There was a time when Need for Speed was a dominant force in the racing world. EA has released a number of critically acclaimed titles bearing the name of the franchise, but in recent times it has lost its luster.
Need for Speed Heat has the unenviable task of trying to re-establish the series. Not an easy task in an age where there are so many great racing games. Especially when EA seems to be unable to decide what they want Need for Speed to be. Can the game reach the ancient glories of the franchise or does it once again fall into oblivion?
History
Racing games don’t really need a lot of history. This is probably why most stick to a simple career mode where you advance through the ranks. Having a proper narrative distracts from what the players want to do — run in fast cars. But if a developer wants to include a story, he can at least make sure it’s not a jumbled mess. Ghost Games definitely hasn’t heeded that advice.
The premise sees the player arriving in a fictional version of Miami known as Palm City. Here you meet Lieutenant Frank Mercer, who has set himself the goal of completely stopping all illegal road racing. It’s the cliched story of a relatively unknown protagonist who arrives to save the day while battling the odds. Unfortunately, everything soon begins to unravel as the narrative wanders aimlessly without actually telling any story.
In the end, the plot ends up being a mess that doesn’t make sense. Exactly what the motives of the characters are is never made clear. Meanwhile, references to obscure organizations and people are never explained. There is no cohesive storyline. The only saving grace is that the story is fortunately short. Even with all the filler you have to go through to unlock missions, it only lasts a few hours.
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