GOTY 2011 Racing Runner-Up – Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed

I am not the biggest of racing fans but I sometimes want to test my reflexes and my virtual driving skills and most of the times the prolific Need for Speed series delivers this opportunity, with the notable exception of 2010 when I had a brief stint with Gran Turismo 5.

Shift 2 Unleashed was not initially on my radar, especially after playing so much of Polyphony Digital’s racer in late 2010, but I decided that the game would be a nice early year shift (pun intended) from my usual gaming died.

I discovered a solid, quick, engaging and serious racing game which offered quite the variety both when it came to cars and tracks and delivered one mode that made my life as a racing driver more complex and more satisfying.

One of the most interesting aspects of the game is the in-helmet view, which changes the entire experience of racing.

I never liked to play from the cockpit and always settled for a wide angle behind the car as my favorite position, allowing me to see what sort of track I was going to deal with ahead while also getting a good look at how my chosen car handled the various maneuvers.

Moving to an in-helmet view severely restricts the amount of information that the gamer receives and, for the first few races in Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed, I found myself all but helpless, unable to cope with the smallest of challenges, feeling that it was impossible to complete a race.

But I soldiered on, learning how to deal with the movement of the helmet and the tunnel vision, and when I finally managed a solid win it felt like a real achievement, something I worked on and not just another race I completed for XP and new cars.

Shift 2 Unleashed gets the Racing Runner-Up nod because it was the first racing game to make me want to get into such an experience in real life.