I don't know, I think it is not a great idea to encourage the carpg crowd where raw car numbers are some massively important thing. I'd rather have 5 done well in full detail than 500 where there are 250 that are ok and 250 that are totally half arsed in terms of their modelling and physics and are ultimately just cookie cutter variants anyhow.
NFS Shift -- Worst game ever!!
- Thread starter SkillRacer
- 50 comments
- 10,063 views
- Status
alright, I will jump on the bandwagon.
-Really stupid that when racing in a series of different tracks you can not alter your setup between tracks.
-Why in the world can you not save more than one setup per car?
-Why does the player ALWAYS start at the rear? If your going to have a race series why not either have starting positions random or qualify? The damn AI drivers seem to have one reason for being on the track....to wreck the player. Going into corners from high speed straight, slowing down they ram your ass at high speed and cant get out of the way.
-my cars have different performance levels in race mode vs Time Attack. Top speed is greater in TA
-Cars have different Top Speeds on different tracks when they long straights to reach. Front straight at SPA as compared to say, Autopolis. Sometimes I get better top speed at Autopolis than SPA and SPAs front stretch is far longer. Those two and Road America are probably my favorites
-Really stupid that when racing in a series of different tracks you can not alter your setup between tracks.
-Why in the world can you not save more than one setup per car?
-Why does the player ALWAYS start at the rear? If your going to have a race series why not either have starting positions random or qualify? The damn AI drivers seem to have one reason for being on the track....to wreck the player. Going into corners from high speed straight, slowing down they ram your ass at high speed and cant get out of the way.
-my cars have different performance levels in race mode vs Time Attack. Top speed is greater in TA
-Cars have different Top Speeds on different tracks when they long straights to reach. Front straight at SPA as compared to say, Autopolis. Sometimes I get better top speed at Autopolis than SPA and SPAs front stretch is far longer. Those two and Road America are probably my favorites
- 154
Does anyone read before they start bashing??
I clearly stated that Polyphony is the most successful company based on a SINGLE title, in the racing genre. One company, one title.
1. Sega Rally -- AM5 - Made by the guys who also made Crazy Taxi, Vitua Tennis, and other VERY SUCCESSFUL titles. Polyphony has only 1.
2. Colin McRae -- Codemasters -- do we need to list them?? Countless VERY SUCCESSFUL titles. Polyphny has only 1.
3. Wipeout -- Psygnosis - again, do we need to list them? That owl logo has been tattooed to my brain ever since I was little. Polyphony ...only 1.
And what does GT not being the best title have anything to do with anything in this discussion?
...
Please, back to the topic.
NFS: Shi
Because it has such a horrible user interface and gameplay feedback that it makes you angry before you've even started playing it!
- 3,547
- Melbourne
- GTPr01 (GT); TheGTAFather (GTA)
Yeah, EA and its NFS series is just awful now. They were too lazy to even include the soundtrack in the menu (that typically allows you to browse all the tracks and toggle certain ones on and off). The bouncing that occurs in hi-po RWD cars especially when one comes into a bend is horrendously annoying. I'll admit that sort of glitch happened in the first Gran Turismo, but that was more than a decade ago on the now archaic PSX.
The livery system may well be the worst ever for an NFS game since PS2. There are no rulers or snap-to-90-degree grids like there used to be (which means stuff like adding multiple stripes or lines together is almost impossible to get right), decals are unable to be coloured nor made any larger than the size of a large foot and (for me the worst part) there is no free-roaming function that allows me to look around my car and zoom in on certain spots so I can more accurately frame my vinyls and decals.
The physics are, well, a 3/10 at best. Another pathetic job by NFS really.
The livery system may well be the worst ever for an NFS game since PS2. There are no rulers or snap-to-90-degree grids like there used to be (which means stuff like adding multiple stripes or lines together is almost impossible to get right), decals are unable to be coloured nor made any larger than the size of a large foot and (for me the worst part) there is no free-roaming function that allows me to look around my car and zoom in on certain spots so I can more accurately frame my vinyls and decals.
The physics are, well, a 3/10 at best. Another pathetic job by NFS really.
JB-BMW1989
(Banned)
- 200
- JB-BMW1989
- JB BMW1989
It's a Race Driver GRID knockoff, what do you guys expect? The only best Need For Speed I have played is Hot Pursuit for the PS2. Need For Speed SHIFT is just a nightmare. I should give this game a C.
Turbo Lag
Premium
- 6,525
- Melbourne
Yep, I too support the idea of taking the 'f' out of Shift. Good on EA for releasing a very expensive beta to us. Patches are not needed! Patches are different from addons or DLC or whatever they like to call it these days. Games before this certain time period didn't need patches, so whatever they had a few minor glitches and so on, most of them were barely noticable. When CRAP came out, the first day alone I managed to find out (to my bad luck? I think not.) many of these stupid glitches. Good Lord I feel sorry for the person who dosen't have PSN/Online. A couple of people I know don't have it, now they're stuck with some CRAP. What ever happened to a game release where there were barely any faults. I remember (some of you might too) ranting consistently in the NFS subforum here about that other rubbish they gave us, Carbon and Pro Street. This was similar to their master scheme devised to take my $110 to buy some CRAP.
Good God at least there would be something to play and have fun after you encounter all these glitches. No! The game has barely anything to offer, other than the actual driving experience itself which is the only good part of the game.
It's as if EA just came and said to us, "Look! We can do this!," showed us all this heavily edited screenshots and videos and then sold us some CRAP which claimed it can do all this. This is almost like being cheated. And EA, don't bother about releasing more DLC, just work on fixing the actual bloody CRAP before you offer up another cow load of CRAP. I really do hope that after this CRAP has been dealt with, there is actually something to do in thisgame thoughtfully devised stress-management money making system.
Good God at least there would be something to play and have fun after you encounter all these glitches. No! The game has barely anything to offer, other than the actual driving experience itself which is the only good part of the game.
It's as if EA just came and said to us, "Look! We can do this!," showed us all this heavily edited screenshots and videos and then sold us some CRAP which claimed it can do all this. This is almost like being cheated. And EA, don't bother about releasing more DLC, just work on fixing the actual bloody CRAP before you offer up another cow load of CRAP. I really do hope that after this CRAP has been dealt with, there is actually something to do in this
darkos
(Banned)
- 526
- nWcPL
Yeah just like a said earlier, you are a FAN BOY. and any reasonable attempt to conversation about your problem is waste of time. Polyphony once created quite good game, but then start promise lot of awesome features that never land on their final ver. of their game.
Now understand something, Polyphony is suppose to create only one game? Right? so why they promise something that cant delivered. The games that i mention earlier was created by the companies that works on other games as well but for them managing with time and features in their product end always well. And you finally have to opportunity to test Academy, if you cant see the difference between actual product and what was been promised, i mean, cars damaging, great graphics and much more improved driving physics, then i think you should stop play. Polyphony feed us with lies since they smell the money. I am not gonna defend them, Shift Demo was much more better than Academy, with cars been destroyed and graphics satisfying so you could enjoy playing even when this game is not that good at all, but still you have no choice.
- 154
I'm sorry darkos, I can't understand.
Maybe you have a valid point somewhere in there, but I just don't see how you're making any sense with regards to the topic of "How 'NFS: ****' is the worst game ever." or with a response on a side comment I made about Polyphony being the most successful company based on a single title they've made in the racing genre.Perhaps something got lost in translation. Perhaps in you interpret success as the quality of the actual game, which is not the same thing. So let me define what I mean by "company success".
Company success: The amount of money (and by money I mean $$$$$$$$), a company makes so that it can sustain itself for its following fiscal year so that it is able to hire employees, pay salaries, pay back its investors (if any), and grow its market share.
Whether or not that company produced Faberge Eggs, or Dog ****, the end result is $$$, and the amount of $$$ measures success in any business. Period.
....
Now, once again, PLEASE lets get back on the topic of how much NFS: **** sucks, and why it is the worst game ever because:
it has a completely half-assed user experience model.
was written by a bunch of talented developers who clearly sold their souls to a bunch of bigwigs who claim understand fun -- but in fact only understand $$$, because EA paid for their bills so that they can have a job during the tough economic crisis of late 2008..💡
!! I'll stop right here.
It all makes sense now. It has come to me. In my very old angered rant, the real reason for why NFS: **** sucks soooooo much, has finally come to me:
We all remember how those guys that wrote NFS: **** wrote a bunch of awesome sims, then got kicked out of SimBin, tried to start their own company (Blimey!, or whatever) and then failed. Then the market collapsed, and they could no longer afford to pay the electricity bill. The only thing left for them to do was crawl over to the big and all mighty Electronic Arts, and beg for food and water.
Now that EA has given them shelter, they have had NO CHOICE, but to do exactly as they were told. To make a good enough game, that will appeal to a mass audience of nitwits who are entertained by loud sounds and flashy objects, so that it will generate enough income, so that EA can forget it did anyone any favors, and kick them out on the street when the project is over.
...WAIT!!! I can see into the future!!! I have a vision!!
~~~ In 2011, Ian and his team will "quit" EA and form their own company called "Onomatopoe!a" in high hopes that they can create high quality racing games and sims that are not bound by corporate rules and evil bald men with comb overs and double breasted pin stripe suits. Screenshots will be sent out, people will cheer, the imagination of thousands of children will be recaptured... and then... reality. Ian and his talented team mates will once again run out of money for their electric bill because history has shown again and again that although they may be good in figuring out car physics... they suck at business. In 2014, Codemasters will release the blockbuster hit "Colin McRae: Zombie driver!" and advertise its ground breaking new physics model created by the guys who brought you the very successful GTR series, NFS ****, and a Ferrari game no one will ever see.~~~
...and this is why Ladies (if any here) and Gentlemen, we have games like NFS: ****. It's not that developers don't want to make great games, but because they just suck at business. And real business guys who know how to pay for their electric bill, don't give one **** about racing games.
...and to your response again darkos, except maybe one company that is actually good at business and gives a **** about racing games, Polyphony Digital. ..and clearly, I say that because I'm a FAN BOY... right.
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- 879
- MannyMoenjack1
That's it! No more coffee for you!
In the recent past I've done my rants on the flaws in Shift too, but what exactly is a "a completely half-assed user experience model."???
Personally, I hated the user menus and interface in GT5p. Talk about mind-numbingly utilitarian... Shift's isn't a whole lot better but at least there is the thread of a player career goal.
Admittedly the Career mode in Shift is completely flawed at the higher levels, even after the patch, but the game is still enjoyable online with a good group of racers and in Quick Race form.
I guess the question in my mind is... Are you really disappointed that Shift isn't a better game? Or do you just like GT5p so much you can't stand to see anyone like any other game?
- 154
That's it! No more coffee for you!
In the recent past I've done my rants on the flaws in Shift too, but what exactly is a "a completely half-assed user experience model."???
Half-assed user experience model -- not to be confused with user interface, which is only part of it. The user experience model is every aspect of the software that interacts with a human being. Its the feedback of the game. When the user as a human being presses a button, they expect to get a response that's in tune with their intuition. The way the game interacts with the user should just feel comfortable.
NFS **** does NOT do this well. It has way too many prompts. The feedback in the controls does not reflect what the cars are doing. For example, there is a crap load of seesawing in the steering wheel force feedback when cars slide. When the controls initialize themselves on startup, they are not consistent. The sound levels are inconsistent. The menus require awkward navigation... all leading to things that SURPRISE the user at EVERY step of the game. Why? Because when developers write games they first think in terms of how the code works. Prompts are good when you're writing code and checking stuff. Prompts are not good when the user knows what needs to happen, and they have to repetitively perform the same task. That's not fun, that's tedious, and annoying.
When attention is not spent on how the user perceives the software, the user experience model is not complete. Hence, it is half assed.
I'm dissapointed that such crap products make it to the market and sell thousands of copies purely based on hype and don't deliver a complete package.
The sad part is that NFS ****, ACTUALLY DOES have the physics, it DOES has the graphics, and it DOES have content that CAN make it a great game... but unfortunately, because if it horrible user experience, none of it can be enjoyed. If only a little bit of time was spent tweaking, configuring, and gathering feedback, it could have been a great game.
I don't like GT5p, but I have no complaints. I like iRacing, but that has nothing to do with my rant. I'm not comparing NFS **** with anything, because I can't think of anything that's as bad as NFS **** and gets so much applause.
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- 879
- MannyMoenjack1
OK, that message makes a lot more sense to me. Thanks for clearing that up.
The sloppy FFB in Shift was a concern for me too at first, until I realized that the tuning of the car's suspension and steering geometry effects the way the FFB feels. The cars that I have that are tuned properly have good FFB and I can actually feel what the car is doing (or is about to do), through the wheel.
As far as the extra promts or selections the user has to make... they don't bother me enough to worry about. Every program I use at home or at work has prompts or screens that get irritating over time. Why waste time complaining? They aren't terribly intrusive. I thought Ferrari Challenge was a lot worse than Shift in that regard and GT5p is certainly no better.
Contrary to what you said, I think that your preference for iRacing has a great deal to with your dislike for Shift. While I haven't tried iRacing yet, my understanding is that it's physics and user experience to use your term, is the best there is. But the two titles hardly target the same market segment, do they? By that standard there isn't a racing game for PS3 that I can think of that would hold a candle to iRacing. And iRacing is vastly more expensive!
I can't defend the hideously flawed condition of the game that EA released as NFS-Shift, on the other hand I did and do recognize what the game does well. That it's not your cup of tea isn't surprising considering that it wasn't meant to appeal to Sim racers anyway.
- 12,902
- Cambridge
- Moglet85
- Moglet
I thought Shift was diabolical. It's easily the worst racing game I've played on a current gen console. The cars don't handle anything like actual cars (I compared an MX-5 to a real life one as an example. The only thing that was realistic was that it had wheels) every vehicle bounces a frankly stupid amount with each bump in the road and it just felt very rushed and poorly presented in general.
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- 154
No, no, no, no, and no. Believe me when I say, that I've played them all, and I'm not comparing anything here other than what I expect for a $50 game. iRacing is a completely different beast, and not relevant to this rant. I simply stated my preference so that people don't think im comparing this to GT5p because "i like it so much that i don't like anything else"
I'm not saying anything about how ANY game compares to NFS:****.
This is an angry rant, not a review, not a comparison, simply an angry rant by an angry user, and somehow this thread continues.
...
Oh, and as far as the patches go, I did patch the game. I did update my drivers from nVidia with the latest in NFS:**** bug fixings, and guess what.
NFS:**** now CRASHES!!! HOLLY ****!!! IT NOW CRASHES!!! WOW, I'm really impressed here. I honestly can't believe the level of quality and testing. Sure, its my PC, go ahead, slander me with comments of how I have custom this, and custom that, and of course any reasonable game should crash.
Gee.. how come it didn't crash when it came out of the box? How come all my other software continues to work?
Maybe its not my fault, and maybe NFS:**** is just that, a BIG PILE OF ****!!
He got linked to something that would get him into the game with no movies and 2 button presses. I'm just saying. The approach of rationally dealing with his complaints might work if complaining was not literally his favorite thing to do in the entire world.
You're on console? You realise that, being on a PC, they have given this not especially intelligent person about a dozen different ways in which to break force feedback?
My guess would be that the reason he likes iRacing so much more is because iRacing has a literally foolproof method of setting up the controls and FFB. Shift is going to make him play with things until it feels right and count on him not to, I don't know, switch off the "anti seesaw" function in his wheel control panel. I bet if he looks he has the spring disabled.
Have you played Nascar Racing 2003? That's the basis for iRacing in much the same way GTR2 is the basis for Shift. They went around and legally squelched a couple of free mods for NR2003 that were doing some of the same stuff as iRacing, they're kind of touchy about it
The weird thing is that he has the option of switching on a whole bunch of GTR2 features that are still present but disabled in Shift, but he just likes complaining so much
- 154
Thank you for the mind bending comments boxox. Very insightful, I've almost changed my mind that NFS:**** is actually a pretty good game.
...
To continue my rant. After patching NFS:****, the problem with my crashing was due to none other than... MY PROFILE file!!
WOW, great job! Now I have to start all over. Hey Ian, we have this concept in software development called TESTING. Something most developers are asked during a standard technical interview. Maybe you should read up on the topic, I'm sure you'll find it surprisingly interesting.
...you know what boxox, you're right. Complaining about how much NFS:**** sucks is way more fun than playing it.
...
To continue my rant. After patching NFS:****, the problem with my crashing was due to none other than... MY PROFILE file!!
WOW, great job! Now I have to start all over. Hey Ian, we have this concept in software development called TESTING. Something most developers are asked during a standard technical interview. Maybe you should read up on the topic, I'm sure you'll find it surprisingly interesting.
...you know what boxox, you're right. Complaining about how much NFS:**** sucks is way more fun than playing it.
- 879
- MannyMoenjack1
Well it's a shame I wasted my time trying to discuss this, one RATIONAL human being to another... It's a mistake I won't repeat.
AFAIK V1.00/01 had an issue where changing the device ID of the graphics card or shadow settings would mess the game up for some people, and require you to delete graphicsconfig.xml from your profile folder. Not your whole profile. Just the part that stored graphics settings. And it got fixed in 1.02. My guess would be that Shift simply fainted from the massive amount of of competence it saw between the keyboard and chair.
- 154
I tried the gfx delete, didn't help. Unlike you, I actually read the suggestions in the posts above and learned about this magic website called Google, which apparently leads to all kinds of answers to all kinds of questions.
Hate me all you want, NFS:**** sucks, and I'm sticking to it. You like it so much, you enjoy it and God bless you for it.
You are the better man, you win, now leave me alone, and let me rant about the things I don't like.
- 154
What happend, first you saw a rationale in my posts, now you don't? The text didn't change. I was finally happy that someone actually tried to understand me. I can defend any one of my statements without calling anyone any names, because I don't have anything against anyone here. Only thing I have against is NFS:****.
- Status
