Okay, I'd like to share my opinion on Shift II as well.
I've got the game yesterday, a day early, which allowed me to put some time into it since yesterday. This isn't going to be an objective review, just my opinion. I'd rather state my honest opinion than try to write an objective review and fail miserably.
Also, I'm using the Xbox360 version with a gamepad. As far as the settings go, I'm playing with elite physics and the AI set to hard.
Now, Shift II felt a bit like a mixed bag when I first fired it up. I watched the intro video and my first reaction was "Damn, what's with that screan tearing?!" It was just horribly bad, to be honest. Luckily, though, when the first race in the Nissan GT-R you're provided with, the game ran pretty well, no screen tearing or significant (as in, notible) frame rate drops to be seen.
That didn't really help a lot, though. The first races were pretty easy, but still quite frustrating. I wasn't used to Shift's physics yet and the GT-R you're racing is pretty horrible set up, I'd think. So I kinda made myself do those races. I've got to admit, I was pretty disappointed and already thinking about returning S2U. Good thing I didn't
So I picked a car (Audi S3) and started doing the first races in career. I had some trouble to find my way around the track at first, as I couldn't handle the helmet cam. It's cool and all, but I can't deal with that. So traditional cockpit cam it is, for me. Once I got a bit used to the physics, the races started to go down pretty well and I earned some cash to get a decent ride and put some upgrades onto the car and set it up. I ended up with a very nice handling S2000.
Physics:
At this point, it became pretty clear that S2U isn't anyhwere near as much of a sim as GT5. Not at all. It's not half bad, though, physics-wise. For a pad player, at least. Personally, I'd rate GT5 as a 9/10 in the physics department and S2U at 8/10. It takes some getting used to to understand the feedback you're getting from your car though, in my opinion. I ran of the track quite a few times at first and still do occasionally.
Sound:
Soundwise, S2U is pretty much outstanding. The cars have a nice, beefy sound, which may not be the most accurate, but it at least does sound very, very good. They have a certain 'oomph' to them, so to speak. One little hint, though: Increase the car's volume in the options, or rather, turn the volume for everything else down a bit.
The engine sounds aren't what's making S2U's sound so good, though. It's everything else. And I mean
everything else. The car bottoming out, the tyres screaching, the suspension creaking, marbles making noises inside the wheel wells - it's all there, and it's awesome. The last time I was that blown a way by the sound of the cars in a video game was when i first played GRID - and S2U is on the next level already. A complete different ballpark than GT5.
The music selection is pretty... sucky, though. Not that important to me, but whatever.
Overall, I'd rate GT5 at 6/10 for sounds and Shift at an impressive 10/10.
Graphics:
Now, this is a tough one. I'm pretty glad I bought the 360 version. No framerate drops that I would've npticed, no screentearing too be seen so far and, all in all, it looks very good in motion. If you're looking at the car models or some screenshots, it's easy to tell that both the lighting engine and the car models are quite inferior to GT5. S2U puts its graphics engine to very good use, though. Most importantly, the graphics are balanced. No super beautiful car models, but no super hideous shadows, either.
I'd say that Shift II is somewhere between Forza III and GT5, definetely good enough for me. As far as numbers go, I'd give GT5 a 9/10 for all the onconsistencies and Shift a 8/10.
Now, to continue where I left of: After buying the S2000, I went to proceed through my career for a bit. As soon as I got used to the physics, the steering, found the right camera view to use and so on, the career races became more and more fun.
One thing that still goes on my nerves: The pre-race scenes take so darn long, in my opinion.
Anyways, the career mode itself is pretty nice. There's a lot of different stuff to do and you're constantly being rewarded for whatever you do - from hotlapping loaned cars to racing your own. Doesn't even matter if you don't finish first - you're still getting something.
I've not gotten very far into the career (I'm only lvl 12, I thinl), but so far, it's been quite nice. Having a rival in the different categories also adds to the experience I think. It's a bit troublesome that those rivals are driving
way faster cars than what you had to beat to get to race them, but that's not that bad a thing. It makes for a nice challenge, at least. It's not
that hard, but I had to focus quite a bit to beat D-Mac.
To get yourself a car that's capable of beating a rival, you'll need to built something nice yourself. And that's a pretty big allure, for me. The car list is incredibly good and focused, as is the track list (despite the track widening that's pretty evident).
Upgrading your cars leaves you with a lot of possiblities, fulminating in the works conversion - pretty much the same you'd get in GT5 when you're race modding a car. In S2U, though, you can do it to pretty much any street car on the game.
Setting the car up is a bit more complicated, I'll have to admit. There are no real-world-esque values, just sliders depicting some strange values that you'll have to work with. I would've preffered it if SMS went with a system like Forza's.
Anyways, the quick-tune system allows you to circumvent most of that if you want to, and it works decently well, I thin.
Gameplay:
To summarize a bit: The gameplay is very good. Good car list, very good track list, loads of stuff to do, rewards for literally everything to keep you entertained. Upgrading and tuning cars is very rewarding and the career mode undoubtedly blows GT5 out of the water, completely. This goes for the Ai as well. Shift's is just so much faster, competitive and overall, smarter. Without being overly aggressive, by the way.
There's still quite some stuff to improve with Shift III, but so far, I'D rate it at a sloid 9/10 compared to GT5's 5/10, that's brought about by the crippled single player mode and strange design decisions, for the most part.
Oh, did I mention that the XP system and the 'mastering tracks' stuff in S2U actually adds to the game instead of turning it into a grind? 👍
Fun factor:
Now, I didn't know what to call it otherwise, but, well, I just had a race with 15 AI cars on brands hatch GP, using a Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16V Evoltion II. I actually had to fight the AI quite a bit to take the lead. A single mistake And I'd lose it again, with the AI hot on my heels for most of the race.
With the sound and the clever usage of the game's graphics, I felt pretty immersed as well. It was fun, plain and simple. Good, old fashioned fun. Something that really stood out to me, by the way: 100mp/h feel fast in S2U, faster than 220mp/h in GT5.
Simulator, shimulator, as far as fun goes, at least in single player mode (which I'm limited to, thanks, crappy internet connection), S2U really blows GT5 out of the water for me. 9.5/10 for S2U versus the 6/10 I'd give GT5 for the nice hotlapping sessions I had.
All in all, I'd say that Shift 2 Unleashed is definitely the game I'm preffering out of the two. I'm not expecting each and everyone to agree with my take on the two games, but, yeah, doesn't matter to me
I'm quite happy so far.
Overall, I'd rate GT5 at a 7/10 for being a very good simulator and a crappy game. Shift 2, though... Well, I'd say 8.5/10 for being a decent simulator but a pretty good game. Not the be-all end-all racing game I'm waiting for (Forza 4 is going to be my next try), but very entertaining and worth the money I've spend on it. 👍
As a closing comment, I'd say that someone who's enjoying GT5 in general should give Shift 2 a shot. It's different, but not
that different, if you're able and willingto look past slighty worse graphics and physics.
