I am doing a brief review after several hours of gameplay in order to give you an understanding of what this game is exactly:
- Firstly, it is an arcade racing game, which means that the driving behavior of the cars is not realistic. You can take turns at 250+ km/h or slow down from 300 to 200 km/h with a tap of the brake to make a turn, etc. This is something you should know before purchasing the game.
- For those who have played the old good Need For Speed games (Underground 1&2, Most Wanted), there is something in Heat that will remind you of those times, but unfortunately, it lacks in terms of story and duration (I will explain below).
- I will start with the positives of the game. As an arcade driving experience, the game is very good. The driving mechanisms are well-balanced, providing a satisfying level of difficulty and challenge without becoming annoying and frustrating due to certain "broken" mechanics like in other games. The immersion of fast driving is real and very enjoyable, which is crucial for an arcade racing game.
- Additionally, visually and acoustically, the game is stunning. The lighting during the day with the sunset and clouds in the sky, the reflections on surfaces and the wet road (when it rains) are beautiful and alone make the game attractive and make you want to explore the world and admire it. At night, the landscape changes and becomes more "underground" with the volumetric lighting of the streets from lamps and vehicles, the neon lights, and the dynamic shadows of objects creating an atmosphere reminiscent of the polished NFS Underground. The sound of the game is also very good, with the combination of the car engine sound and the excellent soundtrack of the game. Additionally, the game, on the PS4 Pro where I played it, ran locked at 30 frames per second, with literally only 3-4 instances of framedrops throughout my 20+ hour playthrough.
- Another major advantage of the game is the wide range of cars available, combined with a plethora of upgrades and customization options both in terms of performance and appearance, which is a trademark of the NFS series and should not be missing. Furthermore, you can "tune" each car for any type of race you desire (there are 4 types of races: track, rally, speedcross, and showcase, but 60-70% of the races are essentially track races), although some vehicles will always perform better in a specific type of race (for example, a Lamborghini Huracan will always perform better on a track rather than in a rally).
- Now, regarding the design and progression within the game: The game's time is divided into "day" and "night," where during the day there are available races from which you earn money to buy cars and upgrades, while at night, you earn reputation (Rep) from races, which you need to unlock missions, vehicles, and upgrades in the game. The game's missions, both the main story and the secondary ones, become available gradually as you progress in the game, and some are available during the day while others are available at night. When you're not playing a mission or a speed race, you can freely roam within the game's world, either to admire the landscapes or to complete various secondary challenges scattered on the game's map, such as speed traps, drift zones, etc., as well as collect hidden collectibles. It should be noted that at any time while driving in the game's world, either freely or in a race, a police chase may start, which you must avoid in order to safely return home, with each successful evasion rewarding you with reputation.
- Let's move on to the main story now, which is the main drawback of the game. And I explain: the main story mainly revolves around how the protagonist will manage to become a member of the "championship," which is essentially an underground scene of speed racers, and in his attempt to achieve it, he is confronted with the corrupt city police, and more or less the story revolves around this main axis. The problem is that while the characters and the "purpose" of the story are well-developed and make you want to progress to see what will happen... The duration of this story ultimately proves to be very short, and the worst part is that it ends abruptly, leaving you with the question of what happens next. It's as if they ran out of time during the production of the game and left the story at 60% or as if they wanted to continue it in some DLC and never did. This abrupt termination of the story's development becomes even more unpleasant due to the fact that the gameplay of the game is really good, as mentioned before, and you want to continue playing... Another element that shows how short the story is, is the fact that you actually need much more time to grind money for upgrades and vehicles and reputation to unlock story missions, rather than to play the story missions themselves.
- Finally, as a consolation for the short duration of the story, there are secondary missions that, although they do not have any major plot interest, apart from a few dialogues, at least add some more hours of gameplay, as well as the large number of side activities mentioned above (challenges, collectibles, special upgrades unlocked only after difficult nighttime races and police chases), which if you have the bug and want to complete them, you will definitely need much more time than the average.
- And one more note about police chases and certain races: sometimes, especially at the beginning of the game, some races may seem very difficult to win and also in chases, especially if they take a long time and you end up being chased by half of the police force, you will never be able to escape them and you will constantly be frustrated and lose your mental calm. I suggest you search the internet for specific cars with engine swaps that are very good for specific races, for example, they have very good grip or high acceleration after turns, resulting in making your life much easier in races without breaking your nerves until you find the perfect combination of vehicle/driving for each track. And for the chases with the police, also if you search on the internet, there are specific ways to easily and quickly avoid it (specific tactics and locations on the map) so that you don't lose your patience unnecessarily. I believe that the above is not a matter of poor balance in the gameplay of the game, as it is most likely that you will understand them and apply them on your own by dedicating time to the game, that's why I don't include them in the negatives, they are just tips after several hours of gameplay to make your life easier and save time.
In summary, NFS Heat is a very promising arcade racing game, with very entertaining gameplay that will surely bring back some memories from the good old days when Need for Speed played on their own, but unfortunately the short duration of the story and its abrupt ending take away many points from it and deprive it of the opportunity to be one of the best games in the series.
Rating: 7/10