Global Standard | ||
Global Standard | €30.27 |
Hustle by day and risk it all at night in Need for Speed Heat, a white-knuckle racer that pits you against a city's rogue police force as you battle your way into street racing's elite. By day compete in the Speedhunter Showdown -- a sanctioned competition where you earn bank to customize and upgrade your garage of high-performance cars. When your ride's perfectly styled and hyper-tuned, and you're ready to ramp up the intensity, drive out into the night where you and your crew take on the competition in illicit street races that build your reputation and grant you access to bigger races and better parts.
But under the cover of darkness patrols a rogue task force looking to bring you down and swipe all you've earned. Take them on and risk it all for underground glory or head back to your safehouse and begin another thrilling day. The roads, the risks, and the rides never end in this street racer where your crew rolls deep, your garage is full of hot cars, and the city's your nonstop playground.
When a game is genuinely good, it doesn’t feel like I’m playing it just for the sake of the review. Need for Speed Heat evokes that feeling as I’m simply having too much fun with it. Compared to its obvious role models, it doesn’t ramble all over the place but has a grateful focus to it. The game comfortably speeds along a yellow brick road that goes neatly between calculated appeal of Forza Horizon and the excess abundance of The Crew, and that’s why I liked it better than those two. In fact, I’m afraid that NFS Heat kind of spoils its genre. I need games with a human touch and after this, racing games without this much personality just won’t do anymore
NFS: Heat is kind of a best-of with the best elements from the previous NFS games, with the addition of day and night races. All of it isn't very innovative, but not less entertaining because of it.
Need for Speed Heat feels like a return to form for the franchise. There’s very little new here, but what is here is certainly a crowdpleaser for anyone who has dipped in and out of the 25-year-old racing IP.
To the game’s credit, the police presence on the track feels less like a gimmick than a genuine menace.
When Need for Speed: Heat is producing its promised fantasy, it’s a wonderful game which I’m always happy to keep coming back to. Ghost Games have improved their engine and systems to make the city and cars feel better than ever, and Heat’s core gameplay loop is designed to last. Occasionally there are the moments which require suspension of disbelief, and it’s possible for the more misguided elements to build tedium in an otherwise strong entry to the series. Heat is a marked improvement on the last few Need for Speed games, however, and I hope that further refinement will see the series better deliver on its legacy.
Need for Speed Heat is far from the revival of the series which fans have hoped for, and makes you wonder what happened to Criterion. Ghost games did a decent job steering back Need for Speed into safer waters, but it lacks the passion and the visceral fun which made Underground legendary. Need for Speed Heat is a decent game, but not a memorable one.
If Forza and Heat were in a boxing match, Forza would be Mike Tyson in his prime and Heat would be a toddler.
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