Need for Speed Heat

Domingo

Domingo

Fully [H]
Joined
Jul 30, 2004
Messages
22,627
I had no idea this game even existed until yesterday...but it's actually pretty good if you like the series. It's a little bit like the Underground games, but with the cops and a little bit of a plot tossed in.

It's not going to win over anyone who didn't like the other games, but if you want an arcade-style racer it's a ton of fun. Graphics, audio, and a legit sense of speed are all big pluses.
 
NFS beyond Hot Pursuit has sucked pretty bad, the last few games especially. I've heard this one is better but from what I've seen of gameplay, the physics look super arcadey, maybe moreso than previous titles.

Still, I may pick it up one day on a sale since I've basically done everything there is to do in Forza Horizon 4.
 
MavericK said:
NFS beyond Hot Pursuit has sucked pretty bad, the last few games especially. I've heard this one is better but from what I've seen of gameplay, the physics look super arcadey, maybe moreso than previous titles.

Still, I may pick it up one day on a sale since I've basically done everything there is to do in Forza Horizon 4.
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Yeah, the driving style looks full-on mobile game... terrible.
 
Domingo said:
LOL, woops.
It's definitely an arcade game. There's no Forza/GT physics or anything like that. It's NFS. Outside of the Porsche game, they've never been about realism. They're the Fast and Furious to Forza's Ford vs. Ferrari.
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And, ya know, the very first Need for Speed.
 
Probably going to try Origin Access or whatever the sub program is called to play through Star Wars Fallen Order for cheaper than buying it, will give this a go too as it looks kinda fun. Haven't played an NFS game for ages.
 
After playing it for a day, I'd say it reminds me A LOT of Burnout Paradise. It has the same type of free-world races, billboards to destroy, etc. Difficulty is a little on the steep side, which I appreciate. It's fair rather than rubber-bandy, too.

My gripe with it is that the obstacles pointless. You can run through like 75% of the random objects in the game and barely slow down. Telephone poles, light posts, food stands, palm trees, etc. Anything short of a large oak tree or a building can be plowed through with minimal speed loss. They're all apparently crafted from balsa wood in this world. The whole game feels like the final scene in Bad Boys 2 where they're plowing through the shantytown in a Hummer.
Yet the guardrails to the highway are apparently randomly made of vibranium.
 
Gripe #2 - the soundtrack is really, really getting old. There are maybe 25 tracks in total, but only half of them are available at a time since the game is broken into day and night. You can also only cycle between 6 songs at a time. Don't like those 6 songs? Tough luck. Hopefully you like new hip hop, reggaeton, and light EDM, too. Those are the only genres. I don't expect them to feature hair bands, NWA, or the Beatles, but a little variety would be nice.
 
Domingo said:
Gripe #2 - the soundtrack is really, really getting old. There are maybe 25 tracks in total, but only half of them are available at a time since the game is broken into day and night. You can also only cycle between 6 songs at a time. Don't like those 6 songs? Tough luck. Hopefully you like new hip hop, reggaeton, and light EDM, too. Those are the only genres. I don't expect them to feature hair bands, NWA, or the Beatles, but a little variety would be nice.
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no lil jon no buy
 
Hahah the Lil Jon memories from Underground? Or was it Shift? Can't recall.

I bought Origin Premier and played a bit of Heat. Fun so far, but I can't quit the game other than ALT-F4. Escape isn't bringing up a menu, very odd. Also looking forward to playing with an Xbox One controller (Cyber Monday sale). Couldn't get Steam Controller working and keyboard isn't fun for racing games IMO.
 
I'm using an Xbox controller and have been happy with the controls.
After playing it for a week, I'd say it's good but not one of the best games in the series. Generally speaking, about every 3rd or 4th Need for Speed game is really good. The rest range from okay to awful. This is one of the okay ones. Rivals was the last really good one.
The world made of paper mache, the sparse soundtrack, and the ridiculous cop AI are issues. I won't even address the plot because it's a NFS game. It's beyond corny even for the series, though. I did enjoy making my character and car look as much like Florida trash as possible, though.
Graphics and a sense of speed are highlights. The map design is pretty nice, too. Racing AI is solid without being rubber-bandy or idiotic. The cops are the exact opposite, though. They're like tanks that move like heat-seeking Ferraris.
 
Can’t say this one caught my interest with it’s blown over story and half-baked police. I wish they would make another NFS title where they would actually let you drive as the police. Shift 2 was pretty awesome, not a full blown simulator but a nicely featured arcade racer.

NFS: Porsche Unleashed was an epic game.

Feels like they’ve clenched a little too hard to the “street racing” archetype for too many titles now. Too bad. NFS used to be THE go-to title for slightly serious arcade racing, now it’s just a stocking stuffer :(
 
Personally, I'd be happy with a return to the games not having a a plot. I don't need a free roaming world either. Just give me some race progressions and different modes. Either Underground 2 or Carbon started the whole free-roaming world thing and they've needlessly stuck to it. It doesn't add anything. Obviously the plots don't either. While every bit as corny, Ubisoft's Crew games are better at that sort of thing. They started as a NFS knock-off, but now EA is chasing them for some reason.
 
Domingo said:
Personally, I'd be happy with a return to the games not having a a plot. I don't need a free roaming world either. Just give me some race progressions and different modes. Either Underground 2 or Carbon started the whole free-roaming world thing and they've needlessly stuck to it. It doesn't add anything. Obviously the plots don't either. While every bit as corny, Ubisoft's Crew games are better at that sort of thing. They started as a NFS knock-off, but now EA is chasing them for some reason.
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Agree. The plot/characters are always ultra cringe, I can't imagine even the 14-16 year old dudes obsessed with tuner culture buying into it much less the 25-40+ majority gamer demographic that even knows what NFS is. Agree Shift series were much better as well as the oldschool NFS1-4 style.

For some reason my Xbox controller will work normally maybe 20% of the time I load into the game, other times the left stick is still doing both camera pan and steer. Very frustrating given all the stupid load screens required to actually start driving to see if it's working. As a result I've barely played it, focusing on Star Wars instead and will probably cancel my Origin sub when I am done with Star Wars (I already bought BFV stand alone).
 
I completed the game over the weekend. For all of the odd stock they put into the game's story, there isn't much of a proper ending to the game. Chapter 4 seems to just be the end of the plotline. There are a few other missions that pop up after that (and require a reputation of 40+), but they're just races where you win sub-par vehicles that you can't even customize.

The "endgame" for Heat seems to just be specific races that require a certain heat level to access. When you win those races you gain access to new parts that aren't normally in the shop. Thing is, the game dishes them out randomly and they never seem to be the parts you need. Most of the crazy expensive supercars full-on require those parts or they're otherwise not that great. You're actually much better off just sticking with a high-end normal car and upgrading it as far as you can. Those cap out around level 385, which is more than enough to beat any race in the game. You're not going to beat many other players with 400+ cars, but I find most of them are actually plants that work for Ghost games anyway. You can see that in their "crew" profile. You can eventually buy a couple 400+ cars that come nearly maxed out as-is, though. The one that unlocks with the max reputation is one of those, and it's one of the cheaper options, too.

When you're dealing with cops and your heat level is 4 or 5, you basically have to cheese the game to escape. Everything is based on line-of sight, so you have to either go into an area with lots of little structures to get behind or you can always take a huge jump at top speed. Both lose the cops almost immediately even if they call in a helicopter. If you're just trying to run away, it almost never works unless there's a pile-up in a race. If you aren't in a race, I don't even think it's possible. Whatever AI they assigned the cops is lazy.

Anyway, I'd say it's a 6.5/10. It's mindless fun and it does some things well. I doubt I'll ever play it again, but I don't regret buying it.
 
Oh yeah, I should mention that drifting is a bizarre mess that was either poorly thought out or maybe even broken. The drift challenges don't take your speed into account at all. In fact, they don't seem to account for anything other than your type of car and what parts are attached. I can start a drift challenge in my RS8 and drift every corner at top speed only to score 5000 points. The whole course takes maybe 15-20 seconds. Yet if I just go out there and do 2 minutes of donuts and zig-zags in my Grand National, I'll score 100K or more. It just doesn't make much sense and it feels out of place. The off-road "rally" races also feel a little tacked on, although at least they're functional and fun to play. I have a feeling both were probably added after the fact, or were potentially even things planned as DLC, but were half-finished when EA decided against micro-transactions and DLC.
 
grambo said:
Hahah the Lil Jon memories from Underground? Or was it Shift? Can't recall.

I bought Origin Premier and played a bit of Heat. Fun so far, but I can't quit the game other than ALT-F4. Escape isn't bringing up a menu, very odd. Also looking forward to playing with an Xbox One controller (Cyber Monday sale). Couldn't get Steam Controller working and keyboard isn't fun for racing games IMO.
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Definitely Underground, I played the crap out of that game.....the soundtrack was pretty good....
 
It's funny too look back at Underground with fond memories. At the time the NFS 1-6 fans didn't like the Fast & Furious direction or the trendy soundtrack. Now fans of Underground can side-eye these newer ones.
With Heat, it's not that the music is bad (or I'm too old, lol), it's mostly that there aren't enough tracks or genres.

Hopefully the "every 3rd or 4th game = really good" pattern will continue. We're due.
 
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