retro videogame "Need for Speed: High Stakes"

In this opportunity I will talk about another game of the racing games Need for Speed, which is called Need for Speed: High Stakes. The same is the genre of open world racing that was developed by Electronic Arts for PlayStation and Windows platforms. Its distribution in the market was on March 1, 1999 for PS, while for Windows was months later, specifically on June 1, 1999. This game the truth that was considered one of the best at that time and even more when the two previous presentations were not what was expected. This game contains new improvements so that the players have even more entertainment, but the best of these games that for these times can be considered retros, the developers concentrated more in the part of the playability and the physics that in the other technical parts what does not mean that they neglect it of the whole since of equal form with this game they made an excellent work. This is totally arcade, but as I said, it has a touch of difficulty for those users who like challenges and not games where achievements are obtained very easily.

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The game contains a good amount of car models as far as production cars are concerned. Among these are BMW Z3 Roadster, Mercedez-Benz SLK 230, Aston Martin DB71, BMW M Coupe, BMW M Roadster2, Chevrolet Camaro, Bonus Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Corvette C5, Ford XR83, HSV SV 994, Jaguar XKR, Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, BMW M5, Ferrari 550 Maranello, Ferrari F50, Ferrari 360 Modena5, Lamborghini Diablo SV, MHRT Commodore6 , Nissan Skyline GTR V-spec, Porsche 911 Turbo, Porsche Bonus, McLaren F1 GTR, Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, Jaguar XJR-157, Lister Storm 8. Where each of them are divided into classes, such as Class A which are the normal cars as far as speed is concerned. Then you have the AA classes, which are a little faster than the previous category, the AAA class which are the best cars in terms of mechanics and speed. Finally we have the class B that are the least fast and with which we started when we started the game. We also have police cars that are equally divided into the same categories as normal cars.

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As far as the gameplay and physics are concerned, the game was well received because it contains some game modes that were quite entertaining in their time, besides which it was the first in which he incorporated the system of damage and a physical more real than previous versions of Need for Speed. Among the game modes are Career, Single Race, Chase, Death, Tournament and High Stakes, each with its specific characteristics that differentiates one from the others, beyond sometimes having some similarities. The Professional Career mode is the mode where the player plays tournaments of various events where he wins medals and even coins that serve to unlock new cars, repair them or improve the ones we already have, buying new pieces. The latter is something new and innovative that I have not seen in the current presentations of Need For Speed. Then there is the Simple Race mode, which is more the traditional racing mode, where the player chooses the car and the track of his preference, in addition to setting the normal racing options, such as the number of laps, weather conditions, number of opponents and other options, but the main ones are those I mention.

The chase mode is also one of the most traditional modes of the Need for Speed saga, where all those familiar with this game should know the goal is to try to escape from the police or vice versa try to stop a driver racing clandestine, in the case we choose to be the security forces, The mode to death which is also known in some versions as the elimination mode is one where the last competitor in the race at a certain time is eliminated, until there is only one which is the winner of this mode. Then we have the event mode which is considered the star mode of this game, as here are played a series of events with certain models of cars, so as we are winning these events, we will be unlocking new tracks, cars and winning money to advance much faster in the game. Finally we have the High Stakes mode, which has been like a duel mode, where two players compete and you can even play with friends, where the winner gets the loser's car. This last mode is also quite interesting. In general this game has traditional modes of Need for Speed games, but also has others that were new at least for the time and the truth is that it made the difference in terms of success of the game among users.

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Graphically the game is really good, at least for the time it was released. The modeling of the cars marked an era, they were well done for the creator of the video game. In addition the game has good light effects both in the day, as in the evening and night. Another thing that left me quite gratified is the visual effects that during the races and chases we can see the dust when the wheels of the cars tread on land surfaces, at the time of braking or skidding we see the smoke coming out of the wheels in addition to particles that jump, this is quite good. What is the damage system is perfectly done and it should be noted that this was the presentation which incorporated this, giving a touch of realism to the game. The scenarios where the races, events, challenges and chases are carried out, are well created, are long because the game is open world racing. Finally the fluidity of the game is correct, the scenes, textures and objects load quickly, which is something that is always valued in this kind of videogames, is that it made the difference in the success of the game among the users.

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The sound in terms of technique is the weakest part of the game, without being very bad. The best are the different sound effects, but as for the sound of the engines are the same in each of the models of the cars, but of course you have to understand that the game is 99. What is the soundtrack is not very prominent that we say, with the lack of variety in the musical themes that is something that always demand in this section, what if the themes are very consistent with the game, widely fulfilling its mission. In general this section I am quite disappointed but because the game is retro from 1999, as I can catalog it as correct, meets more is nothing outstanding like other games.

In conclusion, Need for Speed: High Stakes was a very entertaining game that marked a period in the games of that time and the genre of open world racing. It brought us new things in terms of gameplay and physics, beyond the fact that it is arcade was the first to incorporate the system of damage when cars hit other vehicles, the retaining walls of the tracks or any object that was on the track. The game has a good variety of game modes, where the most prominent are the Professional Race, Tournament and High Stakes modes. Graphically I liked the game quite a lot, it is really good, at least at the time of its release. The sound is the least outstanding because several things could have been better, but from my point of view it is correct. In short, this game was tremendously fun, with many strong points and few aspects that should be improved but mostly in the sound section. For all the mentioned is that I give a 9.5 to the gameplay, a 9.6 to the graphics and a 7.5 to the sound.

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For the outstanding and not so outstanding aspects of this publication, I give an 8.8 out of 10 overall score to Need for Speed: High Stakes.