Need for Speed: High Stakes

"A different kind of racing for a change."

Street racing is a past-time of mine. Going to closed tracks in the area and watching the racers with their souped up cars gives something of a thrill. On the flip-side of this coin, there is something of a competitive edge in these racers, and sometimes, they go to the extremes, betting not only their reputation, but the pink-slips of their cars.

In Need for Speed: High Stakes, you buy the cars, and race them against your friends using your memory card against theirs, and in the end, you can win whatever cars they are willing to put up against yours. This gives way to a completely different style of competition between friends to see just who has the skill...and who has the empty memory card once the race is over.

-Visuals 8/10-

Detailed cars and well defined tracks give way into some pretty good visual racing. Giving you cars that range from the super fast McClaren F1 to the Porsche 911, you have several real to life and detail cars that you can race through several tracks that not only show what type of environment you race in, but the weather as well.

-Audio 8/10-

A style of rock and house music that keeps the pace of the game to the red line, the music fits the bill on all stages. If one particular track's music doesn't quite suit you, then you can select which one's get played and which ones don't. Sound effects range from the roaring of the engines, to the super cool voices of the police over the radio as they try to call in for back up while they chase you.

-Control 8/10-

Tight and responsive, each car handles as realistically as it would out on the street, and does perform the way it would in the different weather conditions. Every car is different in how it handles, so there is plenty of learning to go around to find just the right car for the style of whomever is playing. Racing fans will find use of the hand brake a must-have and then learning just how to use it in the right situations takes practice.

-Game Play 8/10-

Competitive racing at it's best, High Stakes offers several different options such as Hot Pursuit, Title for Title and then the normal Tournament racing. Each form of racing has it's ups and downs, but all in all each one is unique, and provides plenty of fun.

The Hot Pursuit allows you to either play as an arresting police officer in an attempt to slow down a speeder and arrest them, or to try and outrun the cops in a 2 to 8 lap race. If you choose the cops, you can unlock new cars to arrest subjects in, which ups the replay value of that mode tremendously.

Title for Title is what sells this game, with the ability to earn cars, save them to your memory card, and then take your memory card and go up against a friend who has his own set of cars. This does change the way that racing is looked at, in giving the gamers the opportunity to bet everything on the line, and just see who has the best skill.

The Tournament mode allows players to run through a standard tournament in the chance to earn trophies and then buy brand new cars which can be customize with different paint-jobs and then driven against a new batch of computer controlled racers.

-Overall 8/10-

High Stakes is a rare game that gives the gamer a truly different racing aspect instead of just a straight race to the finish line. With the various modes that you can face off in, the replay mode on High Stakes is endless, and the amount of cars that you can win and store on your card makes this a game worth looking into.

Weekend racers should make this a rent, and anyone else who is into racing games, should probably look to this game to make a good purchase. Worth the rent in any way, shape or form, High Stakes makes it's way into the winner's circle without blowing an engine.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/15/01, Updated 05/15/01