Scheduled to release at the beginning of November 2019, “Heat” is the latest title in the Need for Speed franchise. Started in 1994 on the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and MS-DOS, the racing game matured with the third title – the eponymous Hot Pursuit.
A quarter of a century since the original came out, Need for Speed Heat tries to capture the attention of gamers in a rather convoluted and cluttered segment of the gaming industry. The biggest problems with the official trailer for Heat are the recurrent themes, over-exaggerated by the ominous tone of a police officer, trap music, a widebody Polestar 1 that drifts like a rear-wheel-drive car, and high-speed chases.
The description of the trailer reads: “In NFS Heat, earn bank by day to create your perfect ride through sanctioned Speedhunters Showdown events.” Such wow, very racing, not impressive at all. “By night, enter illicit street races alongside your crew, earning rep and building heat. But stay ready – cops are waiting and not all of them play fair.” Don’t you think that Fast & Furious vibes intertwine with those of Hot Pursuit?
Therein lies the elephant in the room. Ghost Games is notoriously sloppy with Need for Speed ever since Rivals in 2013. Their work got so slapdash two years later with Need for Speed that the developers didn’t even think about a suffix to separate this game from the 1994 original. The reviews aren’t exactly stellar either, a six out of ten at best.
On the upside, Heat will see the return of Ferrari to the franchise after four years of absence due to licensing issues. The Prancing Horse is one of many other brands of exotica in the game, namely 33 brands and a grand total of 127 cars according to Electronic Arts.
It’s unclear what EA expects from the newest title in the franchise, the 24th installment that’s supposed to commemorate 25 years of Need for Speed. The micro-transactions in Payback were so bad that r/needforspeed had tons of threads calling out the devs for the constant grinding originating from the pay-to-win design of the game. Electronic Arts is also known for offering a DLC for a DLC in the case of The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff, and that’s saying something about the grubby business model of EA.
On that note, it should be mentioned that the people behind Gran Turismo Sport have a better understanding of car culture and racing than those who rehashed Need for Speed for the umpteenth time. If you don't care about the police chases, trap music, and Hollywood-like narrative of Heat, then do yourself a favor and pick the better game.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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