Electronic Arts have gone and done it again. Earlier in the year Need for Speed Shift took me by surprise and did more than enough to ensure it was my favourite racing game of 2009. Shift managed to fight off some tough competition from the likes of Forza 3 and Dirt 2. I wasn’t holding out much hope for Need for Speed Nitro on the Wii. After all, the graphical capabilities of Nintendo’s console could never compete with the glossy visuals on the Xbox 360 and PS3. There is also no way the Wii can ever compete with Microsoft and Sony’s more powerful consoles when it comes to audio. Going head to head with such heavyweight competition would be madness. So, it’s a good thing they didn’t do that!

Someone wisely decided to focus on the strengths of the Nintendo Wii rather than enter into a battle with Goliath which David could never win. Lessons can be learned from this title as the Wii-mote is used very well. Wii-mote in right hand, Nunchuck in left, steer with the thumb-stick, A button is used for acceleration, B for brake, Z for repairing your car or sending the cops after an opponent, and a flick of the Wii-mote to use a Nitro boost. It all works so well. So simple. So effective. In no time at all it’ll feel natural to accelerate, kick in Nitro as you approach a corner, hold down the break whilst steering, and drift round in great style.

Need for Speed Nitro is much more of an Arcade game than the aforementioned titles. There are characters who look as though they’ve stepped right out of a zany cartoon. Everything is so crazy and over-dramatic.

One of the areas I am most impressed with in this game is the paint feature. Because of the vast difference in capabilities between the Wii and Xbox 360 it would be unfair of me to compare the paint feature in this game with the one in Forza 3. The wise use of resources, which I mention above in relation to getting the most out of the Wii-Mote, carries into this paint feature. This is admittedly mostly limited to pre-designed art which you select and paste onto a car but this works very well. I’m mostly impressed with the very simple but hugely useful mirror option which allows you to quickly and precisely paste an image onto both sides of the vehicle.

Another impressive aspect is selecting your own graffiti. This type of thing has been seen before in sandbox games such as Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row but that’s resigned to tagging allocated areas of the map. The graffiti in Need for Speed Shift appears while in a race. If you find yourself in first place, as you make your way round a racetrack, your chosen graffiti will be painted along the streets and this is also true of your opponents. This adds an extra incentive to get yourself into first place as quickly as possible so that you can quite literally make your mark on a race.

The usual racing game staples are present. Depending on your performance in each race you unlock a certain number of stars. When you collect enough of these stars you unlock a different area of the globe which comes with a new set of races. You can replay the races at any point during the game which gives you an opportunity to sweep up additional stars you may have missed on previous attempts. There’s a slight nod to racers like Mario Mart with floating icons on the track which can be collected and used during the race. There is a repair icon which removes any damage you’ve picked up from driving a lunatic and a police badge which can be used against an opponent to send police cars after them.

Proof that you don’t need a NASA-sized processor and photo-realistic visuals to create a hugely entertaining game. Those who own a Nintendo Wii and feel like some enjoyable racing action should definitely check this out.

8.5/10

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