Nascar Heat 5 Reviews
All in all, NASCAR Heat 5 is just a bad game.
NASCAR Heat 5 is a modest improvement over NASCAR Heat 4 in terms of performance. And unlike last year, I did not encounter any bugs. Beyond that, though, I honestly cannot tell the difference between the two games.
NASCAR Heat 5 is a good addition t this officialy lincensed franchise, until it breaks your heart and your savefile during the career mode.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Including all of the NASCAR license must be a mammoth task, and while Heat 5 is an improvement over its forbearers, the overall feeling of the game is that of a vacuous slog. With no obvious USP other than the volume of cars and tracks, or magic new features that other racing games should take inspiration from, NASCAR Heat 5 is a perfunctory depiction that's enjoyable in small doses but runs out of tyres once you get past the initial stages.
Although not awful, NASCAR Heat 5 feels like a rehashed version of its already underwhelming predecessor. The small quality of life improvements do not make up for its disappointing lack of any meaningful innovation.
I understand that the change in developers would cause 704 Games from touching too much, fearing too big a change could break it. It also gives them time to focus on next year’s product, as they become more familiar with the game engine and code left behind from Monster Games. It’s such a shame that they stalled the momentum they gained from the previous releases, though. Here’s hoping that with the next NASCAR Heat title, they will make some strides in improving the career and continue to deliver a fun racing experience.
Overall, the experience for NASCAR Heat 5 was fun and enjoyable with a hint of repetitively.
Like going around in fun circles.
NASCAR Heat 5 is a step backward for the series, but still delivers some tense and rewarding racing.
The evolution of the NASCAR saga has taken a step forward with this Heat 5.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Hardcore fans are the only ones that will want to suit up for this iteration.
NASCAR Heat 5 is the next iteration of the annual release, but fans will be disappointed to find out that not much has changed from last year even if the experience holds up.
NASCAR aficionados will likely love getting more action where they can, especially with the cancellation of events due to the pandemic at this time, but those that like a more varied racer might want to look elsewhere. If you want to dip your toes in the NASCAR water though, and find out why it's more than just turning left, HEAT 5 could well be a good shout.
If you skipped last year’s NASCAR Heat 4 and are looking to pick up a new NASCAR game, NASCAR Heat 5 is the one to grab, no doubt. It is indeed the best NASCAR game to date. There’s such a small margin between them, however, that unless you’ve got a wad of cash burning a hole in your pocket, there’s no real reason to pick this up if you do already own NASCAR Heat 4.
NASCAR Heat 5 doesn't offer up anything new, but what it does offer is a solid, enjoyable racing experience, and it does that very well.
Moving all development in-house for 704Games may be beneficial down the road, but for NASCAR Heat 5, it enabled minimal changes.
Just enough newness to make it worth playing, and it remains the most complete, enjoyable package for NASCAR fans.
Despite a lot of the same, NASCAR Heat 5’s improvements to gameplay make it a fun swan song on the Unity engine.
Yes, the framerate is stupidly janky, killing whatever sensation of speed the game was trying to offer to players. Still, I had way more fun with this game than I could have ever expected. It aims to please a specific niche of racing fans and succeeds, mostly due to its unbelievably deep and addictive career mode.
Gameplay was a strength of NASCAR Heat 4, and that has been augmented for NH5. The play is so much fun, it helps to compensate for some of the presentation issues, and what I’d describe as a lack of creativity in other areas.