Need For Speed: Heat

Released in 2017, Need for Speed: Payback was one of the worst releases in the Need for Speed ​​series in a long time and had an impact on players’ confidence in the Ghost Games development team’s ability to handle Ghost Games Returns. This year with Need for Speed: Heat, an open-world racing game focused on police chases and the ability to modify vehicles, represents the elements most loved by its fans. Will the team succeed in creating a distinctive version showcase? After spending about 20 hours experimenting, we present you our review to learn more about this version.

Ghost Games Returns

Ghost Games returns and presents a story mode that puts you in the role of a novice racer who arrives in Palm City, famous for its racing, to make a name for himself in the world of street racing and grab people’s attention to attract attention The most famous racing group in the city is called The League. However, the latter is not interested in the legal races during the day, but rather looks for excitement in night races, which represent a greater challenge, especially in the presence of the police high-speed chase unit. The story focuses on the conflict between street racers and the fast pursuit unit, and while the story isn’t as bad as the previous version, it remains weak and uninteresting.

Technical Level

On a technical level, this game does not offer the technical appearance that we expect, since we have reached the end of the life of the current generation home devices. The graphics are slightly better than the previous version, but they remain below the required level. There is interest in various effects, such as wheel tracks on asphalt or flying sparks when coming into contact with some metal elements. The visualization of damage to vehicle bodies has become slightly better, and some elements in the environment are now less destructible.

Vehicle Controls

Controlling the vehicles is different from the previous version as you now feel the weight of the vehicle while driving. Although the controls of the vehicles were excellent in the previous version (one of the few advantages), the new controls are also good in the new version once you get used to them. What sets Palm City apart is your ability to switch between day and night. The races that take place during the day are “legal” races that you participate in to earn money. The “illegal” night races are your way of earning fame and are characterized by being exciting and stressful. You do not drive on a route prepared with barriers and without vehicles. These races are full of risks, such as a collision with trucks or… A late or wrong turn can cause you to go off the track, such mistakes cost you first place.

Police Chases and Night Racing

When racing at night, you may be chased by police vehicles. The number of races you complete during the night and the number of police vehicles that chase you increase the heat gauge, which doubles the fame points you will receive in case the police get caught by surrounding you or yours Destroy vehicle. This means that the heat meter will go down and you will lose a large percentage of the money and fame points that you have accumulated. Switching from day to night is simple and straightforward, but to stop fighting at night and ensure that you benefit from the fame points you have collected, you have to escape from the police and return to one of the garages, and it is not easy to do so from the police to escape, especially at high temperatures. The high altitude forces you to be followed by multiple vehicles and perhaps helicopters! The idea of ​​alternating between day and night was well implemented. To secure funds to purchase spare parts and new vehicles, race during the day to avoid police pursuits and take time to prepare your vehicles for the main event of night racing.

Vehicle Modification

The Drift and Off-Road Challenges also return in this version, although with less focus on them, and while the Off-Road racing is generally good and does justice to the variety of content, the Drift Challenges aren’t as fun like the previous ones The reason lies in the new control, which does not allow the appropriate leeway in the control. As for the vehicle, vehicle modification is an important part of this version and offers many possibilities from changing the external appearance such as replacing the shock absorbers or adding fenders and perhaps adding the desired phrases and graphics on the body. The vehicle’s performance is also adjustable to make it suitable for racing, off-road, drifting or normal driving. On the road, as you modify the vehicle to make it more suitable for racing and off-road driving, it will be seen that, as I mentioned earlier, drifting will not be as smooth as required, even if the vehicle is developed in such a way that it offers the best possible performance in this regard. The development of vehicles increases their level to make them suitable for the most difficult and competitive races.

Side Activities and Improvements

There are many side activities that can be done such as: B. violating certain media regulations and attempting to reach the maximum possible speed when using speed cameras. You will be rewarded for completing all these activities by getting your own vehicle for each activity, which is not an easy task but the vehicles on offer are tempting at the same time. When the experience begins, you will automatically be added to a team of runners with a series of timed challenges to complete as quickly as possible to challenge your teammates to beat your time.

Improvements and Conclusion

This version learns from and corrects “some” errors from the previous version. As mentioned, modifying vehicles involves spending money to purchase parts, rather than the previous card system, which was an attempt to pressure you into purchasing paid content. Races of all types are no longer tied to story missions, which have become a side activity that you can engage in or neglect.

Final Thoughts

Some errors still exist and some new errors have been made. The Time Challenge is about racing without speed and you have to drive carefully on narrow tracks that are usually far from the speed you aim for in races. You can face these challenges because of the high financial return and nothing more. Many of the races you will take part in will seem repetitive as the map is not large and there are several roads that are commonly used in different races, making you feel like you are repeating the same race over and over again , but with a faster vehicle and nothing more. The leveling system for vehicles is still illogical, as winning in this level is very difficult and perhaps even impossible. Below the level required for the race, but higher level of the vehicle to a certain extent can guarantee you an easy victory, even if some modification parts increase the vehicle level without affecting its performance!

Final Verdict

Need for Speed: Heat brings the beautiful feeling of speed and excitement when making sharp turns or overtaking other vehicles and trucks. There is no doubt that it has some annoying drawbacks and unsuccessful decisions, but at its core it offers racing fans fun games in general and tries to best represent the ideas that fans of the series liked. It may not be the strong return that the series deserves, but Need for Speed: Heat is proof that Ghost Games is capable of staying true to the spirit of the series and perhaps in the next version offer us the experience, that we have been waiting for.