Gaming Target - Xbox: NASCAR Heat 2002

Written by Ryan Smotherman on April 10, 2002

Full Review: You can practically smell the burning rubber! Oh waitЕ heh, that's something elseЕ

With the NASCAR 2002 season in full swing, there couldn't be a better time to check out what the Xbox has to offer in NASCAR related games. At this point there are only two games available, EA's NASCAR Thunder 2002 and Infogrames' NASCAR Heat 2002, both racing titles of high quality that launched with the console last November. Of course, today I'm only going into details on Infogrames' creation, a game that is packed with features, racing pros, and is sure to please the most hardcore NASCAR and racing fan alike.

For this only being the second installment of NASCAR Heat, the quality of the game is quite impressive. In most cases it takes at least a few attempts from a developer to create a game of this caliber, but Monster Games Inc. accomplished a lot in their second attempt, resulting in one fine racer. Compared to Thunder, Heat is definitely more on the simulation side of things; testing both your racing skillz and NASCAR know how (of which I have none). You'll quickly realize this is no Daytona USA and you can't just fly along busting out power-slides and whatnot. Technicality is a must. When racing you'll have to learn the do's and do not's of each track. Some turns will require the perfect combination of braking, letting off the gas, and finally accelerating through: go to fast and you be eating a wall at 160mph, ala Dale Earnhardt (okay, that was wrong), and go to slow you risk the chance of losing your position, and in a worst case scenario you'll overturn, hit the inside track and go sliding everywhere causing a huge wreck, not to mention losing the race.

All this might sound a bit difficult, but it really isn't. And at its core the game is a pretty basic ride around the oval track fare. A huge amount of fun and satisfaction can be found in learning the game's all 19 real life NASCAR tracks, from Daytons to Bristol and everywhere in between, they're all there. Barring a few dips in the game framerate, you'll also notice that the game as an incredible sense of speed. Nothing can quite beat the feeling of flying down a straightaway at 190mphЕ oh wait; something can beat that Ц getting in an accident while flying down a straightaway at 190mph. No doubt about it, NASCAR Heat delivers some of the most intense crashes around. Cars go flipping, sliding, and crashing into one another as smoke and flames fill the air and car parts go flying about. Just imagine at the beginning of the race where all 43 cars are right beside one another, someone at the head of the pack makes a small mistake and it causes a chain reaction where every car behind the crash has a chance of getting banged up. It's really some exciting stuff, and I hate to say this, but at times I got very tempted to purposely cause a wreck just for the fun of it. However, the random accidents are easily the most intense and they will certainly get your blood pumping.

On the down side, a lot of the times the A.I. will be going slower than you and because you have no way around him you'll either have to slow down to a crawl or smash him in the rear end sending him spinning. The good news is that you don't get penalized for hitting people, so you can just go about smashing people in the rear and slamming them into walls all you want. Not 100% realistic, but damned fun!

As you'd imagine from a title that carries the official NASCAR license, the game is packed full of all the professional racers and their vehicles (sponsors and all). Jeff Gordon, Sterling Marlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Rusty Wallace, etcЕ the list goes on and on. With all the official tracks, racing pros, and their cars, the authentic nature of Heat can't be denied. To complement the developers, Heat also contains high production values. Nice looking menus that are easy to navigate, fast loading times, and lots of full motion video featuring NASCAR stars who give tips and discuss portions of the game. The replay mode in the game is also a huge plus, especially if you want to relive an exciting race or just see a 40-car pile up in action over and over again, or at different angles.

Just as in any sports related game, a variety of modes are available. One mode that really differentiates Heat from the rest of the pack is Beat the Heat. With 36 in all, Monster Games created a variety of real life racing situations that is sure to test your skills. From basic to advanced techniques, this mode is one of the highlights in the game. Then we have Race the Pros where you basically pick a NASCAR pro and the track that they excel in, and then proceed to race a ghost of him. Next is Single Race, which is pretty self-explanatory Ц choose a racer, pick a track, and then race. As you'd guess, a Multiplayer mode is also available. Supporting both 2-4 player split-screen action and a system link function that allows up to 32 people to play at once. And as such, the GameSpy network also supports it, good luck finding players to race against, though. Last and certainly not least is the standard Championship mode. Here you can take your favorite racer through an entire NASCAR season, where they use the actual NASCAR point system to determine who goes home with the Winston Cup.

NASCAR heat even excels in the department of customization. How does racing 3 straight hours in one race sound? Not too tempting, eh? To alleviate this, you have the ability to race only a certain percentage of a race. The default setting is set at only 3%, and if you feel the races should last longer, you can always turn it up. And the hardcore of hardcore can always crank that baby up to 100%. For all you grease monkeys out there, you'll be happy to know that you can tweak and change a huge diversity of things on your car until it's just how you want it. Although, if you know nothing about cars, like me, then I highly advise that you don't tinker with anything. You'll just be creating trouble for yourself.

Okay, enough with the game's multitude of features, let's talk about how this baby looks and sounds. To sum up the visuals, I'd say they fall into the good but not great category. Nice looking car models and tracks are bogged down by inconsistent frame rates and noticeable pop-up. Though, all that probably has to do with the fact that 43 cars are generated on the screen at one time, which is very impressive and worth the sacrifice. I feel I should mention that if the developers took full advantage of the Xbox hardware that not only would there be no pop-up or slowdown, but the cars could have been even more detailed. That also holds true for the game's special effects, like the blinding smoke that spews from cars and the flames that shoot from the engines as they get banged up. On the whole, though, the game has a solid look, but is in no way the best looking racer on the Box.

Heat's audio also fits into the good but not great category. The engine noises are dead on and you'll really enjoy the sounds of screeching tires and cars slamming into one another. And if you're unfortunate enough, you slamming into the wall. But there just isn't enough going on in the races: there's no music and very little chatter is heard from your pit crew, who only tells you when and where cars are around you. Supporting the Xbox's rip feature would have gone a long way here.