SHIFT 2 Unleashed is EA’s response to Forza Motorsport 3 on Xbox 360 and Gran Turismo 5 on PlayStation 3. While it surpasses these two juggernauts in some areas, it can’t match them in terms of realism and depth. Crucial features of a great driving simulator such as being able to call in for a pit stop when your tires are badly worn or dealing with rainy conditions have been left out.

On the other hand, the incredibly visceral nature of the visuals and the outstanding integration of EA’s ingenious Autolog system make this a worthy racing game in its own right, and one which is unique in the intense rivalry it fosters between friend and foe alike.

Continue reading El33tonline’s review of SHIFT 2 Unleashed.

SHIFT 2 Unleashed features a great list in-game of cars from a good selection of manufactures, catering to most every taste to let you choose the racing machine best suited to your driving style and personality.

Although, if we’re honest, what we all really want to drive are the super cars!

Focussing on this diverse and tight selection of cars in SHIFT 2 Unleashed, we asked you which of the cars in the game you would be keen to try first for a chance to win a copy of SHIFT 2 Unleashed, and it turns out that the Pagani Huayra, Bugatti Veyron and Lamborghini Gallardo were amongst the most popular cars chosen.

The question is, who of you are now proud owners of SHIFT 2 Unleashed?

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SHIFT 2 Unleashed from EA and Slightly Mad Studios is available today, and we’re giving away copies of this incredibly realistic and authentic racer for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3!

You stand a chance of winning one of two copies of SHIFT 2 Unleashed for Xbox 360, or a copy for PlayStation 3, and all you need to do is head on over to El33tonline’s SHIFT 2 Unleashed Competition page, answer an easy question in the comments, and you’ll go into the draw for the games!

Get to it! The competition closes this weekend!

In the meantime, you can browse through El33tonline’s previous coverage of SHIFT 2 Unleashed, and an exclusive interview with Slightly Mad Studios’ Stephen Viljoen (catch part one and part two of our chat), an in-depth preview of this authentic racer, a full report on the game’s recent launch event in South Africa, and a look at the excellent launch trailer!

During the recent SHIFT 2 Unleashed launch event in South Africa, El33tonline was able to get some hands-on time with EA and Slightly Mad Studios’ latest racer, while Stephen Viljoen (COO and designer at Slightly Mad) was on hand to tell us more about some of the great features that make SHIFT 2 Unleashed a cut above the rest.

Following an interesting presentation by Viljoen showcasing SHIFT 2 Unleashed, the event’s attendees descended on the demo units to try out the game for themselves, and it’s doubtful that anyone came away disappointed - from the time we spent playing the game it’s clear Slightly Mad Studios has achieved its goal of creating the most authentic racer ever that delivers the raw emotional experience of throwing high-powered cars around corners, and barrelling down straights at 200 miles an hour.

Continue reading El33tonline’s preview of SHIFT 2 Unleashed.

Today is the day! SHIFT 2 Unleashed is finally heading to retail, first in North America and then later this week (April 1st) around the rest of the world!

Since SHIFT 2 Unleashed was first announced, El33tonline has amassed an extensive amount of coverage on EA and Slightly Mad Studios’ realistic and authentic racer, packed to the absolute brim with tons of screenshots, videos and information.

That’s not enough for you? How about an exclusive, two-part, in-depth interview with Slightly Mad Studios’ COO, Stephen Viljoen, to find out even more about SHIFT 2? Still not enough? Then you can read our report on the game’s recent launch event in South Africa, where Viljoen spilled a couple more juicy morsels of information!

That should surely be enou… what? More?! OK, I was saving this one, but here goes: El33tonline is currently giving you a chance to win a copy of SHIFT 2 Unleashed for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3!

With all of that out of the way, let’s get to the feature presentation and this excellent launch trailer for SHIFT 2 Unleashed showing the game in action:

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SHIFT 2 Unleashed from Slightly Mad Studios is due for release next week around the world, and to get ready for this exciting new racing game you can read part two of El33tonline’s exclusive interview with Slightly Mad Studios’ Stephen Viljoen, as we learn about the company’s use of Autolog in SHIFT 2 Unleashed, the world of car manufacturer licensing, why polygons don’t matter anymore, and many other morsels of great information!

Read that second part of the interview over here, and you can find part one here.

The next awesome racing game from Slightly Mad Studios releases around the world next week in the form of SHIFT 2 Unleashed, and it would be an understatement to say El33tonline is looking forward to this title in the mightiest way!

So it was with both hands that we grabbed the opportunity to speak with Chief Operations Officer and game design contributor at Slightly Mad Studios, Stephen Viljoen, to find out (a lot) more about SHIFT 2 Unleashed, as well as how he got his start in game development.

Read the first part of our interview with Stephen Viljoen over here to discover how SHIFT 2 Unleashed is going above and beyond other racing simulators to become “the logical evolution of the current racing simulation status quo.”

(PS. Also be sure to enter El33tonline’s latest competition to stand a chance of winning an Xbox 360 or PS3 version of SHIFT 2 Unleashed!)

Next week will see the release of an exciting new racing game from EA and Slightly Mad Studios in the form of SHIFT 2 Unleashed, the sequel to the excellent Need For Speed: SHIFT and a game that the publisher/developer pair are calling ‘the most authentic racing game’ to ever become available.

If you want to put that claim to the test, you can stand a chance of winning a copy of SHIFT 2 Unleashed with El33tonline’s latest competition!

El33tonline and EA South Africa are together giving away two copies of the Xbox 360 version of SHIFT 2 Unleashed, as well as a copy of the PlayStation 3 version of the game.

To enter the competition all you’ll need to do is head on over to El33tonline’s SHIFT 2 Competition page and tell us which of the fantastic cars featured in the game are you most looking forward to taking for a virtual spin.

We even provide a few clues, so it’s very easy I think you’ll agree. Except, you’ll actually have to choose a favourite car, which might not be so easy…

You can also look through El33tonline’s previous coverage of SHIFT 2 Unleashed for tons of amazing gameplay videos and screenshots, and definitely check out El33tonline later today for the first part of an exclusive interview with Slightly Mad Studios’ COO, Stephen Viljoen.

SHIFT 2: Unleashed from EA and Slightly Mad Studios is due out in under a month’s time on March 29th in North America, March 31st in Europe and April 1st in the UK, and to prepare us a bit more further for this most ‘authentic’ racing experience a pair of videos have emerged to showcase the customisation options available in the game.

To say you’ll be able to extensively change the look and feel of the cars in SHIFT 2: Unleashed would be an understatement, and in the videos you can see just how many different ways there are to customise your racing machines while glimpsing one of the new ways EA’s online social tool, Autolog, is being implemented in the game.

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EA and Slightly Mad Studios are doing some crazy things with the pair’s upcoming realistic, authentic racing title, SHIFT 2: Unleashed, and the developer in particular is paying special attention to that ‘authenticity’ by visiting real racing tracks, employing the help of real race drivers, and getting real feedback on how realistic an experience the game is delivering.

SHIFT 2: Unleashed looks incredible and, to use an over-used term in the game industry, ‘takes it to the next level’ as far as the experience of racing is concerned.

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