GTPNewsWire
Contributing Writer
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- GTPHQ
This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:
This article was published by Andrew Evans (@Famine) on November 8th, 2019 in the Need for Speed HEAT category.
Need for Speed Heat Launches Today
- Thread starter GTPNewsWire
- 15 comments
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- 124
- London
Got my hands on an early copy. To be honest i'm still not sure how i feel about it.
It's just okay i think. It's not great & it's not terrible, although personally my negatives outweigh the positives;
But that wasn't a difficult task.
I'm just not excited to get back to it to be honest. It feels like a missed opportunity.
It's just okay i think. It's not great & it's not terrible, although personally my negatives outweigh the positives;
- Driving mechanics are pretty much the same as Payback which isn't great.
- The game world whilst diverse is fairly bland & lifeless. Fairly tired of these big empty cities, day or night.
- Graphics leave a lot to be desired with comparisons to similar games, they aren't great & noticeably worse then NFS 2015.
- Car & character choice is okay but could be better. Customisation is decent enough.
- The story that i have played so far is pretty throw-away & the writing is god awful. But there is some fun to be had at least.
- The police heat level system is nice but needs some work & balancing.
- AI is pretty dumb.
But that wasn't a difficult task.
I'm just not excited to get back to it to be honest. It feels like a missed opportunity.
LeGeNd-1
Premium
- 7,265
- Australia
- GTP_LeGeNd-1
So more or less the same then. Glad I didn't fall for the marketing and bought it day 1. I see on PSN the deluxe edition still has the KS Evo as well even though it was listed as pre-order bonus.
Is there a garage limit on how many cars you can have? Also, I assume it still doesn't have a "Free Play" mode where you can freely test out and modify cars you already unlocked without using credits or affecting the main story mode? It's so frustrating when the only good thing about recent NFSes have been customization, and you have to grind grind grind if you want to mess around with every car. The last NFS with this feature was Undercover with "My Cars".
Is there a garage limit on how many cars you can have? Also, I assume it still doesn't have a "Free Play" mode where you can freely test out and modify cars you already unlocked without using credits or affecting the main story mode? It's so frustrating when the only good thing about recent NFSes have been customization, and you have to grind grind grind if you want to mess around with every car. The last NFS with this feature was Undercover with "My Cars".
- 1,861
- Sweden
I just have played for a bit. Its much better than payback, the driving physics has improved
Campared hp payback. Customization is better than decent what more do you Ask for, no other racing game has Any near the level of the customization of NFS heat. The customization is the best if any racing game ever or any NFS. I kind of like to be able to have a story based racing game. Car sounds are great. I like the exhaust customization you can make the cars sound very good. And no rubber banding thats good while the crew 2 stinks all over It. I am very impressed with the changes they made in new one. Can’t remember how many cars you can have but i got to be at least 10
Campared hp payback. Customization is better than decent what more do you Ask for, no other racing game has Any near the level of the customization of NFS heat. The customization is the best if any racing game ever or any NFS. I kind of like to be able to have a story based racing game. Car sounds are great. I like the exhaust customization you can make the cars sound very good. And no rubber banding thats good while the crew 2 stinks all over It. I am very impressed with the changes they made in new one. Can’t remember how many cars you can have but i got to be at least 10
- 980
- United Kingdom
- theufc33
Just wanna debate a couple bits here. No ill will or anything, just some of my thoughts.
The driving mechanics are definitely still based on the same foundation, but I was playing Payback a week or so before Heat launched and cars are SIGNIFICANTLY easier to turn in this one, especially with some race tyres. It's much lighter and in general, a lot more fun.
The world to me isn't too bad at all, especially compared to NFS 15 which almost felt like a ghost city. Heat personally feels more alive.
Just my opinion but I think the graphics are fantastic. Especially at night with heavy rain - it's much improved over Payback and in some cases, to me, looks better than NFS 15 at night.
Can't comment too much on the story since I'm only a few missions through it, but as always with an NFS story, it's gonna be a bit campy and what not, so I don't mind.
The police: holy 🤬. In my level 140 180SX, they stay on my tail like rabid dogs at anything over Heat level 2 - it's fun and intense but man, it's hard to shake them. Even my NOS bottle empties pretty quick without much of a boost (but only using the first bottle you get so that's likely a reason why). Could indeed do with some balancing, maybe a slight bit of tuning at low levels - but as is, they're better this way than being too slow ala 2015.
Yeah, the AI can crash sometimes but it's not too bad, thankfully.
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- 7,936
- Wreckage, Turn 1
- PrecisionXCIV
It seems a bit odd heat levels are not capped at the beginning of the game, like they were with Most Wanted 2005. If you initiate a chase with your sub-160 starter car, it is not long before you reach heat 3 and cops become virtually impossible to shake off.
Things become more manageable once you have a car rated above 200, but I can imagine casuals being turned off by the difficulty in the early stages of the game.
- 461
- Ireland
Basically this, but a slight nuance. I admit to getting help, but there are environmental assists that will help to evade cops. If there is a jump over water or a jump to higher ground you can evade the cops, but you need to get to the places and that ain't easy (check google and youtube for escape locations). That aside you reallay are fighting the alamo with anything less than 180 rating for yor car. All I can say having played the game further the controls are straight forward enough to get used to, and RP is best earned via the races and events. Free Roaming is best saved until you have a 200Lvl+ car (250 lvl to be sure) otherwise you'd best know the best evasion points (again check YT). Other than that the day races are very straight forward and all I want to know are the money makers. The game is very linear compared to 2015, but more in depth than payback imo.
DriftShock
(Banned)
- 190
- Carlton, East Yorkshire
- GSRT_MiraiNG
- GAMERSWORLDxX
- 2,031
- Sunderland
My initial impression on this game is that I'm utterly hooked. It's strange because it's not that fundamentally different to Payback, I guess I just feel that what is different has really perfected things. I played for about 8 hours straight yesterday and couldn't put it down. I'm having a blast with it and I really feel the engine swaps have improved the potential longevity, since I'm a sucker for those.
The speedway jump that goes over the hole in the barrier is best for this - you have to take it straight and vast to avoid getting snagged on the barrier. Take that one, the cops will screw it up, and you can leave them behind in the speedway while they figure out how to get out.I actually managed to escape a heat 4 pursuit with the starter M3 tuned at 140, it took some time to escape them but I found a jump and they all crashed
- 461
- Ireland
True. In trying to make the game more racey they've killed the arcadey drifting of the previous two games. Instigating a drift is also more clunky imo. There's work to be done for transitions and holding a drift.
What spec is your drift car btw?
Edit: I've been having a think, but I suspect we are making a mistake comparing this game to Payback when we should be comparing it more closely to 2015. Payback addressed a few ideas such as day and night as well as the always online. It also went the road of a full narrative and specific cars for specific events, but 2015 and heat run a more open narrative and play style with different disciplines but the ability to use one care for all events. basically one you can adapt via actual parts as opposed to what was likely to end up a cash grab in payback with speed cards. I suspect heat is a reboot of 2015 or at least nfs 2015 2.0. Heat has taken the day and night setting of payback, but you are effectively playing with one or the other where as 2015 had static times of day (always night). All in all the game is a bit more characteristic of an improved (debatably) 2015 as opposed to an improved payback. As an aside the handling of 2015 and payback were seen as close albeit tweeked for payback, so the handling comparisons we've had would apply closely to 2015 as well imo.
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- 3,157
- Lokeren
- breyzipp
- breyzipp
I own NFS 2015, Payback and now Heat as well as a lot of other racing games (playing on X1X). NFS 2015 didn't really keep my interest for long but in Payback I finished the story and completed most activities.
My initial impression of Heat was not too strong, it felt more of the same as Payback with yet again a very awkward handling model (I really dislike the handling in NFS). But as I kept playing the game more and more grew on me to the point it seriously got me hooked now.
* The handling is as aweful as it can be in a NFS game... for the starter cars. That starter BMW M3 didn't feel great at first but it improved a bit as I added some parts. As soon as I got to REP 10 and got access to the BMW i8 K.S Edition and started upgrading that to a track spec, the handling started to get much better, night and day (pun intended) difference to the M3. Later at REP 18 when I got the Corvette Grand Sport K.S Edition I used that as my main car and now at REP level 32 and car level 360 I still use that as my main car. Sure it's still an arcade NFS racer, but at least it doesn't feel as awkward to drive a high end car in Heat as it did in Payback.
* What I absolutely like about the handling is how it's represented in this 2D-diagram where the X-axis is Race vs. Drift and the Y-axis is Off-road vs On-road. And each car stock has a dot in that diagram. You can add suspension, tires etc to infuence where your car's dot is on that diagram. Early on you have parts for Road, Offroad, Race and Drift. But from Pro level parts on, you have parts that combine 2 in each quadrant. For example track parts upgrade both Road and Race, Rally parts upgrade both Off-road and Race. Showdown is the name for Drift + Road and Speedcross for Drift + Off-road. This makes a lot of sense and it's such a better system than having copies of the same cars in each "division" as it is in Payback. Absolutely love the car upgrading system in Heat
* The main thing in Heat I like a lot of the Day & Night mechanism of earning cash during legal races in daytime and earning reputation in nighttime. At night the races are absolutely thrilling where cops can interfere in the middle of a race. Also the more cops chase you, the more heat you generate and Heat becomes the multiplier for your REP. If you make it safely to one of the safehouses spread all over the map, you gain that REP with it's Heat multiplier. But if the cops bust you, you loose the Heat multiplier and loose some cash as well. It's always a gamble, let's say you have a REP of 20.000 from a couple of races and a Heat multiplier of x3, basically 60.000 REP in the pocket when you reach a safehouse. Do you dare to race a bit more this night and maybe add another race's REP and some cops chases to maybe get 30000 REP x4 Heat? That would net you 120.000 REP for a small extra effort. But if the cops bust you, you loose all that Heat multiplier and end the night with only 30.000 REP and a cash fee. Your car also takes damage from crashes and at night you only have 3 gas station repairs left.
I had some incredibly tense races with a Heat level at 4 or 5 (5 is the max) with a ton of REP to cash in, desperately looking over the map for gas stations or safe houses and a bunch of cops on my tail... this is an experience of excitement/thrill/whatever I haven't experienced at this level in any other racing game before.
Other things I like about the game:
* The presentation is superb: The graphics are top notch, especially at night, the Miami theme of Palm City is great and I love the latin-influenced music.
* The main story (while being way too short) is MUCH better than that idiotic story of "The House" in Payback. OMG Payback was so aweful and cringy. In Heat it's done much better, of course this is still Need For Speed and the story is about street racers vs cops, but it's done pretty good.
* Over 120 cars in the game, I think that's about double of what NFS 2015 and almost double of what Payback started with. It's disappointing to still see the previous generation Mercedes-AMG A 45 while the new one is already out since... 2018 I think? But that's more a personal note, overall I'm absolutely happy with the cars included in the game.
* The car customization is sublime, as it has been in other NFS games as well.
* There are a ton of collectibles, speed traps, billboards, drift zones etc to complete. And some cars are locked behind progress for this. So there is enough stuff to keep you busy after you complete the main story.
* The game doesn't feel too grindy, I feel that from normally playing the game and racing, I earn enough cash from daytime to buy and upgrade the cars I want, and REP from night races goes up fast enough as well (it's a bit slower for me since I usually play it safe
).
I didn't try any multiplayer yet, but that is not my main interest of the game. Haven't tried much off-road racing and drifting either since I'm first focussing on the races.
What I dislike:
* Cops are a bit hard to escape from at high Heat levels but it can be cheated by jumping over water or driving into water.
* 30 FPS for a racing game in 2019... not fun.
My initial impression of Heat was not too strong, it felt more of the same as Payback with yet again a very awkward handling model (I really dislike the handling in NFS). But as I kept playing the game more and more grew on me to the point it seriously got me hooked now.
* The handling is as aweful as it can be in a NFS game... for the starter cars. That starter BMW M3 didn't feel great at first but it improved a bit as I added some parts. As soon as I got to REP 10 and got access to the BMW i8 K.S Edition and started upgrading that to a track spec, the handling started to get much better, night and day (pun intended) difference to the M3. Later at REP 18 when I got the Corvette Grand Sport K.S Edition I used that as my main car and now at REP level 32 and car level 360 I still use that as my main car. Sure it's still an arcade NFS racer, but at least it doesn't feel as awkward to drive a high end car in Heat as it did in Payback.
* What I absolutely like about the handling is how it's represented in this 2D-diagram where the X-axis is Race vs. Drift and the Y-axis is Off-road vs On-road. And each car stock has a dot in that diagram. You can add suspension, tires etc to infuence where your car's dot is on that diagram. Early on you have parts for Road, Offroad, Race and Drift. But from Pro level parts on, you have parts that combine 2 in each quadrant. For example track parts upgrade both Road and Race, Rally parts upgrade both Off-road and Race. Showdown is the name for Drift + Road and Speedcross for Drift + Off-road. This makes a lot of sense and it's such a better system than having copies of the same cars in each "division" as it is in Payback. Absolutely love the car upgrading system in Heat
* The main thing in Heat I like a lot of the Day & Night mechanism of earning cash during legal races in daytime and earning reputation in nighttime. At night the races are absolutely thrilling where cops can interfere in the middle of a race. Also the more cops chase you, the more heat you generate and Heat becomes the multiplier for your REP. If you make it safely to one of the safehouses spread all over the map, you gain that REP with it's Heat multiplier. But if the cops bust you, you loose the Heat multiplier and loose some cash as well. It's always a gamble, let's say you have a REP of 20.000 from a couple of races and a Heat multiplier of x3, basically 60.000 REP in the pocket when you reach a safehouse. Do you dare to race a bit more this night and maybe add another race's REP and some cops chases to maybe get 30000 REP x4 Heat? That would net you 120.000 REP for a small extra effort. But if the cops bust you, you loose all that Heat multiplier and end the night with only 30.000 REP and a cash fee. Your car also takes damage from crashes and at night you only have 3 gas station repairs left.
I had some incredibly tense races with a Heat level at 4 or 5 (5 is the max) with a ton of REP to cash in, desperately looking over the map for gas stations or safe houses and a bunch of cops on my tail... this is an experience of excitement/thrill/whatever I haven't experienced at this level in any other racing game before.
Other things I like about the game:
* The presentation is superb: The graphics are top notch, especially at night, the Miami theme of Palm City is great and I love the latin-influenced music.
* The main story (while being way too short) is MUCH better than that idiotic story of "The House" in Payback. OMG Payback was so aweful and cringy. In Heat it's done much better, of course this is still Need For Speed and the story is about street racers vs cops, but it's done pretty good.
* Over 120 cars in the game, I think that's about double of what NFS 2015 and almost double of what Payback started with. It's disappointing to still see the previous generation Mercedes-AMG A 45 while the new one is already out since... 2018 I think? But that's more a personal note, overall I'm absolutely happy with the cars included in the game.
* The car customization is sublime, as it has been in other NFS games as well.
* There are a ton of collectibles, speed traps, billboards, drift zones etc to complete. And some cars are locked behind progress for this. So there is enough stuff to keep you busy after you complete the main story.
* The game doesn't feel too grindy, I feel that from normally playing the game and racing, I earn enough cash from daytime to buy and upgrade the cars I want, and REP from night races goes up fast enough as well (it's a bit slower for me since I usually play it safe
).I didn't try any multiplayer yet, but that is not my main interest of the game. Haven't tried much off-road racing and drifting either since I'm first focussing on the races.
What I dislike:
* Cops are a bit hard to escape from at high Heat levels but it can be cheated by jumping over water or driving into water.
* 30 FPS for a racing game in 2019... not fun.
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