Need for Speed Heat, the next installment to the NFS series is releasing on November 8th, hoping to be the next big thing in multiplayer racing games. We recently held an interview with Riley Cooper, creative director at Ghost Games, and he had some interesting details to share about the Need for Speed Heat multiplayer.
Putting the whole universe of Need for Speed under one standalone title doesn’t come easy. Especially, when it shares different aspects of several previous titles. According to Cooper, Heat will house the style of Underground with the racing mechanics of Pro Street while keeping the feel of Carbon, Most Wanted and Rivals alive. The dominant multiplayer segment of Need for Speed Heat, however, will be much more different than what we’ve known so far.
Riley Cooper has shared with us that, as a driver, you’ll find yourself in Palm City with 15 more players. Together, you’ll be able to race and join crews to dominate the city streets. Of course, you’ll see your crew whenever you log in and join them in their course on the streets. However, if you’re a lone wolf, you can always play Need for Speed Heat offline, something that came as a surprise due to the game’s multiplayer nature.
By default, you’ll be in Palm City with 15 other players (16 total.) Once there you can invite everyone on the server to join your races and you can of course join theirs
Much like its most recent predecessors, Heat will also include a reputation system that will determine which racers “rule” the city. Through that system, you’ll unlock vendors, for the best car parts in the city. Since the game has a day-night cycle, there are activities that will take time during certain hours that will work towards your reputation or bank deposit:
(Need for Speed) Heat progression is based on our day-night loop. Driving in illicit street racing events at night is the fastest way to build your reputation which you’ll need in order for vendors to sell you the best parts. To buy those parts you’ll need bank which you can earn most quickly in our daytime sanctioned events. With this combination of bank and rep you’ll be able to not only improve your car’s performance but also to change the way it drives.
Progressing in Need for Speed Heat will focus deeply on your reputation and bank. If you want to be able to succeed in all kinds of races in multiplayer, you’ll have to invest time competing with and against other racers. By getting more reputation and opening up vendors, you’ll get that power spike in drifting, off-road racing and more. Cooper says:
As you progress, you’ll gain access to parts that when equipped will optimize your car’s ability to drive onroad or offroad and with more grip or more drift. At the extremes you’ll be able to set the best race times or the best drift scores respectively. These extremes require more skill too, we find mastery of them to be very rewarding, but as you’ll unlock these parts gradually you have time to experience the spectrum and make your choice about how you want to drive.
It will be interesting to see to what extent the progress in the multiplayer part of Need for Speed Heat reaches. That will also depend on what the car roster will be and whether or not it does make an impact in races, more than a steady progression.
Need for Speed Heat releases on November 8th for PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. With racing games like Forza Motorsport 8 rumored to be in development, we expect 2020 to be a real race between giants.
