NASCAR HEAT 3 Races onto Steam, PS4, XBOX ONE

By: GeekyGamerGirl87

Before I begin I will let it be known that I have never played a NASCAR game ever. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t watched NASCAR. Ironically, when my son was younger he was fond of NASCAR and so we would watch the races on TV, when they were televised. However, that’s about as close as I had gotten to NASCAR.  However, I have played racing games in the past and I do enjoy a good racing game. I will say that being able to go as fast as you want without getting a ticket, is awesome and is what drives –sorry for the pun— me towards racing games. So, when NASCAR Heat 3 came across to us here at thedailygamepad.com; I was excited to give it a try because it has been awhile since I’ve played a good racing game. Although good is not the way to describe NASCAR Heat 3. No, I will say that NASCAR Heat 3 is a phenomenal game and for someone like me who isn’t big into NASCAR, I must admit that it is well done and keeps me entertained. Before, I go further into my review, I would like to thank Monster Games and 704 Games Company for providing a free copy of the steam version of NASCAR Heat 3. Due to their generosity I can write the review for you all to read.

I must take the time to talk about the soundtrack for this game. This soundtrack has to be probably one of the best soundtracks that I have heard in a racing game. Its soundtrack is a mix between Rock and Country and although I am not a big fan of country, the songs flow so well together that you don’t even pay attention to when it switches between the two genres. The soundtrack features music from artist such as The Pink Spiders, Loyal Thieves, Sweet Ascent, and Cody Hicks just to name a few.  What I love about this soundtrack is it uses music from bands or artists who are not main stream. I can respect the game for helping these artists by using their music in their game.

In terms of controls, you have the option of two controls. The first being the gamepad and the second being wheel and pedals. Sadly, I do not own a wheel and pedals controller. So, by default for me the best way to play this is with Gamepad. Although, I will be a little biased and say if you have the wheel and pedals attachment, the game would probably play the best this way. However, with the gamepad it handled surprisingly well, I was able to handle the car very well. Unlike other race car games in the past, I didn’t rage with the controls. I will admit I still wish I had a wheel and pedal set as I think the game would be even better.

Upon starting the game, it will ask you to choose your driving experience. You can choose between two settings the first being “Normal Driving Experience” which is a casual experience for those who want to enjoy the game casually. The other mode is “Expert Driving Experience” which if you are more of a veteran player or looking for more of a challenge this is going to be your best bet.  It should be noted that there is no way to change the settings so choose wisely. I will say you can however go into the options and change the AI’s difficulty which could serve as changing the difficulty of the game. You can choose Auto (Easy), Auto, or Auto (Hard) so if you decided you want to change difficulties I believe this is the only way for it to be done.

Also, with starting the game you get to customize your own Driver for the Career Mode of the game.  The customization in the game is intensive but very nicely done. You can create male or female drivers and make them how you see fit. You even get to pick your own anthem that plays when you finish and win a race. There are a total of forty-three anthems to choose from. You can choose from ten Rock anthems, ten Country anthems, four Hip-Hop anthems, five Pop anthems, six Electronic anthems, two Disco anthems, two Funk anthems, and  four Misc. anthems. So, no matter what type of music you like you’ll be able to find something. I do hope that they add more of a variety when the rest of the game’s DLC releases, but in the core game this is what you are giving.

If later you decided you don’t like the way your driver looks, you can select the “My Driver” option in the  game start menu. In this option you can make changes to all your customizable options, such as your car, your driver, your profile picture, and even your winning anthem. Once you are done customizing your driver and picking anthem music, you will be able to start the game and start racing.

The game offers six different modes that you can choose from in terms of gameplay. The first mode is “Quick Race” in which you can select one of your favorite NASCAR drivers and get right into the racing. If you are new to racing games or just looking for casual play this is going to be the mode for you. The next mode is “Split Screen” in which you and a friend locally can play against one another on — as the mode suggests— a Split Screen. The game didn’t offer a way to play against your friends online, just locally for now. Although there is a work around with the Multiplayer where you could host your own race and then I supposed invite your friends to play there, but we will discuss multiplayer a little later in the article.

The third mode of the game is “Championship Mode”  which consists of four different race series’ that each have multiple modes for them. There is quite a few so I am going to list what each of them are accordingly.

The first race series you can partake in is the “Monster Energy” races. This consists of five different modes. The Modes are Full Season, Playoffs, 24 Track, 12 Track, and 6 Track. “The Full Season” mode consists of twenty-six races, three “ Round of 16” races, three “Round of 12” races, three “Round of 8” races, and a “Championship” race. “The Playoffs” mode consists of three “Round  of 16” races, three “Round of 12” races, three “Round of 8” races and a “Championship” race. The next 3 modes do not have “Championship” races which are “24 Track Mode “which consists of twenty-four races,  “12 Track Mode” consists of twelve races, and “6 Track Mode” which has six races.

The second race series  you can partake in is the “Xfinity Series” races. This race also has five different modes to choose from. The modes for this race are Full Season, Playoffs, 25 Track, 12 Track, 6 Track. The “Full Season” mode consists of twenty-six races, three “Round of 12” races, three “Round of 8” races, and a “Championship” race. “Playoffs” mode consists of  three “Round of 12” races, three “Round of 8” races and a “Championship” race.  The next three modes like the first race do not have championship races included and they are “25 Track” – twenty-five races, “12 Track” – twelve races, and then “6 Track” – six races.

The third race series you can partake in is the “NASCAR Camping World Truck Series”  in which you will be racing trucks. Unlike the other two races, there are only four different modes you can choose from in the race series. The four modes are Full Season, Playoffs, 12 Track and 6 Track.  The “Full Season” mode has sixteen races, three “Round of 8” races, three “Round of 6” races and a “Championship” race. The “Playoffs” mode  has three “Round of 8” races, three “ Round of 6” races and a “Championship” race.  The last two modes do not include championships races and they are “12 Track” – 12 races and “6 Track” – 6 races.

The fourth and final race series you can partake in is the “Xtreme Dirt Tour.” Just like its name suggests these races all occur on dirt tracks. This race series has the least amount of modes at three which are “Full Season” “Playoffs” and “9 Track” it is also the only series that offers a “Finals” race instead of calling it a “Championship” race. The “Full Season” mode has nine races, four “Semi-Finals” races and a “Dirt Finals” race. The “Playoffs” mode has four “Semi-Finals” races and the “Dirt Finals” Race.  The last mode does not offer the “Dirt Finals” race and that is “9 Track” in which you have nine races.

One of the things I wanted to point out with “Championship Mode” that bugged me a little is when you have selected your mode and you hit accept it takes you to select your NASCAR Driver, but backing out of that menu takes you to the start of the “Championship” menu. Therefore, you will have to reselect everything over again.  It’s not that big of a deal but would be nice if when I hit the back button it just takes me back to the previous screen and not all the way to the beginning of the “Championship Mode” menu.

The fourth game mode that is offer is the “Challenge Packs” mode. What this mode allows for you to do is play different challenges that have certain requirements and misfortunes. For example, one of the challenges has you start off in the lead, but you have bad tires. There looks to be four different challenge packs. The default challenge pack offers thirty-eight different challenges. The next pack is the September Pack; which the game does allow for you to play the first challenge.  After that you must purchase the September Pack DLC for $12.99 USD which provides you with three more challenges and offers a ton of different extras. In addition, if you are really into the game I might suggest purchasing the NASCAR HEAT 3 Hot Pass 2018. What this DLC pack does is gives you the access to all four of the expansions to NASCAR HEAT 3 as they become available. Purchasing the pass also give you access to the September Pack DLC, so if you know that the game is something you are going to enjoy then I would highly recommend purchasing the pass. The NASCAR HEAT 3 Hot Pass 2018 can be purchased for $29.99 USD.

The fifth game mode of the game is “Career” mode. In Career mode you will get to play with the driver you created at the beginning of the game, when the game first started. For those who are into story modes in games this would be your story mode. Essentially you will be going through different story scenarios to become the best driver in NASCAR. You get mentors and even an agent who will help you reach the top.

The last and final game mode is the “Multiplayer” mode. This allows for you to go online and play against other racers. As I stated earlier within the article, the game doesn’t offer a mode in which you can race a friend online. However, you could ideally host your own race and have your friends join the race if you wanted to play with your friends online. Other then that, in this mode you have the option to host or play against others. Again, you will be selecting a NASCAR driver to do so. It would be interesting if you had the option to use your own customized driver as well, but right now it looks like it’s just the NASCAR drivers.

If you are an achievement hunter, you will be glad to know that the game does in fact offer achievements. There are a total of sixty-two achievements with the core game. I imagine that each of the expansions would also offer achievements. If that is the case, then you can expect to see that the achievements might increase.  Now it should be known that  I am not saying that they will, I’m just saying that there is that possibility. This is only because in the past I have seen achievements be added on to games when they have releases expansion packs. For those of you who collect trading cards I am sad to say that NASCAR HEAT 3 does not include trading cards. At least not now, if trading cards is something you would like to see I recommend taking to the forums and letting the developers know. Also, as this is a new game, it could be that they are in the works and are waiting to be released. Again, not confirming that they are; this more of speculation.

Overall NASCAR Heat 3 is a great buy and I recommend it.  Especially if you are a NASCAR Fan as if you purchase the game through nascarheat.com you get a free $50 NASCAR Ticket (at the time of this article). If you are not a NASCAR fan but enjoy racing games, I would say that this is still a great buy and it will keep you busy for a longtime.  If you would like to purchase NASCAR Heat 3 you can do so by purchasing it on Steam, PS4,  XBOX ONE, or on NASCAR Heat for $49.99 USD.