Stars - earned for podium places, hitting profile point thresholds, and completing bonus objectives - unlock the content, which is split into four tiers of events plus the climactic Need for Speed World Tour. Driving levels reward you with cosmetic unlocks, special events and more money. You get profile points for certain on-track moves, which level you up. Racing earns you money to buy and upgrade cars with (the Xbox 360 version tested also allows you to buy cars with Microsoft Points). Few racing games have ever exhibited such a mania for showering the player in points, levels, trinkets, achievements and box-ticking unlockables. That's in stark contrast to the game away from the track, which is falling over itself to offer positive reinforcement. SHIFT's version of the relationship is raw and passionate alright, but at times it verges on domestic abuse. Wherever on the arcade/simulator spectrum it finds itself, a motor racing game should be about a love affair between tyre and tarmac, be it a quick fling or a deep commitment. It just doesn't have the accessibility of GRID, the panache of PGR, or the heft and cast-iron credibility of true simulators like Forza, GT or SimBin's games. It's telling that even the normal setting for handling difficulty feels the need to offer heavy-handed assistance with braking and steering. But you'll do so with grim satisfaction rather than pleasure. With judicious tweaking of the control sensitivity, AI difficulty and driving aids to suit your skill level and style (none of which penalises rewards in any way), SHIFT's handling can be mastered. Slightly Mad certainly seems to think so, underlining the point with ferocious camera-shake and extreme blurring and depth-of-field effects, making impacts jarring and high speeds nerve-wracking. You can argue that driving racing cars should be scary, and there's something to that.
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