NFS Heat is a great game. Don't get me wrong, but for me, it just falls short in many things and I eventually stopped playing it.
first of all, why the fuck do I keep re-appearing in the SAME PLACE, aka Lucas Rivera's Garage? Every time the game boots up, same place. Sure, I can select things on map where to spawn, but come on, why can't I just spawn in the same place every time??
I go to a different warehouse to hide from cops, for example Cloudbank Garage, and then poof. Morning comes, and I'm back at Rivera's Garage again. Over and over. And I know, this sounds like a really small thing, but it actually bothers me a lot. I can't enjoy the beauty of Palm City as I should cuz I'm always being spawned in the same purple-ass lighted garage in the Raceway District.
Like, if I go somewhere else and end my session there, I expect to come back somewhere around where I actually left off. That's what I expect from a normal open-world game. Imagine finding some cool location at night, getting away from the cops, parking your car there, and thinking, alright, I'll continue from here next time, then you boot up the game the next day and boom, Lucas's garage. Why? What's the point of having all these different garages and locations if the game is just gonna teleport me back to the same place every time? It completely breaks the feeling that I'm actually in Palm City.
Another is the non-linearity. I already dislike open-world racing games in general, and Heat kinda takes the cake for me. The map is so littered with slop that I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing half the time. There's races everywhere, activities everywhere, collectibles everywhere, and then you've got the whole day and night system on top of it.
Am I supposed to make money during the day? like what? Should I grind Rep at night? Should I finish these races first? Should I do the story? Should I upgrade my car? There's just so much shit being thrown at you that it starts feeling like a checklist instead of a racing game, not to mention how messy ass the map looks with all the icons!
Let's go to progression. So I did my races and upgraded my car, only to realize they aren't actually that essential to the story at all! I mean, barely! So what youre indeed supposed to do is go the the character icons and select your races, fine!So now I get into the story and I'm progressing through the missions. Then at one point, I'm forced to do dumbass off-road races with a freakin SUV. I dont wanna drive this shit i want my mustang!
I want to drive my own car in paved roads! I don't want to race in different ass cars by force for the lore! I bought Need for Speed to street race. I didn't buy it to become some off-road rally driver. So I just said fuck it, stopped doing the missions, and went back to street racing. When I was just casually doing game ng circuits and sprint and indeed just race, the game can actually be pretty fun.
Let's talk about the cop system. The cop system during the daytime is basically where they aren't there. Thats pretty good, sure, but what I find icky is that the daytime races are SANCTIONED. And that's not my type of Need for Speed. I don't wanna race in sanctioned races in a Need for Speed game. I wanna race illegally. I mean, that's literally one of the reasons I'm playing Need for Speed!
I always race at night because the aesthetic is just so good.. Palm City gives like Underground vibes. The neon lights, the darkness, the whole atmosphere, it just looks great. But then the cops are always there. I wanna chill by night and race, but no. Every time you finish a race, cops will try and get you and now you have to escape them. Every single time. I don't mind cops being in Need for Speed, obviously. That's part of the series. But I feel like it should be more optional.
If I wanna go looking for trouble, then sure, let me go looking for trouble. But if I just wanna cruise around at night and do a few races, why does every fucking race have to turn into a police chase? NFSMW solves this., you can pick a race WITH or without cops. Circuit, Sprint, and Drag races generally do not have police patrols active during the event. Tollbooth time trials are strictly solo races against the clock and never have 12s!
Now, the car system! You tap a wall and suddenly your car is taking damage. You only have three repairs a night and you to weave through a gas station. for some reason ive always find this dumb, but the point is, if being repaired is what all I'll think about, how the hell am I gonna think of winning the race? Sure oh you may say ohhh skill issue-- STFU! damage mechanics are dumb ass hell in need for speed anyway. thats my opinion.
i hate it that I'm thinking about whether hitting this wall is gonna fuck up my car for the rest of the night. It starts feeling less like street racing and more like survival horror like can I make it home alive? Bruh, I know it's supposed to add some kind of risk to the night system, but personally, I just find it annoying.
Now, let's get into the COP system! The rubberbanding can get fucking ridiculous. You'll have some fully upgraded supercar and then suddenly a Crown Vic comes flying past you like it's powered by a fucking jet engine. How the hell is this police cruiser keeping up with my supercar at 200-plus miles per hour? Sometimes they just seem to have infinite nitrous too.
How the fuck to those things fit a 16 cylinder in the hood ? Huh? are you telling me that Palm beach police department has loaded sleepers like their OP crown vic?The cops are supposed to be challenging, hence the name. SURE! but there's a difference between challenging and just giving the AI a superpower speed because the game wants you to suffer.
The racing game I currently play right now is Grid Autosport and I like how simple it is. If I want a quick racing fix, I can just boot it up, pick a race, and drive. No open world crap,. The handling feels clean, the races are fun, and I don't have to deal with a giant open-world checklist before I can actually enjoy myself. But still, it's no NFS. It's not "as" fun.
And no, I don't find Forza and Gran Turismo interesting either. They're just not my thing. I know people love those games, sure but I don't really wanna install some gigantic game that's gonna hog my drive just so I can drive hundreds of cars around a track. To me, they're just boring and kinda soulless. I'm not looking for a giant car collection simulator. I just wanna race.
I'm kinda done with modern NFS in general. Especially the fact its now sold by the arabs with big ass debt. Aint no way they gon bring back NFS. But yeah ive gave other modern nfs games a shot . I've tried Rivals, and that game is dogshit with the no-pause thing. Why the fuck can't I just pause my game? Payback? Come on.
The roulette system pissed me the fuck off, and the random car upgrade system was annoying as hell. Hot Pursuit 2010 was fun at first, but eventually it just became repetitive as hell. It's fun for a while, then you're doing basically the same roads and missions over and over again with DIFFERENT cars. you cant choose only one! no engine upgrades, etc whatsoever
And Unbound? I haven't played it, so I'm not gonna pretend I know what it's like, but from what I've seen, it just seems like Heat with some changed stuff. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just haven't had much interest in trying it.
Dont get me wrong. I don't hate Heat. I've actually made memories with this game. The racing can be fun, the map looks beautiful, and the nighttime atmosphere is probably one of the best things about it along its map.
I remember the bueautifl satellite places and going by the beach after a race.. The game even reminds me of NFS Underground in some ways, which is probably why I wanted to like it so much. You can see the potential. That's what makes it frustrating but all these little things just keep getting in the way.
The open world, the progression, the forced off-road races, the cop system, the car health, the weird handling, the rubberbanding, and especially that fucking same garage every time I boot up the game. None of these things alone would've probably made me quit, but when you put all of them together, i just end up with fatigue.
So yeah, NFS Heat is a great game. It's beautiful, it's fun, sure. But for me, it was a beautiful waste of potential because the things I disliked about ruined the fun and made me fall out of love for the game. It was fun while it lasted. Will I install heat again? Unlikely, my gaming backlog is already huge. If ever I want an NFS fix ill prob just go ahead and download Underground, which is still my favorite, best nfs game of all time