Need for Speed 4 High Stakes: It
plays very much like Need for Speed 4, but with some extra play modes
and one big added feature.
I reviewed Need for Speed 4 more than a few months
ago and loved the game. It had a few shortcomings, but they were minor and
insignificant compared with the outstanding gameplay and graphics.
When I first played Need for Speed 4, I thought it was vastly
superior to Need for SpeedII. Now that I've played the next Need for
Speed game, High Stakes, I have to ask myself: Does it surpass the third
installment as easily as the third surpassed the second? Not exactly. That
doesn't mean the game is bad or even worse than Need for Speed 4. It
just isn't a huge leap in terms of graphics andgameplay.
Those who buy this game should realize that it plays very
much like Need for Speed 4, but with some extra play modes and one
big added feature.
The biggest feature added to the game is car damage, which
we've all been crying for since the inception of this fine arcade racing
series. I'm happy to say that on this count, the game benefits greatly from
damage modeling. All cars have ratings for body, engine, suspension, and
handling. Too many bumps, scrapes, and crashes will bring those ratings down.
At first, the damage is subtle, but once you start racking up the collisions,
you'll see the car's body start to warp, the windshield and windows break, and
the engine start to smoke. Tires will be off kilter, and you'll notice the
performance of your car suffering commensurately. There is no way to fix your
car during a race, so you are in a bind should the damage be extensive. There
is a status window on the top right corner of your screen, though, so you can
monitor your damage and respond accordingly. You might want to be less reckless
if you see the red damage-indicator bar overtaking the blue status bar. For Need
for Speed purists who don't want to play with damage, this option can be
toggled off.
Although damage cannot be repaired within a race, it can be
repaired between races if you are playing in the new career mode.
Unlike the tournaments inNeed for Speed 4, this career mode has
higher stakes attached to it, if you'll pardon the pun. You start you off with
a wad of cash and asked to purchase a lowly BMW Z3 or a Mercedes SLK 230. Then
you enter a series of circuits organized into tiers. As you advance through the
tiers, you earn more money, which you can use to repair your car between
races, upgrade your existing cars, or buy new vehicles. There are three
different types of circuits in the career play mode. There are
regular races, where you try to amass the most points over three or more
tracks. There is a knockout mode, where the last-place finisher in each race is
eliminated from the circuit. And there is a high stakes mode, where it's you
against one other driver with your cars on the line. Each circuit has an entry
fee and offers the finishers varying amounts of cash depending on how they
placed. In the high stakes mode, your entry fee is your car, and the prize is
the loser's vehicle. It's a quick way to earn a car but also a very quick way
to lose one.
With ten tiers to race, and multiple circuits within each
tier, there is a lot ofgameplay in the career mode. The career mode
also cleverly forces you into making hard choices on how to manage your car and
money. Do you pay the $8000 to upgrade your car's suspension and engine, or do
you save the money and hope you can win enough in the next race to buy an
all-new ride? The additional car damage and repair costs also force you to race
a little smarter. In addition, persistence is rewarded, as successive victories
unveil more expensive levels of cars, bonus cars, and bonus tracks.
It would be too much to ask of a gamer to play through the
entire career mode in one sitting, so the game does save your
progress, although you don't have the option of saving between races in a
circuit.
Aside from the career mode, there are other modes
of play that make their return, as well as some new ones we haven't seen
before. There is the normal arcade mode, where you only commit to one race at a
time, as well as Need for Speed 4-style tournament play. Then there
is the police-chase hot pursuit mode, which is more robust in this version.
There is the previous mode of hot pursuit but also two new versions, both of
which add a twist to the gameplay and even more value to the overall package.
Once again, though, not all cars are available in hot pursuit.
Of course, then there are all the options that the Need
for Speed series is known for. You can tweak all your cars, adjust graphic
details, and toggle off variousgameplay elements like weather, night
driving, and the existence of traffic. There is a spectacular car showcase that
has a slide show, inside view, and detailed specs on all the cars. And lastly,
there is the full suite of multiplayer options, although EA's Internet racing
network still isn't final at this stage.
There is really very little to criticize about this game.
Some of the graphics aren't great, such as the dust-cloud sprites.
And some of the tracks are boring, with little ambient detail. I thought the
soundtrack was a weak imitation of Wipeout's, with some annoying animal noises
thrown in for bad measure. There is also the matter of the feel of the gameplay being
similar to Need for Speed 4. High Stakes doesn't feel like a sequel,
even though it is a very good game on its own.
In essence, Need for Speed: High Stakes is Need
for Speed 4 with car damage, anew career mode, new cars, and new
tracks. It plays like its predecessor but just has so many more extras. If you
already own Need for Speed 4, you have to decide whether those new
features are worth the asking price. But if you don't have Need for Speed 4,
then this will be a rare treat among PC racing games. You'll enjoy the graphics,
the fast gameplay, and the plethora of cars and tracks at your disposal.
(System Requirement)
Processor= 600MHz
RAM= 196MB
Graphics= 32MB
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