Need for Speed: High Stakes
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| Need for Speed: High Stakes | |
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| Developer(s) | EA Canada |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Series | Need for Speed |
| Release date(s) | March 24, 1999 (PlayStation) June 20, 1999 (Microsoft Windows) |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player and multiplayer |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows and PlayStation |
Need for Speed: High Stakes (also known as Need For Speed: Road Challenge in Europe and Over Drivin' IV in Japan) is a 1999 racing video game, developed by Electronic Arts Canada and published by Electronic Arts. It is part of the Need for Speed series, once again featuring a host of exotic sport cars and tracks located in Western Europe and North America.
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[edit] Gameplay
As is its predecessor, Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, High Stakes retains standard races and police pursuits in game, as well as introducing a new form of tournament (High Stakes), and two pursuit modes (Getaway and Time Trap). It is also the last game in the Need for Speed series to feature a split-screen two player mode, in which two players can play simultaneously on the same computer.
[edit] High Stakes
High Stakes is a chronological set of tournaments that challenges the player to complete a set of 8-car races for trophies to unlock bonus tracks and car, incorporating a monetary reward system that allowed a player to purchase vehicles and performance upgrades while earning cash by racing. In addition, each cup tournament requires that the player compete against one opponent in a "High Stakes" race, wherein the winner of the race will obtain the loser's car, while the loser obviously loses his/her car.
[edit] Pursuit system
Hot Pursuit mode, which was first introduced in Hot Pursuit, remains in High Stakes. There are three modes in total, two of which were new to the series. "Classic" mode is essentially similar to Hot Pursuit's Hot Pursuit mode, allows the player to race against another opponent in a tracked filled with police cars, or drive as a police to arrest all racers in a race. High Stakes introduces "Getaway" mode, in which the player must evade the police alone within a set amount of time, and "Time Trap" mode, in which the player as the racer is required to complete a race within a set amount of time, while the player as the police is required to arrest all two racers within a similar time limit.
Pursuit AI and tactics in High Stakes are very much similar to that of Hot Pursuit, with the exception of several improvements. Jersey barriers and flares are added into roadblocks, while a new form of police vehicle, the police helicopter, is introduced, allowing the police to trace the player's car from the air, using a searchlight at night (the helicopter is, however, unable to detect the player hiding in buildings or tunnels). Police vehicles remain relatively diversed, with inherited police cars from Hot Pursuit, as well as several new police cars, including Porsche, BMW and Chevrolet Caprice-based models of color schemes corresponding to their geographical location.
Police radio chatter is also unique to the country the tracks are set in, with police accents in Scotland and England distinctively different from each other and to those from the United States and Canada. Exceptions to this include police based in non-English countries, which are substituted by American/Canada police chatter.
[edit] Damage engine and upgrades
Another innovation is the introduction of damage models. The player's car, and those of the opponents, traffic vehicles and police vehicles, are susceptible to physical and visual damage, ranging from broken taillights, wobbling wheels and a dented bodywork, to performance penalties in the form of damaged suspensions or a battered engine. Such damages are easily inflicted by hitting objects (including signboards), landing too hard, or rolling over, and may hamper their performance and victory in races. Vehicle damage can be toggled on or off in standard modes, but High Stakes mode permanently enables the feature, requiring that the player spend cash on any repairs after completing a race in the tournament. The mode also allows players, for the first time, to upgrade cars, although the feature simply consists of switching between three upgrade levels for each car.
[edit] Miscellaneous
The PlayStation version of the game, released some months before the PC version, features improved gameplay. Only all-new tracks were implemented without the additional rehashes from NFS III in the PC version. Additionally, the AI in the game was more advanced; the five AIs such as Nemesis, Bully and others featured different driving characteristics (ie. Nemesis would hound the player until a slipup occurs, whilst Bully exhibits a more aggressive style, occasionally ramming into the player's vehicle).
In-car depictions of the player's cars has also seen significant changes, with a complete 3D model of the interior replacing photographic images seen in previous installments. The game also allows the player to additionally view left and right while driving in that viewpoint.
[edit] Cars
Cars featured in High Stakes consist of existing sports cars and one original bonus car. As opposed to the original classes "A", "B" and "C" used to designate vehicle performance, High Stakes categorizes vehicles based on triple-As, double-As, single-A or B classes, the former referring to high-performance vehicles. Cars featured in the game include the following:
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Standard models
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Police models
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[edit] Tracks
The tracks featured in High Stakes and their attributes are largely the same as it is in Hot Pursuit. Races can still take place at night and/or with weather, and reversed and/or mirrored tracks. However, minor refinements had been made on new tracks, particularly their ability to better adapt to night races; whereas tracks from Hot Pursuit are simply darkened, the new tracks include lighting from lights and buildings. Movable props also return in the new tracks after their introduction in Need for Speed II and absence in Hot Pursuit.
High Stakes features ten new tracks (including three bonus tracks), while the PC version offers nine more bonus tracks that are direct copies of those from Hot Pursuit, totaling nineteen tracks. Running in High Stakes' game engine, tracks from Hot Pursuit feature improved fogging, visual effects and traffic from High Stakes. The new tracks are set in various locations in Western Europe and North America, each conveying specific identities and landmarks (although the new bonus race circuits do not actually indicate any visual signs of their locations). It is also worth nothing that the majority of new tracks are set in the countryside or forests. The set of new tracks include:
- Celtic Ruins: Set in Scotland, containing ruins, open grasslands, a village, museums and forests.
- Landstrasse: Set in rural Germany, passing through mansions, towns and forests.
- Dolphin Cove: Set in the rural United States, starting and ending at a lakeside town, and running along the coastlines, forest and canyons.
- Kindiak Park: Set in a fictional national park in Canada, and features two railroads (with a passing train).
- Route Adonf: Set in the France countryside, passing through an old town, cliffs and forests.
- Durham Road: Set in rural England, running past partitioned roads, the English countryside and towns.
- Snowy Ridge: Set in the United States, on snow-covered highlands.
- Raceway: A race track set in Italy.
- Raceway 2: A race track set in the United States.
- Raceway 3: A race track set in Spain.
For the Hot Pursuit-based bonus tracks, see Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit tracks.
[edit] Music
In High Stakes, interactive music (including pursuit music) and rock music were dropped in favor of linear techno music in all modes. In addition, themed tracks were no longer used, with the playlist randomizing any racing music in any track.
[edit] Criticism
High Stakes was widely criticised for being too similar to NFS III, especially due to the fact that all of the tracks from NFS III were contained in NFS HS/RC (amongst others).[verification needed]
[edit] Incompatibilities
High Stakes is known to have issues running on Windows XP (as well as Windows 2000 and Windows NT), as the game currently requires either Windows 95 or Windows 98 to run properly.[citation needed] The game also doesn't support newer video cards, meaning using an old GeForce/ATi graphics card (or even a 3dfx Voodoo2 graphics card) is preferable to using a new GeForce/ATi Radeon graphics card when playing the game.[citation needed] The game's predecessor in the series, as well as its sequel, are both compatible with both XP and new graphics cards.
While no official patches have been released by Electronic Arts to rectify both problems, third parties have released their own fixes and patches on the Internet, including patched executables or replacements for certain files.[citation needed]
[edit] External link
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The Need for Speed • Need for Speed II • V-Rally • Hot Pursuit • High Stakes • V-Rally 2 • Porsche Unleashed • Motor City Online • Hot Pursuit 2 • Underground • Underground 2 • Most Wanted • Carbon |
