NEED FOR SPEED: HEAT
Drive. For the night is dark and full of cops
The Need For Speed series has always been at its most ebullient when the streetlights are on and the sirens are flashing, and Heat embraces this front and centre. But modernity insists focussing on the thrill of the chase alone in 2019 would be too narrow. So Heat gives you a choice between gameplay styles – and the result is literally night and day.
If you want to go and cause trouble with the cops and then try to lose them and bank your newly-earned street rep, just select ‘Night’ before setting out. After dark, they’re hot on the heels of miscreants. If you’d prefer to go exploring and do all the usual Burnout Paradise-style billboard smashes, stunt jumps, speed traps, and collectible hunting, you can go out during the day when the police are more lenient.
The options don’t end there. Time attack fans can race ghosts, online crews can ride together, offroad fans get some nice-looking events, drift fans can get properly sideways, and (of course) there’s a story mode too. You can even play online or off this time – it’s your choice. Indeed, if you want to spend hours in the garage, creating decals and modding your favourite licensed car to within an inch of its life, you can do that too, but it’s never forced on you. You’re left to play however you see fit, which is really cool.
Everything’s well fleshed-out, impressively presented, and runs beautifully. It controls well too, with a pump of the accelerator kicking the back out into a slide, and the handbrake doing the same only slowing you far more.
MIND THE… OH
So what’s the catch? Well, there are a couple of big issues. First, the act of driving is oversimplified thanks to 90% of the scenery being completely destructible. If it isn’t made of stone or doesn’t have a trunk big enough for a whole owl family to live in, it will fall apart like balsa wood when you touch it. Lifeguard huts, solar farms, and even palm trees all snap like polystyrene with the slightest nudge. This keeps you from constantly crashing, certainly, but it also feels a bit like when some idiot shouts ‘now you can use your hands too’ when you’re playing football. The ruleset’s changed and suddenly all the focus and some of the challenge is gone. And with it, the enjoyment.
That said, actually succeeding is very difficult, because the Heat meter only ever goes up and the cops soon bring their A-game. Their AI is strong, and pushing a squad car into a barrel roll is always enjoyable, but they soon keep coming at you too fast to clear, and your car is only able to be fixed a few times each night. You’ll want to increase your Heat level because it directly
“OVERSIMPLIFIED THANKS TO 90% OF THE SCENERY BEING DESTRUCTIBLE.”
multiplies your reputation score by up to 5x. Get busted, though, and it’s reset to 1x.
As a result of this, you never actually lose respect from being busted, you just delay its accumulation. So in effect you’re only gambling with your own time, not your actual credibility. And since there’s a fair deal of grinding anyway, losing 20 minutes’ skilful play to the annoying Busted bar is very frustrating.
MOURNING GLORY
You’re left floundering for far too long in a slow, fragile ride before you get your car in strong enough shape to advance your rep level high enough to continue the story. Once you make that big step, things improve, but we have to admit the story isn’t even as entertaining as the first The Crew’s and that’s saying something. It’s between Level 40 and 50 that the game is at its best, as you grow used to its systems and start prevailing against formerly insurmountable odds.
When the story’s done and dusted, there’s a wealth of stuff left to do, like hit the level cap of 50 (which you should be able to manage in a few days), finish the side-stories, try to maintain online ghost trial dominance, and tick off all those map icons.
Heat is a decent Need
For Speed game (hooray!) and nicely polished given its complexity, but the destructible scenery lets it down somewhat and the idea wagon’s running on its rims at this point – it’s just been done too many times before, and better too.
The Heat meter effectively turns GTA’s wanted level into score attack, which is awesome. But the open-world busywork, generic city, and too-flimsy obstacles dilute the otherwise decent gameplay. Justin Towell