Racing game immerses players

It’s been a while since I’ve played a car racing PC game. I used to be literally addicted to Need For Speed Underground, and later Need For Speed Underground II. Back in 2004 or 2005, these seemed to be cool, up-to-date games.

Last year, I decided I wanted to re-live my younger years and see what the Need For Speed series has to offer to the PC games market now, after undergoing half a dozen years of technological progress.

I found what was then the newest Need For Speed Shift, read the description, and paid $50, still wondering if I was making a wise decision.

Now I have been playing this game for around a year.

When I loaded the game, the first thing that blew my mind were the tremendous graphics and details.

This game has excellent player  immersion. The soundtrack of the menu creates a feeling of anticipation. The interface seems convenient enough to work with; however, I needed some time to get used to it.

The main characters of this game – cars – look even better than they do in reality. They are perfectly detailed, and look astoundingly real.

The game represents “real” races on official racing tracks in comparison to Need For Speed Underground, which represented illegal racing at night. I did like the idea of legal racing in Need For Speed Shift; however, I really missed the night roads with beautiful lighting and exciting tracks where you have to jump over the drawbridges.

Need for Speed Shift has four tiers, with a number of races and competitions in each of them. As in all Need For Speed games, when you win a race, you get money which can be used to upgrade your car.

My favorite thing in this game is that if you “win” enough money, you can buy “real cars”, which are replicas of the brand cars, you can decorate your car the way you want, own several cars, and take part in the “real” races on “real” tracks.

A decent soundtrack accompanies you in all races, motivating you. It is a good soundtrack, but not nearly as good as the soundtrack from Need For Speed Underground.

Need For Speed Shift is especially fun because it demonstrates outstanding correspondence with the real physical characteristics of a moving car, giving you the feeling of driving at high speed, and shows you the consequences of colliding with other cars.

Unfortunately, if you are launching this game on a laptop, your laptop will literally become a heater. The game requires a lot of resources even if your computer is fairly hi-tech.

This game has a lot of screen resolution options, so if your computer or laptop is powerful enough, you won’t have any trouble running the game on the wide screen.

This game is a huge improvement over Need For Speed Underground. One of the only problems is how hard it is to drive a car, especially when the only controls you have are the keys of the keyboard.

The race is so realistic that while you are playing the game, you feel that you need a steering wheel. This was probably the reason I didn’t get through the game. Controlling it by just a few keys feels awkward.

Bottom line: if you enjoy racing, speed, and competition, if you cannot imagine your life without fancy cars, expensive upgrades, and creative designs, if you simply like spending your time in style – get this game, you won’t regret it.

Just don’t forget to get a PC steering wheel.