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 Speed II. 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 and gameplay.
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.
System= Pentium III CPU 600 MHz
RAM= 196 MB
Size= 162 MB
Video Memory= 32 MB
OS= WIndows 98, XP, Vista, 7 and Windows 8
