Originals November 29, 1999

Nascar Heat

Posted by: kombo

Rev up your engines NASCAR fans, because the Xbox is boasting two very high class adaptations of your beloved sport, one of them being Monster Gamesâ€™ NASCAR Heat. Follow along with spokesman Allen Bestwick, as you Beat the Head, Race the Pro, and take on the Champions. There are quite a few of modes of gameplay in Heat, and it doesnâ€™t struggle on any of them, accurate pit stops, car damage, and speed make this game a force to be reckoned with. Gameplay There are several modes of interesting gameplay in NASCAR Heat. Beat the Heat, much like Gran Turismo 3â€™s license tests, is a form of polishing up your skills for the real deal by completing a series of mini-tests, which range from cornering, to accurate pit stops, to maintaining a lead in the race. This mode includes tests involving Basics, Passing, Rivels, Reflex, Advanced Racing, and The King. The Race the Pro mode is form of perfecting your technique. Racing the ghost car of your favourite NASCAR pro (6 in total to choose from), whom has already pre-raced the track, there is no margin for error. You will find yourself screaming out in frustration, as this is one of the hardest aspects to conquer in this game. The single race mode, is much like any practise mode. You can race, qualify, happy hour and whatnot, however, unlike Championship Mode, your points for winning the race will not be counted in a series. Championship Mode is the main sha-bang of NASCAR Heat. Choose your pro, get out there, and win yourself the season. Your points are tallied up from each race. The most exciting aspect of these two modes (Championship, Single) is the 43 car racing field, boosting up the competition, and realism of the game to a maximum, however, with any game on todayâ€™s technology, when you add more moving objects to the screen, the framerate gets more and more choppy, this is a minor issue with NASCAR Heat, and is easy to overlook. Graphics NASCAR Heat has delivered some very nice, accurate and detailed vehicle models. The textures of the environment in the game are beautiful. I was most impressed with the innards of the car, which you can change your view to, and drive around with real-time steering wheel movement, and great lighting effects. One of the top extras to the game is the pit crew. Your realistically modeled team will run around all sides of the car, change your tires, repair the damage and fill your tank right before your very eyes. The car damage was far from being dubbed realistic however, pieces of your vehicle snapped off in triangular shape, I was surely expecting to have some nice explosion effects upon serious crashes, but what I got was a hoard of smoke and something that could have been fire, or could have been an orange and red fog. Sound The game commentary is pretty good, could have done with some variety in the things they say, however, I appreciated hearing commentary from the team while driving. The engine noises were perfect, a strong engine is what the NASCAR games need. What this game could have used, is music. It gets pretty dull on the ears going 50 laps with only the company of your monotonous breaking, revving engine, and your crew. Overall All in all, NASCAR Heat continues with the success of the NASCAR Genre. We have not seen a bad game from this sport since the Nintendo 64â€™s NASCAR 2000, and that is quite a few games in between. If you prefer simulation type racing titles, Heat is definitely something Iâ€™d recommend trying out. --Matt Durrant