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More Reviews
Silent Hill (April 99)

Speed.

Electronic Arts had done their best but their best wasn't enough and the game quickly faded, Electronic Arts shuffled around and stared at their feet with embarrassment. Fortunately, as this was the 3DO, few people actually witnessed this moment of embarrassment and some time later, confident that the few who had seen the first Need for Speed effort had forgotten their experience, Electronic Arts set about rehashing the original game but this time for the Playstation.

And so the true Need for Speed phenomenon was produced. Simulation took over from heady arcade action, speed became more than apparent and everyone agreed the game really was a little bit special.

In Need for Speed 2, however, the arcade monster returned and left simulation scratching its head, unsure why it had suddenly been given the elbow. As a result, the game had dull tracks and little of the first game's trademark realism, adding up to another less than engaging racing experience, a true relative of the very first NFS outing.

Simulation came back with guns blazing  to create NFS: V-Rally. The game was fast, but the cars were far too responsive and the slightest touch on the D-pad would send them hurtling into the nearest ditch. Simulation and Arcade finally worked out their differences last year however and joined forces for NFS 3: Hot Pursuit. Here the game found its feet in fast paced exciting cops and robbers pursuits.

And now finally arrives NFS 4: High Stakes, an ensemble of all 3 Need for Speed games though hopefully the last in the series. After all this is getting ridiculous! Visions of Rocky XXX come to mind. Have they finished making those movies now?

The game’s engine is similar to NFS 3. You can play time trial, single race, hot pursuit, tournament and a new mode, yes you guessed it: high stakes. Time trial and single race are nothing new, and High Stakes’ versions vary little in setup from previous titles in the genre. Hot pursuit is the same  mode offered in NFS 3, where you can either evade the “five-0,” or join the old bill and catch the perp yourself. Hot pursuit mode feels just as great as ever, if not more so, enhanced by a more aggressive computer presence.

Tournament again, is the same as NFS 3, but High Stakes has solved the problem of the tracks slower aspects by reducing races to two laps. As a result racing is far more aggressive. Races are often neck to neck, forcing you to concentrate the whole way round. Finally comes High Stakes, a quiet unique gaming concept. The idea goes as follows: both players load their best and most hard won cars into the PSX using memory cards. Both players race. The loser has his/her car erased permanently from the memory card! Nasty...

You'll find car selection in High Stakes similar to NFS 3, with samey but updated versions of the cars. Cars range from the speed freak Lamborghini Diablo SV, to the monstrous Mclaren F1 GTR. And all are so beautifully rendered you'll wish there was a Miami Boulevard track available so you could saunter down it with the roof down, the tunes playing, making wanton remarks to bikini clad roller-bladers. But then, once you get on that asphalt and gun the engine all thoughts of Miami will fade from your mind. The driving experience of NFS High Stakes is something of an artform and the element of speed itself quite staggering. Make sure you have a change of underwear handy.

There are new aspects to the High Stakes gameplay you won't recognise from NFS2 or 3. You can win money from winning races. Along with the money element, for the first time in the series, your car can sustain damage. Damage costs you at the end of each race and the more recklessly you drive the quicker your bank account will dwindle. At times this can be annoying. After all, games are supposed to be like cartoons, you can do anything and you needn't worry about the consequences. Those of you die-hard sim fans, however, will almost certainly enjoy this facet more then the rest of us.

Another irritation which may appeal to sim fans more than arcade buffs like myself is when you crash your car head on into a sheer cliff at over two hundred miles per hour the car comes to a dead stop rather than bouncing off and carrying on (hey now that doesn't really happen in real life does it?) Therefore precision driving is essential when cornering and with each car the handling is so different you'll need alot longer than usual to master this.

Car collision is also much more realistic, reminiscent of V-Rally, or TOCA Touring Car. When your car is pranged sideways-on by an opponent, it  fishtails. If you try to fight the swerving motion of your car by steering away from the pitch, a spinout will occur.

Also reminiscent of more contemporary racing sims like TOCA computer artificial intelligence is eerily on the ball. Try to nip through on the inside and you'll find your way blocked by the jerk in front. Try to gun the engine on the straights and you'll find it no easy task to leave the rest of the field standing. This is one part of the new style sim experience I particularly like. Not only must you fight for those all important pole positions you must master the true basics of motor car racing, as in real life, including line driving (following the shortest route around the track) and sharp cornering, cutting a corner to slide inside and past the leading car.

One last thing - the graphics. Beautiful they may be, visually stunning they may also be, but overly rendered they are too. The Playstation 2 may have an easier time of it with NFS: High Stakes due to the better refresh rates we're promised, but the current PSX can't handle it at times and when the game slows down as a result the effect is noticeably distracting.

All in all then - High Stakes is a great game. Gran Turismo has been at the top for far too long and here comes a nemesis worthy of the challenge. High Stakes is fast, fun and packed with features. If you're getting bored of your GT, or TOCA just doesn't do it for you like it used to I strongly suggest you put High Stakes at the top of your next shopping list.

Need For Speed: High Stakes is due for release Spring '99

Top

UPPERS
Features, features, features!
High Stakes mode
Hot cars
Better than Gran Turismo

DOWNERS
At times, too realistic
PSX not up to those graphics.

THE LAST WORD
A special game, but hopefully the last from NFS
Come on guys, its getting silly now.