The game ran smoothly, and I can’t say I ran into any issues during my time playing it, but I did focus on solo rather than online. Several car manufacturers have thrown themselves into the mix and you will easily find some of your favourites – I currently love tearing up the streets in my Porsche. Visually the game is well put together and the variety of vehicles you can choose from is vast. It would have been nice to have a variety of genre of music to pick from depending on your mood though. The sound effects, including the engine roars and gear shifts, are all on point too. It’s easy listening and fits the racing theme. Ghost Games have managed to include a great variety of tracks and I don’t find myself wanting to mute the music. They include all the classic personalities you’d expect – the mysterious officer, the officer with an aggression problem and friends with a sibling rivalry. The characters in the story are OK but there’s nothing overly special about them.
![nfs heat day night screen nfs heat day night screen](https://www.trustedreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2019/11/13-11-2019_01-03-14-nfumijvf-1024x576.png)
The story feels like a classic Fast & Furious/getaway movie, with twists and turns. In order to bank the rep you’ve earned you have to go back to a garage, or else it’s at risk if you enter another chase and get caught. However, I found an easy way to escape them is to simply take a jump as the police cars can’t handle it. When you’re being chased the timer is very unforgiving, so be careful. Your car can be repaired up to three times a night by going through a petrol station. To escape them you have to drive quick enough for them to lose sight of you. In order to get caught they must stop you or do sufficient damage to your vehicle. If the police do catch you, you will lose a bunch of rep and money you have earnt. It means you can speed around as fast as you want during the day with no police interference – it would be good if they were present in both. Whilst it’s nice to have such a contrast between the day and night, it is a little unrealistic. There is no automatic transition between the two modes based on in-game time – instead you choose when you want to switch between the two. This nice co-operative mix of daytime cash generation and high-rep night races is done smoothly. This is what moves the story along and enables progression through the game. You need to build up your reputation in order to enter the bigger races, which in turn earn you more money and help you get noticed. The races are exciting and the police chases are crazy. Night races are all about building your rep, rather than generating cash.
![nfs heat day night screen nfs heat day night screen](https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/covers/images/029/347/776/large/criterion-games-criterion-games-a3-300dpi-daynight-20191209-01b.jpg)
At the start of the night your heat level is low but the faster you drive and the more races you do, the more police presence there will be and the more rep you can earn.
#Nfs heat day night screen full
The events are full of fanfare, they’re legal and are relatively stress-free due to the absence of police trying to ram and arrest you.Īt night time, however, it is all about pure illegal street racing. For each you will need the right type of car with the right spec to stand a chance, so you will need to keep various types of vehicles in your garage to suit the race in question. You compete in racing events to earn money, which can range from off-road racing to drifting. This means if you get into a police chase you can’t pause to mark a route, or more importantly in a long gaming session, means you can’t pause to go for a pee! In addition to these modes, Need for Speed have changed things up for the better with the Day and Night cycle. I prefer playing in solo as you have the ability to pause the game, whereas online everything has to remain in real time. Online, you will have other racers with you around the map meaning randoms could crash into you, but as you may guess, solo mode means it’s just you. You can play in either online mode or solo. This feature instantly makes you feel more connected to the character you play, rather than playing as the default young, white male or a person you never see. You can choose how you appear in the game from a dozen or so pre-generated avatars. You play the role of a rookie street racer, trying to make a name for themselves. I have fond memories of NFS Underground 2 and the last one, Need For Speed (2015), was great fun so I was looking forward to jumping back into the franchise to see what it’s all about! It’s been a while since I played a NFS game. Developed by Ghost Games and published by EA, it is set in the fictional town of Palm City, meant to resemble Miami. Need for Speed Heat is your classic street racing game.