steering Shift 2 Unleashed leaves very little room for error , even if it is true that sometimes we have the annoying tendency to cut a little too our turns. But be careful not to abuse it, because in addition to our tires to wear prematurely, we risk disqualification.

Finally, we respond promptly to be a lot of fun behind the wheel, especially when we use the famous helmet view, very immersive , even when we can finally face up to 15 other racers. For it must be said here, the enemy pilots are not there to make gifts. Not committing that very few errors and far too often on their path, they are not used to avoid the car coming get in their way. Then we need to take advantage of the fact that they tend to brake too early to pass them, even not hesitating to go through the box setting to increase or improve significantly the performance of our car (engine, transmission, suspension, bodywork , etc..) to make a winning machine.

A realization of very good quality

Finally competitive, we let our voice talent around the world on one of the thirty-five circuits available (several variants for many of them), original plots and other real that we do not normally cross into the world of video games (Willow Springs, Brno, Prenois Dijon, Zolder, etc..). Varied, all circuits are proposed here to test our facility, day or night. Very immersive, intense and very well made, the night races are a highlight of the Shift 2 Unleashed, last from elsewhere perfectly highlight the quality of the lighting control of the graphics engine.

Very nice visually speaking, always fluid , regardless of the number of cars racing, Shift 2 Unleached suffers only very few defects, technically speaking. To this, do not forget to also add a soundtrack quality, engine noise well rendered, contributing a little more we plunge into this charged atmosphere of racing.

Multiplayer online only

Driven single, Shift 2 Unleashed offers us obviously to take part in online multiplayer races , provided of course, having previously turned our past online. We can get into a quick game, take a look at the different tests available, or decide to take part in a Championship Duel (direct confrontation at the wheel of cars on randomly selected plots of increasingly stringent).

Having failed to properly test the online multiplayer game Shift 2, we give you our impressions on the subject in the coming days.

What about the PC version?

Also available on PC, Shift 2 Unleashed remains close grinds PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 . Once again, we see a graphical finesse and a little higher – provided you have the right machine (double-heart 2 GHz, 3 GB RAM, graphic card supports Shader Model 3.0) – an absolutely perfect fluidity.

In addition, we appreciate to see that most modern flying (except Thrustmaster T500 HR) are well supported , but we regret that the buttons on the interface does not change depending on the device selected … The clearest difference the console versions, however, remains at load time: a lot more tolerable on a PC.

Conclusion

With this second episode, Electronic Arts shows once again that it is possible to play games of car racing quality. With a realization of all of good quality, both visual and sound thanks to its immersive view helmet and racing at night, and offering very good gaming experience as long as we are persistent, Shift 2 is Unleashed a good alternative to Forza Motorsport 3 or older at the recent Gran Turismo 5 . Pity that the content is however not up to his two illustrious forebears.