Ranking Every Modern Need For Speed From Worst To Best
2. Need For Speed: Heat
Need for Speed: Heat is the culmination of Ghost Games' efforts and would ultimately become their swan song for the series. And suffice it to say, the developer ended their era of NFS with one of the most entertaining games in the franchise.
Heat features two gameplay loops. During the day, legally-sanctioned races can help you earn money. At night, illegal street racing and fighting the cops will give you more rep. The more money and rep you have, the more you get to improve your vehicles.
The thing that makes the game so fun is the risk versus reward system. The game features one of the most relentless police forces in the franchise, especially at high Heat levels, and will go out of their way to bust the player. This adds tension to racing at night as the more you race, the higher the rep you earn to unlock more parts. But if you get caught, then you'll lose all your hard-earned rep.
Ultimately, Heat has the strengths of previous Ghost titles with none of the weaknesses. It has the high-speed thrills of Rivals, without the technical issues. It focuses on tuner culture of 2015, without the poor handling. Finally, it has the story of Payback, but without the microtransactions.