Need For Speed: Hot Import Nights is a racing video game co-developed by Execraft and Ghost Games, and published by Electronic Arts. Released worldwide on November 17, 2029 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows, it is the 25th entry of the Need For Speed series, made to commemorate the franchise's 35th anniversary. This game features the mixed story plot crossover between Need for Speed: Underground 2 and Need for Speed: Carbon, with the original characters are made by Seven Arcs Pictures the creator behind Lyrical Nanoha series, as well as the vehicles are Auto Modellista art style which marked itself apart from others of the same genre with cel-shaded graphics, which gave a hand-drawn and cartoon-like appearance.
Overview[]
The game is fairly similar to Need for Speed: Carbon, but it has some similarities to the newer NFS games (such as Unbound) too. It has vastly better graphics than the previous games in it's saga, but the vehicle designs are Auto Modellista art style, even using some of the Special Effects introduced in NFS: Unbound. The car system is fairly similar to the one present in Carbon, with Tuners, Exotics and Muscles, however, it uses the letter tiers from C, B, A and S indicates overpowered performance capability.
The day/night system from Heat would be mirrored into this game, but it uses the day/week/month elapse format from Heroes of Might & Magic III. Both day and night times are for all races (including 10 Crew Outrun), but every 8 win races (excluding 10 Crew Outrun and Expressway Battle wins), it changes from day time to night time. Once win every 16 races, the current day ends and the next day begins. Day ends sends the player back either to the current safe house, any car dealer shops or any car shops you recently visited and the saving game will occur, asking you to save and advance to the next day or advance to the next day without saving.
Gameplay[]
Need For Speed Hot Import Nights plays similar to Need for Speed: Carbon, using the driving physics from Carbon with a touch of Underground 2 collision physics and a high speed driving physics from Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2005 (example, Exotic and Tuner cars are using drive physics from Carbon while Muscle cars are using drive physics from Most Wanted 2005). Players take the role of multiple protagonists along with different crew faction campaigns (same plot, but different variations), and progress in the career mode by beating a series of various race events. Career mode will see players completing races and tuning their vehicles as they advance through the game.
General gameplay has a multiple career mode campaigns: Ruka/Sara/Josh/Mick, The Yagami, The T.F.K. The 21st Fest and Mach, each campaign has different protagonist roles with different plot variations, for instance: Ruka, Sara and Josh campaigns are story plot from Underground 2 all the way to Carbon, while The T.F.K. campaign is only Carbon's plot with a touch of Undercover.
The Speedbreaker ability in Hot Import Nights is available for the player to use at any time in any event, which allows the player to enter a temporary state of slow motion. Players are able to directly turn their vehicle at excessive angles and speeds whilst under the effect of Speedbreaker. The Speedbreaker can be used during a race to allow players to maneuver their vehicle through tight corners without having to slow down from high speeds. The exception was the Street X race events which disable Speedbreaker ability.
Progression system[]
- Main article: Need For Speed: Hot Import Nights/Sponsors
The progression system in Need For Speed Hot Import Nights is very similar to the one in Underground 2. Careers splits into 2 cities, the Bayview and the Palmont, with each seeing an increase in difficulty. Players will be able to enter a new district of Bayview and also access through Palmont as they advance through the game alongside new parts and vehicles.
Also the player has 6 Crews in Bayview and Palmont cities to defeat (from weakest to strongest): Bushido, 21st Street Crew, T.F.K., Mezzanotte Club, The Wraiths and The Stacked Deck. In order to defeat a Crew boss, the player needs to race with its leader, and in order to do that, the player must modify any car to a higher star rating as well as winning Sponsor races and HIN racing leagues to unlock the crew boss race.
Free Roam[]
Like Underground 2, players can drive around the city of Bayview and Palmont. Bayview is divided into five districts with different aesthetics and roads within each, while Palmont is divided into 4 boroughs just like in Carbon: Downtown, Kempton, Fortuna and Silverton. The new city is called the Infinity Highway and this also treated as the city which connected between Bayview and Palmont. Players can visit Tuning Shops, Car Lots, and race events seen around the entire city. Player can use a GPS to help navigate around the city.
Players can find money rewards and unmarked race events in some areas of Bayview. Players will also compete in Outrun events with AI street racers that randomly appear on the streets of Bayview.
Like the modern NFS titles, all race events in both Bayview and Palmont are can be re-enter, even already have completed (excluding HINRLs and Boss Race events), but the amount of cash reward for winning the race is the same as pre-completed events.
Events[]
Note: All race events are no traffic vehicles appeared during racing with exception of 10 crew outrun.
- Circuit - Players compete against other racers in closed circuits with a set number of laps.
- Lap Elimination (AKA Lap Knockout) - Circuit races that eliminate the last racer of each lap.
- Sprint - Players compete against other racers along closed roads from Point A to Point B.
- Drag - Speed and shifting races without traffics could avoid them similar way to the Drag races in NFS Payback. Players compete against other racers along a closed straight road. The winner is the racer to complete the stretch of road in the shortest time.
- Drift - Players have to slide around corners in order to gain points along a closed circuit. Players earn more points depending on the speed and angle of their slide. The winner is the racer with the highest amount of points at the end.
- 10 Crew Outrun - Similar mechanic of Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3's 10 outrun mode with a touch of Canyon Duel's. The leader must overtake 10 opponents before the timer runs out. The chasing player stays ahead for 5 seconds, the opponent is overtaken and additional 30 seconds timer is awarded for the player. If you overtaken the first opponent, then the next opponent will appear. If you defeat 10 opponents in succession, it means you have successfully completed this event.
- Top Speed Run - Speed-focused sprint races. Participants pass through a series of checkpoints along a course that record their speed at that point. The racer with the highest total speed recorded combined across all points by the end of the event is the winner. Once the first racer crosses the finish line, the score of the other participants will be slowly reduced as penalty until they cross the finish line.
- Checkpoint/Tollbooth - Time-limited checkpoint/tollbooth races. Unlike other race events, tollbooth/checkpoint races aren't against any opponents. Each tollbooth/checkpoint event begins at a tollbooth or checkpoint and the player's objective is to reach the final tollbooth or checkpoint before running out of time. The player passes through other tollbooths and or checkpoint along the way, which act as checkpoints; additional time is awarded when the player passes through them.
- Street X - Players compete against other racers in closed circuits along tight corner roads with a set number of laps. Also Nitrous and Speedbreakers are unavailable in Street X race.
- HIN Racing League - Players compete against other racers in a tournament on a closed race course. Racers get points after each race based on their position. The winner is the racer that has collected the most points after the final race. Each URL win unlocks a car in the car lots.
Expressway Battle[]
- Main article: Need For Speed: Hot Import Nights/Expressway Battle
The Expressway Battle is a player versus player game mode between two cars that can be triggered whilst driving in free roam during career mode. The Expressway Battle is similar to the Outrun modes in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 with a greater influence from Canyon Duel featured in Need for Speed: Carbon. When the racer challenges a rival, a battle begins where both competitors have a set amount of SP (Speed Points) and when one competitor falls behind, their SP meter begins to deplete. The battle is finished when one opponent runs out of SP.
There are a total of 141 rivals in the Expressway Battle and do not connected to the main crews; 133 of them are members of a rival team. However, new rival teams in the Expressway Battle will appear as the further chapters progress. In chapter 6 onwards, the remaining 8 Bosses in the Expressway Battle will appear and occurs when you defeat a certain number of rivals.
Players are rewarded with 1000 or 2500 credits for winning the Expressway Battle and completing a certain amount of outruns will unlock opportunities to win unique parts. Also a multiplier based on the winning streaks in the Expressway Battles. The higher the winning counts, the multiplier goes higher for rewarding credits (example: 1000 x 12 = 12000). However, the win streak count resets to 0 when either losing the Expressway Battle, jumping back to the Safe House (even during or outside the Expressway Battle) or advancing to the next chapter, but you can build up the win streak count again.
The Expressway Battle is complete optional and doesn't tied to the player's progression of the career mode.
Characters[]
Similar to playable characters in Need For Speed Payback, players take on the role of multiple protagonists along with crew faction focus campaigns in the single player mode.
Similar to the drivers in any kart racing games such as Mario Kart with a touch of Driver Skills system from Need for Speed: Undercover, these characters has a different attributes bonuses, which adds their chosen vehicle's performance, so the player can mix-and-match with different cars or characters to remedy the cars' weaknesses. Also characters are different voice lines and personalities depending on their situation of driving, during racing or drift events.
Just like the cars' stats, the playable characters has also their stat bonuses of Top Speed, Acceleration and Handling, and broke up into four attributes: Balance, Power, Cornering, and Hybrid.
- Balance: This type of attribute is a Top Speed oriented bonus, but gives a decent Acceleration and Handling bonuses. Characters with Balance bonuses such as Chiron, Coop, Royce, Ruka, Wolf, etc.
- Power: This type of attribute is a high raw power of Acceleration and good Top Speed bonuses, but gives a low Handling bonus. Characters with Power bonuses such as Angie, Jesey, Marie, Sara, Spark, etc.
- Cornering This type of attribute is a turning corners of high Handling bonus, but gives a low Acceleration and Top Speed bonuses. Characters with Cornering bonuses such as Brights, Elise, Jeyson, Josh, Kenji, etc.
- Hybrid: This type of attribute is a mixed up high either Top Speed, high Acceleration or Handling bonuses, but low either these said stats. Characters with Hybrid bonuses such as Axle, John & Nancy, Lewis and Tetley.
Character list[]
- Bold denotes default characters are active from the beginning and a player character.
- * denote characters are unlockables from finishing each chapter during the career mode.
Team NFS[]
- Ruka Cooper (How to Unlock: Available from the beginning)
- Sara Pavilion (How to Unlock: Available from the beginning)
- *Josh Delgado (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 1: Bayview Beginnings)
- *Sean Scott (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 2: Bushido Downtown)
- *Kotone Midorigawa (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 2: Bushido Downtown)
- *Jose Wheeler (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 3: 21st Street Drag Queen)
- *Jesey Johnson (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 3: 21st Street Drag Queen)
- *Elise Wilsons (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 4: T.F.K. Exotics)
- *Riche Wilsons (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 4: T.F.K. Exotics)
- *Karen Romano (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 5: Mezzanotte: Rose of Vengeance)
- *Mach Barrows (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 5: Mezzanotte: Rose of Vengeance)
- *Tetley Lamborghini (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 6: The Wraiths, road to road)
- *Mick Lamborghini (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 6: The Wraiths, road to road)
- *Weir Koenig (How to Unlock: Finish the Team NFS campaign once, New Game Plus character unlocked upon starting the Career+ mode)
Bushidoshi[]
- Zack Shogun (How to Unlock: Available from the beginning)
- Yuni Sakuma (How to Unlock: Available from the beginning)
- *Riku Rivington (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 1: Hokkaido Start)
- *Reiko Minase (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 2: Yokohama Downtown)
- *Keishi Browns (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 3: NASCAR Yokosuka)
- *Ayame Murasaki (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 4: Saitama Honda)
- *Satoru Mikuni (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 5: Wangan No Losers)
- *Daiki Hinojin (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 5: Wangan No Losers)
- *Subaru Yagami (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 6: Nobunaga Shadows)
- *Kenji Yagami (How to Unlock: Finish the chapter 6: Nobunaga Shadows)
- *keiichi Fujiwara (How to Unlock: Finish the Bushidoshi campaign once, New Game Plus character unlocked upon starting the Career+ mode)
21st Streets[]
- Coop Jones
- Vanellope Valenzuela
- *Brights Bakers
- *Spark Hilows
- *Mac Hills
- *Sidecar Scotts
- *Axle Spoiler
- *Miala Spoiler
- *Jimmy Gonzales
- *Angie Gonzales
- *
T.F.K. Mclaren-Benz[]
- Royce Rivington
- Senna Rivington
- *Tishe Thomsen
- *Jeyson Johansen
- *Marie Mortensen
- *Lando Larsen
- *Lewis Schumacher
- *Foxy Valentine
- *Wolf Wolsagent
The Mezzanotte[]
- Chiron Veregatti
- Chiara Veregatti
- *Meidi Rosa
- *Midi Rosa
- *Kasumi Rosa
- *Shasta Rosa
- *Clace Rosa
- *Melissa Mezzanotte
- *David Belmonte
- *Wei Koeng
Others[]
- *John & Nancy
- *Shouka Akaikuro
Unplayable[]
UNPC Support Characters
- Rachel Teller
- Neville
- Jake Paterson
- Mike Paterson
UNPC racers (HINRLs only)
- Marguerite Miller
- Jane Kisaragi
- Maria Dhyne
- Rita de la Rosa
- Doug Bugster
- Enrico Estebeth
- Daryl Hawnet
- Christopher Lockstone
UNPC Boss Crew Racers
- Damien
- Takashi
- Jayna
- Carter
- Gagne
- Caleb Recce
- Hayato Stacker
- Darius the Street Demon King
Cars[]
- Main article: Need For Speed: Hot Import Nights/Cars
Need For Speed: Hot Import Nights has a variety of vehicles. Much like in Need for Speed: Carbon. The game have notable inclusions in its car roster, such as Tuner cars, American muscle cars, Exotic Cars and SUV vehicles. The garage can be filled up with 20 cars independent of tier and design class. This number limit excludes pink slips rewards from bosses, which means the player can have up to 21 cars if the three bosses' cars were awarded. All cars are categorized in performance tiers and car categories:
- Tier C - Low performance capabilities
- Tier B - Moderate performance capabilities
- Tier A - High performance capabilities
- Tier S - Overpowered performance capabilities
- Exotic - Highest top speeds
- Muscle - Quickest acceleration
- Tuners - Best handling
Customisation[]
Performance[]
- Main article: Need For Speed: Hot Import Nights/Performance Parts
- Main article: Need For Speed: Hot Import Nights/Star Rating
Performance customisation is just as comprehensive as visual tuning. Players are allowed to install various performance modifications to their vehicle.
Players can purchase individual upgrade parts that are divided into three classes with fine-tunable elements available before final purchase. As each vehicle is only competitive with other vehicles of the same tier, players cannot upgrade their performance tier.
New additions in Hot Import Nights include Fine-tuning and a Dyno Run for players to adjust their vehicles' performance abilities using "Simple" or "Advanced" (Simple uses the same tuning mechanics from NFS Carbon while Advanced uses the tuning mechanics from NFS Underground 2.
Visuals[]
Like in Need For Speed: Underground 2 with a touch of Need for Speed: Carbon, the player utilizes most of the customization options. Players can modify almost any part of their vehicle such as lights, bumpers, side mirrors, stereo equipment and Spinners, as well as in addition of Classic Underglows, Engine Underglows, Customizable Vinyls with Light Stickers, Customizable HUD and Customizable Trunk Space.
Need for Speed: Hot Import Nights offers a bigger range of customisation items and options similar to NFS Heat's Customization mechanics, such as Need for Speed: Carbon; the Autosculpt feature allows players to visually modify custom vehicle exterior parts. Decals and Vinyls are no longer fixated to certain areas and may be moved and reshaped by players (maximum vinlys count of 200, also the livery design that you made can be save, load or delete from the game's livery saved files), while decals are still fixed, but now as secondary decals which only be put on certain parts of a car (doors, fenders, hoods, roofs and bonnet).
The Star Rating from Need for Speed: Underground 2 is also used.
Players will be offered to appear on the cover of a magazine after reaching certain star rating levels. Players will be given a phone call from Rachel to tell them the location of the cover shoot, but the player has to reach it before the photographer leaves.
Players will enter photo mode upon reaching the photo shoot. The player can drive, show off their interior customisations and utilize different camera angles in order to find a good shot for the magazine cover.
Owned cars can be customized within the career mode by visiting any of the tuning shops around Bayview; Body Shop, Car Specialties Shop, Graphics Shop, and Performance Shop. Palmont city however, they still have 5 tuning shops found in Downtown, Kempton, Fortuna and Silverton.
Soundtrack[]
Soundtracks in Need For Speed: Hot Import Nights are various Eurobeat tracks from various Initial D arcade games e.g. Initial D The Arcade instead of NFS licensed music tracks. Every races with Eurobeat music list are different depending on the character's driving e.g. Ruka's driving was Manuel eurobeat tracks, event specific such as HINRL tournaments or boss races e.g. Takashi's boss race with the BGM Don't Turn It Off by Go2.
Trivia[]
- Pigeon Park within Beacon Hill holds a Brad Lawless Memorial Park is replaced by Bayview Sun Dial Park, which predicts the in-game day and night times.
- This is the second Need For Speed game featured a Forza Horizon-style open world with lack of Cop chases or Pursuit modes since in Need For Speed: Underground 2 being first feature in open world exploration as well as similar to the Forza Horizon games.