There are robust online options – including the ability to show off corners and tracks that you’ve “mastered” and take those honors away from your friends. There are also standard races and duels, each of which is well implemented and insanely fun, given the right group.

Gearheads will be in heaven with the wide variety of vehicle customization tools. Skilled gamers will have absolutely drool-worthy garages after a few hours of play, allowing for those inclined to go in and get their hands dirty tweaking technical specs or decorating their rides.

Shift isn’t perfect (there are occasional hiccups in the action and the drift mode isn’t exactly stellar), but it is incredibly fun and the sheer thrill of the speed is intense enough to shake off minor complaints. What EA has done here is reinvent a bloated franchise, and turned it into a product that the hardcore and the more casual among us can enjoy equally.

Questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you .