Date:
Tuesday , November 10, 2009
Author:
Mark Warner
Editor:
Brent Justice
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Need for Speed SHIFT Gameplay Performance and IQ

We have an exclusive first look at performance in Need for Speed SHIFT using a new patch due out at the end of this month, as well as a new AMD driver which improves performance in this game. We test gameplay on nine video cards, low end to high end, and examine gameplay performance and image quality.

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Graphics Options in NFS Shift

As it was developed concurrently for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, NFS Shift has a respectable amount of graphics options, allowing us to configure such graphics features as texture resolution, motion blur, and overall details. It also allows gamers to select some of the more sensitive features, such as AA and AF, from within the game. While the menu is a bit obtuse and confusing the first time you use it, it does become comfortable with use.

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Resolution - Allows gamers to select the resolution in which to run the game. Changing this option requires the game to be restarted.

Windowed - Allows gamers to choose windowed mode or full-screen mode. Changing this option requires the game to be restarted.

Texture Filtering - Allows gamers to choose bilinear, trilinear, or anisotropic texture filtering. Four options are available for anisotropic: 2X, 4X, 8X, and 16X.

V-Sync - Allows gamers to toggle vertical sync, which synchronizes frame updates with the vertical refresh impulse of the monitor. Changing this option requires the game to be restarted.

Brightness - Controls the overall brightness of the game in full-screen mode.

Car Detail - Controls the geometric and shader detail of cars in the game.

Shadow Detail - Controls the details of shadows, including the cars’ self-shadows.

Motion Blur - Determines the quality level of the motion blur effect used while driving.

Texture Resolution - Controls the level of detail found in car and track textures.

The effect of some of these settings can be seen immediately when the option is changed. The car shown beside the menu is rendered dynamically, and reflects some changes made to graphics settings.

Testing Need For Speed Shift

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For our evaluation procedure, we loaded up a race on the Nordschleife track, which is also known as the Nurburgring. It is the longest track in the game, measuring 12.86 miles in length and holding 37 measured corners. It takes between 9 and 9.5 minutes to complete, depending on how aggressive the AI feels like being. We ran one lap in midday with 15 AI opponents of the same class of car we used.

All of our performance testing was performed with a BMW 135i Coupe’ with all available upgrades and modifications installed.