My likes and dislikes of Need For Speed Heat
With me completing NFS Heat 100% (completed all races, completed all stories, collected all collectibles, completed all achievements), I was gonna make my review of this game. However too much time has passed, so this will now be my likes and dislikes of the game after completing it 100%.
Driving Physics
Well, I wasn't so surprised that the drift handling model makes a return from previous NFS games after seeing the trailer in August. So I wasn't so disappointed to see this handling model in the game when I was expecting it.
The driving in NFS Heat feels a whole lot better than in NFS 2015 (NFS Reboot), but I would still prefer Black Box's grip handling model.
Race Game Modes
There's basically only four game modes in NFS Heat. Circuit (on-road and off-road) races, Sprint (on-road and off-road) races, Drift trials, and Time trials. The amount of game modes in this game is severely lacking. There are Drag performance parts in the game when Drag races aren't even present in the game right now. lol
NFS Heat really needs more game modes such as Drag races, Lap Knockout races, Speedtrap races, etc.
Customization
I don't have much to say about customization as I would rather be driving than customizing. lol
But the customization options look pretty good.
Story
Having a story in a racing game is not necessary, but it does enhance the experience if it makes you want to know more about the story.
The story in NFS Heat is just an "okay" story. It does not blow me away when I had seen this kind of story before in another game called Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. While watching the cutscenes, I think this game takes inspiration from GTA:SA with the three officers in the Palm City High-Speed Task Force.
Comparing the three officers in NFS Heat and GTA:SA:
Lt. Frank Mercer = Officer Frank Tenpenny (Both are corrupt cops and are leaders of their task force)
Officer Danny Shaw = Officer Eddie Pulaski (Both are corrupt cops and are the right-hand man of their leader)
Officer Eva Torres = Officer Jimmy Hernandez (Both are good cops and want to stop something instead of manipulating it)
Since I had seen this kind of plot before in a video game, this kind of takes away the experience from the story. I would prefer a story with ideas never been done before, but then again...all the ideas for stories in racing games have already been done. (Either become the best racer or a "revenge" story)
NFS The Run's story was different from the rest. It wasn't about becoming the best racer or a "revenge" story. It was about racing for your life (with a bounty placed on your head).
Police Pursuits
(Note: I only played police pursuits during the night sessions. I never played police pursuits during the day sessions.)
I really like playing games with hard AIs and the cop AIs in hard difficulty are very brutal during the beginning and the middle of the game progression. I like there's a Heat Level system in the game, just like the ones in previous NFS games. At Heat Level 3, 4 and 5, my heart was pumping hard as I didn't want to get busted and lose all my progress for the night.
However once I reached Rep Level 50 and unlocked all Ultimate+ parts, the cops are a cakewalk even at Heat Level 5.
Speaking of AIs...
Racer AIs (at Hard difficulty)
The Racer AIs in NFS Heat are broken. Why is it that there is always just one AI opponent that is significantly faster than the rest of the AIs?
This was frustrating in the beginning and middle of the game progression when it would be impossible to catch up to the AI in 1st place, causing restart after restart.
Speaking of restarts...
Pause screen keybind
Why is the Pause screen key "Tab" on PC? Why is it not the "Esc" key on PC? I'm sorry, but this is just so utterly stupid.
For many years, pressing the "Esc" key pauses the game. Why change the pause key to "Tab" on PC? 😞
During the whole game to the end, I had crossed the finish line and lose the races when I wanted to restart the race. But I couldn't when the pause key isn't the "Esc" key on keyboard. 😞
This is similar to what The Crew 2 was at launch when the key to access the menu was "F10" key instead of "Esc" key. (Right now, pressing "Esc" key accesses the menu in The Crew 2)
Choice of Day and Night
I like there's a choice to choose to play in the day for legal racing or night for illegal racing instead of waiting for a specific time of day to come to the game, especially when day lasts much longer than night.
However, I would still prefer to have a day-night cycle though.
Car Damage
Cars take WAYYYYYYY too much damage upon collisions, resulting in lots of frustrations. That also means relying on exploits to avoid car damage rather than toying with the cops like in previous NFS games.
Although there is a risk factor associated with car damage.
Speaking of risk factors...
Risk factor
The risk factor in NFS Heat is very high in the beginning and middle of the game progression when we want to avoid being busted to bank all the Rep for the night to unlock cars and parts. I like that there's a risk during the night.
Once we reach Rep Level 50 and Crew Rep Level 50, the risk factor is lost. We don't care as much about Rep gained in the night when we're max level for both personal and crew Reps.
Collectibles
I dread collectibles in any video game. I think they are just a waste of time and think that developers should focus on game modes instead of collectibles. However since I'm a completionist, I had to find all collectibles. And it wasn't easy, especially the flamingos.
I was bored outta my mind, searching for these collectibles.
I would prefer if devs just add easter eggs. Things you find that are not necessary for game progression, but are cool to find. Like many games in the 90s.
Crash Cams
Weirdly enough, nobody mentions about crash cams (and for good reason).
We do not need crash cams. I like that there are almost no crash cams in NFS Heat.
The only "crash cams" are when your car is flipped upside down. There is no key to reset your car. Or that I don't know the key to reset your car when flipped upside down.
"Soundtrack currently playing" popups
The soundtrack name popups that show on screen last way too short. It's only on screen for about 1 second before it disappears.
With some soundtracks having a long artist name and / or long soundtrack title, it will be very hard to see the name of the soundtrack playing.
It should last for about 5 seconds, so we know what the name of the soundtrack is playing.
Player vs. Player (PvP)
NFS Heat is heading to where The Crew 2 is at this rate...
This game desperately needs PvP as end-game once people completed everything 100% (like I did). Or this game will be dead once PvP actually launches just like The Crew 2 is dead.
And besides that, why is there no PvP at launch? Previous Black Box NFS games had PvP at launch.
Lost Save Game Data
This has struck me once so far. I lost all of my cars and my character reverted back to its default look. This is a very game-breaking bug that needs to be fixed ASAP!
Luckily for me, I only had 15 cars and the rewards are very generous compared to The Crew 2. So I played and got everything back. But I shouldn't have to do that in the first place! 😞
With the game's current state, I can't recommend NFS Heat to my friends. Especially with issues such as no PvP and lost save game data.
Thank you for reading! 🙂
