(mini-review).

The good?
Heat has serviceable graphics with a unique Miami-soaked identity. Good music. Decent sound effects. The story is the usual corny but charming nonsense. The info graphics are pretty and the colorful piñata on wheels look of the cars can be seductive in small doses. The Penelope Cruz facsimile in the trailer is kinda fun, I guess.

The Bad?
The game fails in gameplay miserably. The physics are atrocious with drift-happy handling. The cars are feather-light quandaries that simultaneously lack momentum during impacts (crashes are a huge joke). The game is certainly stingy with winnings. The game humps the original rubber banding cheating of over 20 years of other Need for Speed games. Watch yourself catch vehicles as they slow to a trot if they get too far ahead. Watch yourself lose leads as cars speed to 450 (literally) mph on straight-a-ways. Cop chases sound fun until you realize that the AI has telepathic tracking and that you can't ever just drive around without incurring their wrath/attention. Oh and, surprisingly, Heat's performance sucks. On a system that runs RE:Village at 4K, High-Ultra at 60 fps, I'm barely getting 30 fps on a 2 year title, on max settings.

Heat sounds like fun but trust me, if you play this game it will only get you burned.

Refund pending.

Not worth the time. You'll find better games elsewhere.

5/10.

(mini-review). The good? Heat has serviceable graphics with a unique Miami-soaked identity. Good music. Decent sound effects. The story is the usual corny but charming nonsense. The info graphics are pretty and the colorful piñata on wheels look of the cars can be seductive in small doses. The Penelope Cruz facsimile in the trailer is kinda fun, I guess. The Bad? The game fails in gameplay miserably. The physics are atrocious with drift-happy handling. The cars are feather-light quandaries that simultaneously lack momentum during impacts (crashes are a huge joke). The game is certainly stingy with winnings. The game humps the original rubber banding cheating of over 20 years of other Need for Speed games. Watch yourself catch vehicles as they slow to a trot if they get too far ahead. Watch yourself lose leads as cars speed to 450 (literally) mph on straight-a-ways. Cop chases sound fun until you realize that the AI has telepathic tracking and that you can't ever just drive around without incurring their wrath/attention. Oh and, surprisingly, Heat's performance sucks. On a system that runs RE:Village at 4K, High-Ultra at 60 fps, I'm barely getting 30 fps on a 2 year title, on max settings. Heat sounds like fun but trust me, if you play this game it will only get you burned. Refund pending. Not worth the time. You'll find better games elsewhere. 5/10.