Need for Speed Heat Reveals Impressive Record

Earlier this month, Need for Speed Heat arrived on consoles and PC in celebration of the franchise’s 25th anniversary. The latest iteration in the series from Electronic Arts set a new record in its first week, with more playing the game than any previous Need for Speed release this console generation.

The announcement comes courtesy of a celebratory tweet from developer Ghost Games’ Twitter account. Five other Need for Speed games have been released during this console generation, including Need for Speed: Rivals, Need for Speed: No Limits, Need for Speed (2015) and Need for Speed Payback. Official sales figures have not been released for Heat at this time, but it will be interesting to see if the title can continue to keep up the pace.

Need for Speed Heat takes place in Palm City, a fictionalized take on Miami and its surrounding area. In the game, players take on the role of a newcomer in the city as they compete in fully authorized races during the day, and illegal street races at night, in order to earn a coveted place in The League. Of course, as in previous Need for Speed releases, the better the player performs during street races, the more aggressive police pursuit becomes; players will have to evade Lt. Frank Mercer and the Palm City Police Department, throughout. To climb the ladder in Palm City, players can choose between 127 cars from 33 different manufacturers, including Ferrari, Chevrolet and BMW (though notably not Toyota).

While a number of gamers have clearly embraced the title thus far, Need for Speed Heat received fairly mixed reviews across the board. The title has been praised for the return of licensed Ferrari vehicles and dropping the microtransactions that plagued Need for Speed Payback, but some reviewers lamented a lack of options compared to other racing games and a difficulty finding other players online. Given the number of players that have purchased Need for Speed Heat, that latter problem may already be fixed, however.

Have you played Need for Speed Heat yet? What are your thoughts on the game? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!