Need For Speed Heat's trailer finally released today showing off the screens we already knew about, and a release date at the start of November.
Of course, this being an EA game there's actually two release dates. If you have EA Origin Access Premier or Play First Trial then you can start wheel-spinning on November 5, but the rest of us will wait three days for the worldwide launch on November 8.
The description of Need For Speed Heat states: "Hustle by day and risk it all by night in Need for Speed Heat, a thrilling race experience that pits you against a city’s rogue police force as you battle your way into street racing’s elite." So it seems like the cops are up to no good, again.
The trailer shows off plenty of Need For Speed staples, customization of spoilers, bodykits, hydraulic lowering, window tinting, and of course, cop-smashing.
With a name like Heat, clearly the cops are going to take a central role, but it could also just be about the Miami-based setting of Palm City with those long, cloudless nights and beach sunset palettes adding a lot of color to an already hue-soaked underground race scene.
The dynamic between day and night being a split of priority in your gameplay aims is underlined by EA's global community engagement manager Ben Walke in a post on Reddit about the game. You can swap between day and night at will by heading back to your garage and choosing to come out under veil of darkness.
"By day you’ll be competing for bank in the Speedhunter Showdown," says Walke. "A series of events that will have you racing and drifting your way to a big payday. When the sun goes down the heat levels rise. As the night sky settles across Palm City you’ll be wanting to swap out legitimate events for those of a more underground nature."
"You might be building up your bank balance during the day, but at night is when your REP will be on the line. Take the risks and you’ll own the night."
He also details more on the role of those rogue cop units you'll run into.
"Cops (cops, cops!) patrol Palm City with various levels of aggression, with their behaviour altering based on the time of day," Walke says. "During the day the Palm City PD will have a more casual presence. They’ll still be there as an ever present threat, but leave them alone and they’ll return the favour. Once the city descends into darkness, the rulebook changes and you’re not the only ones breaking the rules. As the sun goes down, a rogue task force comes out to play. This task force, led by the ever so charming Lt. Mercer, will need no excuse to hunt you, and your car down. You’ll be meeting more of Mercer and his squad as you play through NFS Heat."
There are plenty of banging tunes as well, with an updated soundtrack for Need For Speed's latest iteration since 2017's Need For Speed Payback, also developed by Ghost Games. We expect there to be plenty of music we don't recognize, as is customary with what The Kids are into nowadays.
There will be gameplay shown of Need For Speed Heat on Monday August 19 during the Gamescom Opening Night Live stream. We're looking forward to customizing the neon underlighting of the worst car money can buy on November 8 when Need For Speed Heat releases. What are you going to do as your underground street racing alter ego?
