Legends is a new expansion for Heat: Pedal to the Metal, but not like the others. Instead of new maps and terrain, this one adds to the standout feature of the base game.
Rise of the Machines
Many games with a solo mode include an AI to fill in for other people. This often leads to a conflict between predictability and complexity.
Heat managed to completely bypass this conflict. This is probably one of the simplest AIs I’ve encountered in a board game (you flip over a Legends card, and each car uses one of two movement numbers depending on how close to the next corner they are), and yet it still gave you a decent opponent to race against.
This is not just a system to make up for a lack of players; it’s a way to pack the track so there are more cars to race against and interact with. The entire system is so simple that it became standard to play with all 6 cars regardless of how many human players there were.
Firmware update
While I love the automation in the game, things can get a little predictable. Cars are slow on corners and fast on straights, plan accordingly. The purpose of this Legends expansion is to tweak and expand the difficulty of these racers, giving them a hint of unpredictability. It also allows for even more cars on the track, because the original Legends cards only included 6 automated cars. Now you can get up to 12 cars on the track, although I think adding traffic jams to a racing game is a bold choice, so all 12 may be more for novelty than regular play. At least there’s always going to be chances for slipstreaming.
As well as including more cars, there are two modules that can be applied with very little overhead.
Star Power
On each of these replacement Legends cards, 12 cars are shown and a certain number of cars have a star on them.
This really is the entire AI method of the base game. Genius level of simplicity
You can tweak the level of advantage with three difficulty levels. This allows a random selection of the automated cars to get a small nudge each turn.
Each turn, as well as flipping the Legends card, you now flip over a Power Up card. These Power Up cards are used for both modules, so even when playing with both you’re just adding one card flip per turn to the admin.
Left side is this module, right side is the other
The cars with the stars get the bonus on the left this turn. If there’s no advantage from the boost this turn (e.g., they are given Slipstream, but there’s nobody to slipstream against), they just move an extra space. There’s only a handful of bonuses, and they’re all clearly described in the rulebook, so the overhead on this is minimal. This expansion does a really good job of injecting a little chaos into what is still a low maintenance opponent.
We meet again, but this time the advantage is… yours
The other module is the Rivals module. This sets up two cars to be just that little bit better through the game, giving you specific rivals you have to watch out for. You can use the Star module without Rivals, but if you want to use Rivals, then you must also use the Star module.
To keep track of which cars are your rivals, there is a reminder card for each possible car. As with the rest of Heat, the artwork is excellent.
Vincent Dutrait is at it again with these beautiful autographed “photos”
As with the Star module, you flip the Power Up card each turn, and the rivals get the extra boost on the right. If they also end up getting a Star boost this turn as well, they get both unless it’s a duplicate. Be prepared for this to get occasionally unfair.
Rivals feels like an “Oh, too easy you say?” addition to the game. It doesn’t break the game by any means; just be aware that these constant mild bonuses could escalate over the game.
Fits like a (racing) glove
Great pains have been made to integrate this all into every aspect of the game. If you’re playing a Championship game then there are rules on how to adjust the modules between races and some extra Sponsorship cards. There are 6 difficulty levels for tweaking the experience, so feel free to experiment.
The Finish Line
I feel that the biggest improvement from this Legends expansion is to breathe a little extra life into the solo mode. It helps add some character to your opponents beyond “Move 15 spaces; if it can't, then go to corner space 2" and also allows for more cars to race against/with. There is little chance of this turning into a Scalextric game; you will reliably be chasing and overtaking each other. If you have the extra cars from the expansions, these interactions in the game increases exponentially.
Will it help with multiplayer? Definitely. The more cars, the merrier, and this takes it to the logical extreme so there’s always someone to have to race against. The Star boosts that the automated cars get will add some variety if you’re finding them too easy to beat, and Rivals does a good job of creating a common enemy. It does help, but I feel it’s less important for multiplayer, as it’s best for fixing a problem that becomes less prevalent as you add more humans.
As for difficulty, on a first play all these bonuses feel almost unfair. If you also add more cars with the new Legends cards, however, it quickly becomes clear that it also helps balance out how much a crowded track works for you. Slipstreaming is an advantage that is (almost always) purely for human players. The extra cars make this far more common, so left to your own devices you could far too easily work your way to the front. Pick a difficulty, and find a balance.
My one criticism is a general problem with the Heat expansions. For the amount of physical components you get in each expansion, the prices seem rather steep. Legends is by far the least guilty of this due to being half the price of the others, but it still feels a little expensive for what you get. That said, you’re paying for the improvements made, not the cost of cardboard. One of the two main advantages of this expansion is the increased number of cars you can now race, so it also improves with each other expansion you own.
The enhancements from this Legends expansion are impressive, depending on the situation. Solo play gets the biggest update, as does anyone with some extra cars they can add. If you play multiplayer with just the base game then there is a lot less impact. Judge accordingly.
