After several hours spent on the streets of Palm City, we are ready to bring you our review of the new Need For Speed Heat
The same phrase always bounces in the heads of Need For Speed fans, chapter after chapter, year after year: “Eh, they'll never make a title like Underground 2 or Most Wanted (the original from 2005)“. The real reason that leads these users to remember those racing games with so much pleasure is the sensations they transmitted. Between music, cars, customizations and so on and so forth, the “Fast and Furious” effect was of a certain thickness, and it was a lot of gas!
After years of experimenting, Ghost Games has released Need For Speed Heat, who seems to have guessed the tracks that could lead the saga to revenge, but we are still far from perfection. Let's find out all the details in ours review.
The Palm City rookie
As soon as we launch the campaign, the title will immediately catapult us into the game world. After the tutorial, which lays us the foundations of the game story and instructs us on the commands, we will be ready to choose our alter ego (selectable from various models available), which can be customized through clothing and hair types. Our character has no background and arrives in Palm City to become a pilot.
For this reason we will find ourselves in the workshop of Lucas, a former pilot who, after having tested on his skin what it means to go to prison, cleaned himself up by opening a business in good standing. After choosing the car and making the first race, we will meet Ana, Lucas's sister, who will introduce us to the illegal nightlife of Palm City. The entire Need For Speed Heat revolves around two spheres: daytime racing (legal) and those at night (strongly illegal), in which we will know the fierce police.
Well, the police are once again at the center of our problems with this Need For Speed Heat, not only on the streets, but also at the plot level. As we mentioned earlier, once you get out of the garage we can choose whether to continue the adventure during the day or after sunset, but what changes? In addition to the fact that at night there will be the police ready to chase us in case they see us, only in the night races will it be possible to acquire (as well as money) the Reputation. The latter plays an essential role as it will allow us to level up, unlocking new cars and upgrades.
Police, in this title, it is not balanced at all and is often too unreal. Let's explain: in Need For Speed Heat there is a damage indicator that comes down (obviously) with accidents that are too serious, or because of the doors of the police officers. The latter, however, often make highly unreal shots, reaching our car even if the speed between the cars is distinctly different. This often translates into capture and, therefore, having to lose a large part of the money and reputation acquired in that night.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a BMW from '88 - Review Need For Speed Heat
The driving style present in Need For Speed Heat is purely arcade, with races focused on finding shortcuts, adopting a guide that is not exactly clean. This absolutely falls into the category of racing games in which the handbrake button will deteriorate due to too frequent use. The feeling given by the high speed and driving in general is really satisfying and absolutely fun.
In the title they are present 127 car ranging from sedans, to sports cars, up to large SUVs and vintage cars. Although there are differences in power and (obviously) aesthetics, driveability is very similar regardless of the car we have selected. Thanks to a graph we will be able to understand how to mark the car, through performance customization. The various cars will be able to take on a sportier handling, road, drift or off-road and timed. Obviously each of these will have a default predisposition by default, so a BMW X6 will be easier to convert to "off-road".
But what is the point of directing your car towards a category? Simple: in Need For Speed Heat, once we get on with the campaign, they'll pop up various competitions to play. These include classic city races, those full of sharp corners to tackle in skidding, as well as wild off-road races. The various types of challenges add sparkle to the work of Ghost Games that would otherwise be much more redundant. A multiplayer system which consists of being able to challenge the members of our current lobby: a fairly solid mechanic that didn't cause us to point out any problems.
The personalization side is very thorough, not only for our cars, but also for the character's outfit. The cars are customizable far and wide, by changing certain body parts, adding spoilers, or through the rich wrap system. With the latter it will be possible (in addition to selecting the color, through a well-structured editor) to apply graphics, or even download those of other users, personalizing them. A very welcome gem is being able to set the sound output from the terminal of our car.
As mentioned earlier, in this chapter there is the possibility of personalizing our alter-ego in different ways. Although the models are preset, we will be able to choose the protagonist's clothing with streetwear pieces from very famous brands such as Kappa, Adidas, Marcelo Burlon e Givenchy.
“Vroom” – Review Need For Speed Heat
The events of Need For Speed Heat are set in Palm City, a city clearly inspired by Miami (among other things, city of the NBA team "Miami Heat", perhaps that's a quote). The game map is not that vast and this can be seen as a positive or negative side. Positive because at night we will not be able to use the rapid movement and it will be easier and quicker to reach the various stages, but negative because we have areas that are really too small, even if well characterized.
In addition to the classic competitions, there are various challenges scattered across the map of Palm City. We can, for example, devote ourselves to the search for "pink neon flamingos", try to pass as quickly as possible in front of speed cameras and try to destroy all the billboards. Each of these groups of challenges, once completed, will reward us with a unique car.
The graphics sector is based on the Frostbite 3 engine, but does not shine particularly. Good car models, the effects concerning the latter and the general ones (such as rain and puddles on the ground), but we have noticed how, at least on PS4 smooth, everything seems a bit dated, from the textures to the general details of the various scenarios. In addition to this (especially at night) there is an abuse of screen effects which, combined with the various "neon" indicators, make the player's attention drop, sometimes I also understand a possible upcoming curve ... not the best in the head to head with the opponents.
With regard to the sound sphere, the rhombuses of the cars are reproduced really faithfully and (as we said previously) being able to modify them is a significant detail. The soundtrack that is the background to all our events is made up of very well chosen songs, but others a little less. Excellent choice of proposing certain songs only at night and others only during the day, enriching the atmosphere.
The race ends here
Need For Speed Heat is a really fun title, aimed at those audiences who love to spend time in complete lightheartedness, in the company of four wheels. As we have already reported, however, there are various issues that plague the title, such as the overly irritating police and a graphic sector still to be perfected. The sensations given by this title, however, are really good and our impression is that the developers have guessed the correct path that, by perfecting everything, will be able to bring the saga to the old glories.
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7.8 Fun, but needs to be perfectedPoints in favor
- Funny
- Full-bodied customization
- Well thought out day / night system
Points against
- In the long run it could be boring
- Graphic sector a little behind
- Police too "science fiction"
