NASCAR Heat 2 Critic Reviews

NASCAR Heat 2 offers a lot to do for players. It might feel a bit rushed, but it’s extremely addicting and fun. The racing is a consistent experience and Career Mode features aspects that haven’t been seen before. While it may lack the options of true simulation racers, the admirable A.I. should make up for that. Top that off with some excellent visuals and a coupon for a real race ticket, and Heat 2 continues to trend in the right direction.

There’s a lot of variety in NASCAR Heat 2, it’s just more immediately seen in things like the one-off races or online multiplayer...It’s hard to fault Monster Games and 704 though; we’d been asking for all this stuff for years. But it makes me feel like I’m sitting down to a nine-course meal more than a buffet.

From a pure fun factor, NASCAR Heat 2 delivers. Driving is a blast, even though it's not all that realistic. Some will embrace the more arcade feel and others will scoff at the more simplistic racing concepts. However, no one should dismiss the depth that has been added to the modes and the massive leap the franchise has taken in just one year. The future could be bright for this series.

All of this represents good progress for the franchise, but while NASCAR Heat 2 adds racing series, rivalries, and other features, it misses an opportunity to make them meaningful and expand the actual scope and excitement of the game.

NASCAR Heat 2 is a definite step up from its predecessor, but it’s still lacking a layer of polish that would propel it towards appealing to a larger racing audience. Those who want an authentic NASCAR racer should be satisfied with this year’s installment, but there’s just too many minor issues that bog the racing down a level.

NASCAR Heat 2 brings the exciting world of NASCAR in a game that, compared with its predecessor, it improves many aspects in order to deliver an entertaining driving game.

Lacking challenge and decent graphics, NASCAR Heat 2 was never going to be a transcendent racing experience. However, if you're a fan of NASCAR, you'll find a lot to like in the game as well.

NASCAR Heat 2 is a well-built racer with honest intentions and intense action. The robust Career mode conveys the toils of a real racing career – sometimes a little too accurately as it can start to drag. Nevertheless, with three disciplines and suite of offline and online modes, this is an entertaining experience – just be aware that it doesn’t have anywhere near the budget to rival the various other racing games you can buy.

Despite adding a bit extra to this year’s career mode, there are some technical issues that plague the experience. Shame really, because NASCAR Heat 2 can be quite fun at times.

In the end, NASCAR Heat 2 offers up plenty of racing for fans to enjoy. The driving is tight, and it feels genuinely good to win. However, when it comes right down to it, I suspect my problem with the game may actually be a problem with NASCAR itself — all of the excitement and exhilaration is buried beneath race after boring race, lap after boring lap.

This is a step in the right direction, unfortunately, that still leaves things average at best.

NASCAR Heat 2 is a huge disappointment and massive collapse of the promise given by the decent predecessor, NASCAR Heat Evolution. The game’s controls are loose and worse than ever, and the problems of the first, including some patently stupid glitches and exploits, are still fully present. The game looks fine, but it does not play well at all, and represents what may be a sign that NASCAR just won’t ever translate well to the video game world.