Need For Speed Heat

IS THIS FRANCHISE FINALLY WARMING UP AGAIN?

- Stephen Ashby

We’re going to forget writing a clever intro line in this one, and just get this out of the way right now: Need For Speed Heat is fast. Cheek-flapping, eyeballdrying, left-your-lunch-at-the-start-line fast. Hit your nitrous and few games can match the feeling of intense speed. And this is a NFS game. So that is a very good thing.

Hurtling through the streets at breakneck speed is even better at night. Heat has a neat hook that lets you choose when you drive. In the day, you’ll join official, sanctioned races and other challenges that earn you Bank (or ‘money’ as most people call it). It’s all above board, and you can cruise around the city to your heart’s content without fear of reproach.

At night, that changes. Aside from everything getting darker – a fairly common occurrence at night – the races are distinctly less legal. These races earn you Rep (aka experience points) that will unlock new upgrades and cars to buy with the cash you earned during the day. The twist here is that if a cop spots you racing in the night, they won’t nod in appreciation of your sick powerslides. They’ll turn their lights on and put their foot down.

Evading them is easy at first, but get caught a second or third time in the same night and they’ll start sending faster vehicles after you. The higher your Heat rating (think GTA’s stars), the more Rep you’ll earn, but you have to get back to your garage without getting caught if you want to keep it all. Evade the cops for long enough and you can easily earn enough Rep to push through a few levels in one night.