Need for Speed Heat - Review

It has been 25 years since the first Need for Speed game and the series is back again, but does this latest entry recapture the magic of the series, or is it time for the series to retire from the race?

Need for Speed Heat takes a unique approach to the series, the game is basically split between day and night, with each time of day providing a different experience, not only in visuals but in how the world behaves. During the day, races are handled under the name of Speedhunter Showdown, a legitimate racing group that takes over parts of the city to allow racers to test their limits in a variety of events. However, when the sun sets, the signs and legality are put away and street racers come out in force, with no road closures to keep the local traffic out of things. This dynamic is done really well and while you might think you can just stick to one and ignore the other, the game has a nice way to ensure you stay on top of both and that is the games rep system. The catch is though, that unsanctioned races will draw the attention of the police, and their lead Lt. Mercer, who is on a mission to destroy all who engage in illegal street racing.

There are a handful of story moments throughout the game and honestly it is one of the weakest parts of the entire experience, not that they are bad, though they are quite campy at times. As you achieve significant success at night, you will get a nice story moment, but it has no real impact to your actions, just changes the events and people you can race with. While you can pick from any number of characters to race as, the game has a solid cast of characters to support you in your racing endeavour, there is Lukas, who sets you up with your first ride and will give you a hook up with someone at Speedhunter, but on the other side is Ava, his sister and driver of the night. Ava is more about racing in conditions that are not controlled, living on the edge of the law and generally doing whatever she wants, the siblings will have a few moments where they don’t agree, but that is more typical sibling stuff. Lt Mercer, mostly appears in tv news segments, but the few times you see him in action, he presents a stern and unyielding presence, one that would not stand up in the real world, but enough about story, it is of course a Need for Speed game, so cars and racing are important.

As I mentioned, with the games split system of day and night, there is no 24-hour cycle, so when you are in the day period, it is always daytime, and the world reacts accordingly. As you level up and progress, more and more events will be added to the map, giving you more to do and in races, drifting events or anything else you choose to do, they will be blocked off, giving you a chance to test yourself. The developers must have gained a sense of humour here, as a lot of the tracks are fun, with some that will include jumps and gaps over water, which honestly shocked me when I first discovered them. Due to your being new in town, there are times when can compete in story missions, like proving yourself in a series of races, and winning it grants you a new kit for your ride. These story events will generally allow you to learn more, not only about the character leading it, like Dex or Wayne but more about the city, heck sometimes they take place in different locations to where you start them, so you have to drive there and it gives you a chance to drive slower and just enjoy things.

When night falls, or more specifically when you engage night to fall, things become quite different, for one the Police will actually pay attention to you, speed past them, cause damage or do anything else that is considered illegal and they will chase you down. Should you manage to not gain their attention for a bit, you can pick up some events and help build your rep and your bank balance. While during the day, races will mostly be circuits, at night they will be point to point types, which are more fun, but will also draw the attention of police if you happen to pass them. Night is what drives the story forward, during the day you can use the events there to build up a nice nest egg of cash, but it is night where your rep builds and without a solid rep, you can’t proceed. In order to get noticed by the top racers in town, you need to prove yourself and in order to test yourself against the hottest crews in town, you need to be noticed and your rep is key. Complete actions like breaking billboards, blaze past speed cameras or generally cause chaos and it will increase, with a high rep, shops will open up to you more, letting you buy upgrade parts or new rides, it is a great system, giving you incentive to push forward more. The downside though is the more that you stand out, the more the police will pay you attention and if they catch you, you will take a dip in your cash and lose a lot of your rep earned that night, but you will be ok, for one simple reason.

The games AI is pretty broken, not completely as it does function, but has significant issues and most of that comes down to the levels. When you are just driving around the world, there are plenty of cars, trucks and even ambulances on the roads, letting you experience a city teeming with traffic, at night it is the same, but the AI that governs these vehicles just has issues. I have seen trucks do U-turns in the middle of busy roads, out of nowhere and cars that will enter an intersection and just stop there. As I said, is not broken, it just unpredictable, but when you are being chased by the cops, if you lose them at the first heat level, something that is easy to do, you are golden, if you get to the second or even third heat levels, the AI becomes aggressive and it provides a real challenge, something that honestly shocked me, but I welcomed it after some really disappointing chases. Of course, getting away is not the end goal, once you are free and clear, they will slowly stop looking for you, but if you cross paths with them again, the chase will be back on, the reason why this is important, is that while at night, you can undertake as many events as you want, to help build your rep, the higher your rep the faster you level and unlock things. The catch is that if you get busted, which has happened to me quite a bit, you will find yourself losing rep, along with cash, so there is a fine line of balance here.

When not in races, or being pursued by the fuzz, you can cruise around Palm City and its surrounding areas and while you do, keep your eyes open for shops where you can upgrade your car, or buy an entirely new one. Something that stood out to me the moment I saw it, were the billboards that you can smash through, something that Need for Speed Most Wanted offered and its inclusion here is wonderful. There were times when I would be driving and spot a board, but no clear way to get to it, so I would start driving around to see if there was an elevated path that started somewhere else. There was one such billboard, that required me to launch up onto a monorail station and then drive along the track, though I say that, I still have yet to do it, I either have too much speed and drive clear off the other side, or not enough and smash into the building. In addition to the billboards, you will find speed traps and long jumps to fill your time, but like the races and story missions, these are added over time and much like the Forza Horizon series, there are levels on each, getting three stars on each jump or trap, will net you a very special car and some of them are quite the challenge.

As you will spend a lot of time driving around the world, and looking at your car of the moment, it is a nice thing that the game has a striking and wonderful presentation. The world is bright during the day and at night, the lights shine, especially if it has been raining and as the game is based on Florida, it rains a lot. Each of the cars the game offers, of which there are well over 100, all look a treat and while you sadly can’t get up close with them, there is not even an interior camera view, the game gives you enough. The human characters all look a treat, but while they are nothing special, they fit the mould expected by the series at this point, the issue with them is when they try to show too much emotion, the game seems to have issues there.

Sadly though, that is not the only time I has issues, while it is called Palm City, Pop In City would also be an accurate name, as the game has a lot of it. Some elements you can understand, like trees in the distance swapping from their low res look, to the more detailed higher res look when you get close, but people also vanish at random, something that once you notice, you won’t unsee and lights are just as bad. The game has this issue of resetting things you break through quite quickly, but it does not do it all the time, which is just odd.

On the audio side of things, it is much cleaner overall, though the music selection is a little odd, as I always say, music is subjective, but picking songs that have sirens in it and placing it in a game where if you hear sirens, you are usually in trouble is just weird. Ignoring that the music selection is pretty varied, but there is enough of a theme to pick up, consisting of Latin inspired music and rap, and while it is not my normal music, it works for the game. Character voices are ok, even if some of them seem to be more cheesy than anything and I don’t think it was intentional, which can ruin the impact of scenes, but pretty solid all round, perhaps the only issue I had audio wise, was that of the conversations over the phone. As you drive around, you will have chats between yourself and other characters, the problem is that they repeat, a lot and at one point, I drove from the north to the south, with one chat happening just as I started to drive and the exact same one happening near the end of it. But, given that you can just leave your car in the garage and rev the engine, I forgive the rest, as cranking up the volume and hearing the car you are working on purr, never gets old.

Need for Speed Heat is the best entry in the series in quite some time, I am not sure if is the former Criterion staff that make up Ghost Games, finally succumbing to what they had done in the past, or just a general sense of wanting to make a more open racer, but it is great. There are some odd presentation issues, but as it is an open world title, those are to be expected and while the story is campy and honestly not worth the effort, just stick to racing. Those who were burnt by Payback’s odd and annoying card system, will be happy to know that nothing like that is here and the game feels so much better for it, this is one game I highly recommend you get.