Review: Need for Speed Heat

Need For Speed Heat has finally arrived in the world and is looking more and more like the games from when the franchise reached its peak, as is the case with Need For Speed Underground 2, Need For Speed Most Wanted (Year 2005), among others. Without a doubt, the franchise is one of EA's (Electronic Arts) biggest milestones of the last 20 years. However, the latest games in the franchise have left something to be desired and many players were discouraged from continuing to follow the franchise. But have they changed and is it really worth buying and playing Need For Speed Heat (NFS Heat)? Check out my full review and find out!

THE city palm city it's huge and packed with amazing, well-structured detail. In addition, police pursuits are very severe and the risk of losing complete control of your vehicle in very heavy rain is greater, these details are really interesting. Need For Speed Heat also provides the heat of police escapes in the fictional Palm City, inspired by the lighting, neon, lights, skyscrapers and paradises of Miami. Including, the map is quite extensive and reminded me of the classic renowned games of the franchise.

Still, in Need For Speed Heat, I could see that the Ghost Games (company that developed the game) seems to bring together the whole universe of illegal racing, from escaping to the police, personalization kits and also large skids, with the open worlds of fictional cities. In other words, the company decided to integrate all the best in a vivid and definitely impressive experience. Before the release of the game I was already managing my expectations and I was surprised by these great news.

When you have the first contact with the new NFS Heat, you will already realize that we have a game with a solid foundation, unlike previous games, many without context. This time, with Palm City, we have a much brighter experience, with its skyscrapers, cars circulating in the streets, other players also exploring this lively world (in Online Mode). In addition, excessive speed is soon detected by the radars of the police officers who are on patrol and you will quickly be pursued due to the infractions.

Customization goes far beyond just customizing the cars you buy in the game, you can also customize your character who will be the main protagonist throughout the game's plot. By the way, all cutscenes are very well structured and, again, unlike previous games in the franchise, now we have a well-structured and differentiated context. In other words, there is a very realistic aspect of the vehicles, the environment and the characters, making the story closer to the player.

In Need For Speed Heat, there are forested and mountainous areas, as well as other iconic Need For Speed areas. It's an open world game that often reminded me a little of Forza Horizon 4, but unlike some more recent evolutions, it does not have the famous 24-hour cycle, as we even have in Forza Horizon that I mentioned earlier.

In practice, there are weather effects, such as the passage from dry to wet weather at different times in Need For Speed Heat, raining heavily in certain situations. Not that it always affects driving, because the practical effects are mainly visual. Still, there is no automatic passage of time. It is up to the player to decide between playing day or night, being able to alternate between these options. There are events that are only available during the day and others at night (especially cracks).

All events in Need For Speed Heat have an important advantage. That's because by getting the essential financial resources in the game, you'll be able to improve your car's performance and acquire new customizations or even buy other cars. As you improve your reputation, through frequent challenges, facing rivals, you will have your reputation level increased, which in turn gives you access to new cars. This means that you'll have to step on the accelerator if you want to get to the best vehicles in the game, the fastest and most powerful, by the way.

Another very interesting aspect of the game is the diverse system for customizing your car. In practice, the enhancement kits in NFS Heat are the most varied I've seen in the franchise to date. Not only can they improve the visual aspect of the vehicle, using authentic parts from the creators of the events, or even original kits, but they can considerably improve the vehicle's driving ability, adding nitros, which go down to small details such as engine noise or exhaust effect. (I liked these possibilities). Logically, it is important to contextualize that all these changes have a cost and you will, again, have to run a lot to get them.

Regarding the gameplay of Need For Speed Heat, I can say in practice that we are facing an arcade modality, which at first can cause some strangeness for beginner players and constant crashes (this happened to me, believe me!). The constant Drift function of the car in tighter corners is not a very natural movement, but it is an essential maneuver if you don't want to waste time for other racers.

Bugs. It is already interesting to start the paragraph with that statement, as the game has several bugs and I believe that they will be corrected over time through updates by Ghost Games itself. However, in my analyzes I take impartiality as a key point and this affected my experience at times, especially in game crashes that can be seen in the two videos with the transmissions that I made on YouTube. On one occasion the game simply closed and I ended up at home.