Why this Need for Speed from 1999 was Revolutionary
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- Опубликовано: 14 май 2024
- Explore the revolutionary impact of Need for Speed: High Stakes from 1999 in this retrospective, as we delve into its groundbreaking damage system, career mode, stunning graphics, and returning police pursuits that undoubtedly laid the foundation for the subsequent successes of Underground and Most Wanted.
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0:00 - Intro
1:55 - History of Need for Speed
3:19 - Racing Landscape in the 90s
4:40 - Revolution of the Millennium
5:34 - Visuals & Graphics
6:10 - UI & Extras
6:58 - Driving & Physics
9:10 - Revolutionary Damage System
11:59 - Career Mode
14:35 - Police & Hot Pursuits
15:11 - Shortcomings & Criticisms
16:09 - PlayStation 1 Version
16:28 - Playing on PS Vita & PSP
16:50 - Summary Conclusion
18:15 - Outro
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Tags: #Gamenoob #NeedforSpeed #HighStakes
game reviews, game commentaries, critical analysis of video games 
Игры
We go all the way back to the Windows 98 and PlayStation 1 days in this retrospective, as I take a fresh look at one of my favourite racing games growing up more than two decades later. Enjoy! :)
I've never played it, but I really enjoy driving "feel" of Motorhead , GTA VC and GTA SA. How does HS compare to these in terms of driving "feel" ?
“Imagine being a kid with no access to the internet in the late 90s but being able to see the inside of a McLaren F1.”
That was me. That’s why my username is what it is. that’s why cars are such a huge part of my life 20+ years later.
Me too! I spent a lot of time looking in those showcases on NFS2, 3 and Highs Stakes as a little kid. You forget how little access we had to that type of information back then! The cars felt like they were untouchable deity's back in those days with a lot of mystique surrounding them.
24 years on, NFS HIGH STAKES is still legendary game to play.
Yes, still can play today, 5 hours every day and can enjoy 100%😊😊😊
Late 90s - Early 00s video game music was on another level, like it was actually music rather than just soundtracks. individual music producers enlisted to create a song or more for the games. so much better than the games today that are either trying to make an 'original' ST that's just some bland orchestra or paying out to big labels for hit tunes (like in FIFA or Forza). Maybe I'm biased because I'm a DJ/Producer myself that loves club music (not Americanised EDM pls), but the tracks helped these games have their own unique style and flair. NFS, Ridge Racer (omg), Tekken, even Ape Escape had some jungle tracks and unique programming. I feel like the music was a reflection of the actual games themselves. Instead of trying to be "the best" in it's category they each just focused on making something new and interesting. Instead of trying to emulate scores like Halo or trying to get the latest hit songs, just trying something fresh. I'd rather have a game/music that's rough around the edges but fun than polished plastic.
game with original ost
chaos legion
beatdown fist of vengeance
urban reign
silent hill
bouncer
jet set radio
guilty gear
I absolutely agree and I was playing knee for speed high stakes earlier on my Vida. Just sitting there listening to the menu music thinking how cool it was how good it sounded?!?!
Completely original, and 100% unique, the 90s going into the early 2000s were the best !
Glad to see pre-Underground NFS getting some well deserved recognition.
The Blackbox games were good but that led to pretty much the entire NFS community to act as though everything before 2003 dont exist or something
TL;DL - Popular long running franchises fanbases like Sonic, Pokémon, Need for speed and so on creates a massive divide into different types of gameplay styles and creates circle jerking for some certain types of games in the series and thus creating some of the most obnoxious and asinine fans that you can run across to for a fucking video game that serves only entertaining purposes. If you like the game, Good for you! If you don't like the game, Also good for you! Different people, different views for video games.
The reason why I don't interact with the NFS community anymore (Most of the time) due to the massive amount of fantards endlessly praising there beloved Underground/most wanted 2005 but as soon you fairly criticize the game they so loved they will call you every name of the book that they know and dismissed you as a "Fake fan" which is fucking stupid to me. I'm so tired of the endless bitching of the newer games that the old fans never buy and repeat the same lines of "This game is trash, we need a Most Wanted 2005/Underground remaster or a remake!" despite the fact that video game development now a days takes so much time and costing so much money to make in order to live up to the "standards" of this era of video games. Plus those game engines now are very difficult to port into modern hardware that it's the best ideal to recreate the engine from scratch. Makes matters worse is that it's all up to the developers decisions on what kind of game they want and it's borderline impossible to please everyone.
The NFS fanbase reminds me of the Sonic fanbase so much and how insanely unpleasant to deal with from a fan that only likes a certain type of game in the entire franchise (Sonic 1/2/3, Adventure 1&2, Colors and Generation) and dismiss all of them for being "Terrible" without even giving them a shot or looking at it. Same goes with Pokémon with gen 1 fans and there endlessly bitching and circle jerking about mostly about the monsters designs and nothing else which NEWS FLASH: Every generation of Pokémon have good and bad design Pokémon from Generation 1 - Generation 9. And I mean nothing else. Fuck the Story/Region/Music/Graphics/Gameplay of the later games that at least try to do something different and TRY to improve for the franchise!
*Long rant for Mainline modern Pokémon games at this time:* Lately for the mainline Switch games for me is lacking and so messy that I didn't waste a single cent for Sword/Shield, BD/SP, and Scarlet/Violet because most of the RPG games on the switch besides the online and team building is much more better (Digimon, Dragon Quest, Fire emblem, Persona, xenoblade etc) RPG as a whole and (kind of cheating here) Breath of the wild and Tears of the Kingdom for the Zelda series offer so much content, story (Even though it's the weakest aspect of it but there is so many side stories going on that it makes up for it), Dynamic gameplay and the cel-shaded graphics don't date the game not one bit... Meanwhile the graphics of Scarlet/Violet looks still half-assed compared to previous installments and games on the Switch, tons of glitches that might destroy your save data and a world that just doesn't look fun to traverse too because how shallow the dialogue/world building is and the story is just so barebones and shallow it can be summed up in just a few paragraph. "Young Protagonist moved into a new region, Pick a starter Pokémon and having to deal with a boring rival throughout the game, stop the main villain's for word domination that is tied to the box art legendary in some way, defeat the villain's for good and proceed to beat the elite 4 and the champion of that region, Beat the champion and win the game and maybe some post game content which OH YEAH you have to pay for now making the game nearly $100 for a complete package. The end." That's mostly how it goes but the core aspect of the story is all the same with little to no twists at all. Currently the OG Black/White is the only mainline game (That I know of and played) you don't have to beat the champion at all to beat the game which really surprised me a bit because no longer it's a requirement to become the champion, you can be other things than becoming the champion of the region with own different goals and beliefs which I so desperately love to see in the mainline Pokémon games. Maybe Scarlet and Violet have that for my judging a book by it's cover but then I realize that I am 23 years old and have to spend $65 dollars (Tax included!) on a game that I am not all that interested in at all. My taste in RPG's have grown massively over the years and sadly Pokémon is falling way behind to be in the world for me. The reason why I am so critical about Pokémon is a few things, I want the franchise to get better than this mediocre state that is in because it was way much more than "It's a Pokémon game." Which always fucking baffles me when people say that and *It's the highest grossing franchise in the world making billions for the name alone.* There is no excuses on why the new Pokémon game is wide as a lake but deep as a puddle. It seems everyone blames it on either GameFreak, Nintendo or The Pokémon company itself which is funny because they are all working together to deliver a product at their same time as a TEAM. If one side is failing then everyone is for not supporting that side that they are associated with. They only want one thing at the end of the day, *Money.* This team knows that Pokémon sells even if you put a name on a cardboard box for $20 it will still sell well. The team that is associated with Pokémon knew that the games are lacking for the switch compared to many other games and still decide to send it and lied about it... Still gets away with it because it will sell millions anyway.
It just send a message for everyone who is associated with the games to say "Hey we like this shit no matter what the quality this games are!" and they don't even have to try anymore. I can't blame that team to do the bare minimum effort since they are still going to get paid no matter what. The people who paid for those games have nothing to blame but themselves completely for the poor state of the franchise right now. But it's not my battle to be fighting along with at all and what I gain from this is jack-shit. Pokémon will always be remember to me as going into another world filled with mysterious creatures that is connected to normal humans like us and even thrown in some wacky tales like being a ranger or transported into a only Pokémon filled world. Take every moment in that world too see the best and worst side of it and what can you do to adapt to the world. It's a damn shame because the recent release of the mainline Pokémon games just feels like a clay world with just slideshow scenery that is just been staged with no thought put into it at all. I didn't grow out of Pokémon, I simply lost interest in it. *Pokémon modern mainline games rant over.*
So that long-ass tangent out of the way I am going to wrap it all up. Play whatever you enjoy and don't think about any other people own opinions about the game to ruin your enjoyment out of the game. If you think Sonic 06 is the greatest sonic game ever and play it often, go for it. Same with Need for Speed Most Wanted 2005 and Pokémon Sword and Shield. Nobody is going to go in your house and try to kill you over something you like/dislike for a fucking video game. That's way too dumb to risk going to prison over a virtual video game. There have been times that people really tried to kill each other (or the worse case, succeeded for murdering someone) for a video game but that's VERY slim chance it will happen to you and usually from what I herd it happens on an online match who is playing the same game to strangers. I have yet to see someone killed by someone because they said "Final Fantasy 7 isn't all that good." Plenty of death threats sure but 99.9% of them are just blind rage and never will happen to someone because they know it's fucking stupid to kill someone because "Wahh! He's talking shit about my favorite game!" and just so childish. Block, Report and move on. People like that are everywhere sadly and they are not emotionally mature enough to even handle basic criticism and it's best to just ignore them. If you made it this far then holy shit, we need to get some donuts and ice-cream one day and hang out at a bar or somewhere casual you like. Cheers!
You owe me some ice cream my friend.. :) Jokes aside, I do agree with quite a few of the points you made 👍🏻
Up to nfs 5, maybe 6... But (was it hot pursuit? ) underground etc and aftercare not that good
Yes, it's really sad when many think that NFS is only from Underground onwards and should only have the elements introduced in that game (tuning, nitro, story movie style); and the origins of this franchise and the interesting elements that are no longer seen in today's games are forgotten (original music, vehicle and track showcases, varied circuits in their locations), which ironically was the version of Underground that discarded those elements...
I have played Underground and it is an interesting game, but its fanbase has given it too much overrated fame and they have forgotten what NFS originally was and could still be.
I like each era of NFS. Need for Speed 2015's the only one I disregard.
I still have my NFS High Stakes disc! Rom d Prisco and Saki Kaskas delivered some of the best ambient/electronic music theme in video game history!
RIP Legend
Still have mine.
Fun fact, in Germany, "NFS High Stakes" was named "NFS Brennender Asphalt" which literally translates to NFS Burning Tarmac.^^
The damage system is literally better than GTA 5, from 16 years later.
The final tournament of champions was so hard, I could never beat it on gold
Man, that soudtrack! Playing on Win 98, 14’’ beige monitor, beige keyboard, and beige speakers pumping those 90’s Dn’B. And finaly… that smell of ozone that old PC used to have.
nostalgia hit me so hard by reading your description lol
This is exactly the kind of highest quality content I'd expect from the great Age of Noob.
I'm so mad about what happened to your original channel! I really hope the situation reverts back soon as you deserve nothing but the best. Besides that, wherever you go, we'll follow. Cheers!
Good to see you here as well my friend. Thank you for the support as usual. :)
If you have a Logitech G25 wheel, then the best NFS game by far is Pro Street on PS3. It even supports the H shifter, which for the time was very rare for consoles.
You stole my Fez.
😂😂😂
@@MorleyGames1what's a "FEZ"?
As a player who has witnessed all the releases of the series my favorite NFS games are NFS4 High Stakes, NFS1 SE, NFS5 Porsche Unleashed and NFS Most Wanted.
In my opinion NFS4 High Stakes is definitely the pinnacle of the series.
By the way we have a small community of players (Retro Racing Point server) that still play classic NFS games online.
My favourite NFS of all time. I remember when i was younger and my dad bought an original copy of NFSHS because he really liked racing games back then, and one time i decided to play only for curiosity and, OH MAN, i was so shocked by the amount of passion and love that this game has. An amazing car list with some of my favourite cars like the F50, the F1 GTR, the Z8, the CLK-GTR, the Skyline R34, the 360 Spider and many more others, beautiful racing tracks, a harsh level of competition for both racers and cops, an extensive amount of mechanic customization, realistic driving, simply excellent.
I strongly recommend you to try this at least only one time and see how much detail was put into this.
The very first Need for Speed I played on the PS1 as a kid, the game that introduced me to the Legendary McLaren F1 and Mercedes CLK GTR.
I am one of the OGs to finish the entire Career mode with ALL gold trophies before Underground was a thing. Dang proud of it!
6:30 I deeply agree with everything you said about the car dealership in old nfs... it felt like having internet. Wholesomeness
NFS is seriously overdue to feature locations beyond the USA theme.
love how you said 'from 1999' instead of 'from 24 years ago'
it will keep the video relative in the future without updating the title 😂
24 years ago also makes me feel very old man :D
One of my favorite games on ps1! I never realized how different and technological the PC version was
Indeed, the difference was between consoles and PC was much larger back then :)
This game was the reason I became a PC gamer. Playing it on PS1 then on PC w/60fps was unreal. Like a totally different game. PC version was miles better.
Wow, this was a throwback to my childhood. I played this game as a kid with my brothers on the same PC. Love the music and audio from thr game
For the amount of content this delivered, this is still the best one to me. It was the complete opposite of what EA does nowadays, giving you the career mode with vehicle upgrades and setup, the regular Arcade Touranament or Knockout, localized Hot Pursuit (if you pay attention during the races, the police change depending on the country the track is set in), weather and time of day options for the tracks (plus the options of running them backwards or mirrored), unlockable vehicles and tracks and, at the time, downloadable vehicles to extend the roster, presentations for basically everything in the game (the cars had their own slideshows and narration, but so did the tracks and they were presented with the same enthusiasm along with a cool 3D version of the route), that slick menu, the MUSIC (Saki Kaskas was THE GOAT).
By the time you were done with the Career, you had access to everything from NFS III plus what you got in IV and some extra race-track courses.
And the damage model wasn't just for the cars, the physics was at work on a lot of the tracks, from the stuff you hit on the side of the road (that phone booth on Durham Road made me into the IRL driver I am today, as I never wanted to hear that sound of crunching metal and shattered glass again in my life) to the surfaces alongside it (the grass and mid being flicked at the screen, the gravel, getting your windshield chipped when following another car onto a gravel section on Dolphin Cove).
Driving in a snow-storm did cause a loss of traction, but it wasn't the same as driving in rain. And on the same track, if you ran across ice-portions, or outright snow it would change again. Brilliant...
It was deceptively comparative to NFS III, as only the vehicle and track design was similar, whereas the driving experience was much more impactful in IV.
Where NFS III encouraged you to find all of the craziest shortcuts and jump them, High Stakes encouraged a clean, precise driving style, preserving your vehicle for the duration of the race (especially those 8 lappers, oh man..). During a night race, even something as mundane as having a headlight knocked out made the entire thing more difficult, and that's without any weather involved. Suddenly, those jumps you would have eagerly taken in Arcade Mode become strategic points to use in case of a pinch, but are otherwise avoided with judicious use of the brakes.
It was amazing and I spent so much time playing it as a kid that the CD-ROM it had come on eventually wore out and I was never able to re-install it. I liked Porsche Unleashed too, but although the game-engine in that one had evolved from NFS IV, it somehow never felt like it ever had the same weight to it. Damaging a car felt more akin to punching into a plastic ball or an empty water bottle, and although you experienced consequences for doing so, they were never so visually jarring as grinding into a barrier or hearing your sub-frame dragging in a corner. To this day, even stuff like Burnout has yet to match the feeling of it, the sensation that you want to be as good a driver as possible to avoid your car ever reaching such a state.
And if you played a long race as best you could, and ended it with those dents or a shot suspension, then you KNEW that had been a good one, fighting the AI tooth-and-nail for that 1st place.....
Damn me, I miss it.. Thanks for making this review, if only to see the comments section full of people who never forgot this masterpiece. And if any EA employee ends up here by mistake, please, take notes and learn from your ancestors. THIS was how you made a great game.
My first exposure to "arcade" racing games with real cars.
I will never ever forget High Stakes.
Its soundtrack was and still is pretty underrated too.
14:54 "You wouldn't play this mode for hours on end"
Me who grew up playing this game through elementary school and never touched the career mode, only running from the cops for hours on end: >.> "yeah hahaha, who would do that"
i did like this game, and of course the later Porsche Unleased as well. My first racing game was the NFS II SE or the first game, but I'm sure that i played with both (i was born at 1989). This fourth NFS was a really good one, with the upgradeable cars and the damaging system, i liked the tracks in those time. It brings back many nice memories from my childhood 🙂
Great video that takes you back in time to relive old days for 20 mins. As a person who can be easily distracted, I did not even notice the passage of time while watching this well-detailed and captivating game review.
Thank you for the amazing video, I feel literally the same way about this game. I still consider to this day one of the best racing games I've ever played, the carreer mode was great, the high stake races where you would bet your car against the opponents car felt thrilling to say the least, and even when losing it felt like it was my fault. Its sad that whenever I talk about old games with my friends and mention High Stakes, it feels like most of them didnt even knew there were other NFS games before the Fast and Furious inspired titles haha the Undergrounds (which are cool as well).
I love “engaging in spirited encounters with my opponents” 😂
Hey we have to do it somewhere. :)
the ps1 version also heavily reduced in terms of racing tracks, and the entire career can be completed in a few hours, unlike the PC version
it was my first racing game in my life, and the most loved. since then I have loved racing so much. thanks for the vid :)
my 1st NFS
Good to see NFS4 getting some love. I played so much NFS3 on my first PC with a voodoo1 card and rushed out and bought 4 when I had saved up enough, only to find that my PC wasn't fast enough to play it properly. Still great memories of those games, the tracks combined with the music had such a great atmosphere.
High Stakes is the best game in the series for me. Maybe it's the nostalgia but I love that Saki Kas Kas and Rom De Prisco soundtracks. They had better tracks way back in the 90s than games have today. Also the 3d in car camera and car slide shows absolutely my favorite as well. If anything I'd wish EA remasters the true OG NFS from old times. NFS2-3-4 remaster under one title...
Another thing I liked a lot in Need for Speed High Stakes is that it also had a somewhat large modding community and people would upload cars with a very high poly count in comparison with the original where, in the PC they gave an extreme difference in visual quality, even looking better than newer games of the time. That, adding to the visual damage and the damage costs, made me love this game a lot.
6:41 Callista by Saki Kaskas. One of the best and defining music tracks of the game. Even featured in Mass Effect 2!
May the legend RIP!
High Stakes probably has to be my favourite NfS game :D
Yeah for me it's High Stakes, then Most Wanted, then Underground, then Underground 2, then Carbon. :)
I rented NFS 3: Hot Pursuit so many times, just to do cop/racing versus with my brother and friends. This video is bringing some wicked nostalgia back. I don't think I played a lot of High Stakes though, hard to say. That said, I love both sim and arcade racing games and NFS did the mix of them very well. I think Burnout is my all time favourite NFS game however. The cars felt amazing and flipping your opponents into oncoming traffic was so satisfying and the replay system was ground breaking. Good times. 😅
Great video as always!
NFS4 also is one of my favorites.
Attention to detail in the early NFS games was phenomenal, I remember from the first NFS you could distinctively hear the metallic gear lever tick when you drove the Ferrari.
This is definitely one of my favorite NFS games by far. I really love how with the police chases you can change the police chatter to be base on the region that you are in. Small things like that we don’t see since games have been about open world vs. multiple tracks. Mentioning about how this games give an insight on the car, this is why I also liked NFS Hot Pursuit 2010. Maybe an unpopular opinion but I want another game that where it is about the cars not the customization like the later games have become.
In some of the newer games I made my car just one color. No patterns.
How do you change the chatter?
@@bjornfallqvist1196It's only in PS1 version, done through track settings before the race. Can't do that on PC. PC version has British cops on UK tracks, US cops on all the others, and old NFS3 cop voices on tracks ported from NFS3
I've assembled a couple of Windows 98 rigs this year alone.
Neither one escaped the ritual of having the first installed games being NFS 4 and Carmageddon Carpocalypse.
An absolute gem this High Stakes was, and my personal favourite !
Regarding the "high stakes" meaning, you could add an "advice bubble" in the described video section where you could tell people that this game keeps its saves in the gamefolder and you could simply make a backup of those saves before any pink slip race, so the younger generation who wants to try it wouldn't get frustrated after losing a hard earned car after a silly mistake.
Cheers mate !
A very beautiful video indeed, with very nice words !
"Engaging in spirited encounters." Also known as friendly, casual murder! 😎
Causing fatal crashes since 1999 :)
as a retro creator myself between need for speed 4 and R4 they are both my favorite racing games of all time! great video!
Thank you :)
@@GamenoobYT no thank you for uploading such a amazing video 💛
I played and completed everything in need for speed high stakes back when I was like 14 years old and I am happy to say that I am thoroughly enjoying it. Again, thanks to adrenaline and my PlayStation Vita!!!
In my opinion, it was one of the best need for speed games ever made and I would say that also for the game that came before it, need for speed, three hot pursuit !!
These games were absolutely amazing back in the day, and I am surprised at how well, need for speed, high stakes hold up!?
I'll never know why, but Scholastic of all people would sell the old Need for Speed games in schools in the 90's and that's how I got into the series. (Looking back it was before Steam, so maybe companies used to sell PC games anyway they could?) These games were so much fun. The physics felt great as well and the technical requirements weren't too high for PCs.
whoa this is beautiful.
I love how the older physics allow the cars to be so expressive. and the lighting has great atmosphere.
the level of detail of everything is so low while being so rich.
I've never played this title, but I need to now.
Check out unmodded video material first. A lot of footage here is graphics modded/shadered.
Finally, somebody has made a really good video about good old NFS:HS. One of the greatest Need For Speeds we had and for some reason forgotten. Thank you 👍
great video mate! loved every second
The PS1 version has a great feature that's not mentioned here: 2 player split-screen Hot Pursuit mode, with the capability of either or both players to play as cops. Playing with a friend, both as cops, and coordinating with him to do PIT maneuvers against the hardest racers made this the most memorable NFS for me. You had to be sure to stop the racers and leave them no escape route, there are no abstract health bars to drain down that plagued the pursuits of all the following NFS games. It was immersive, tactical and the best co-op mode I've seen in any racing game by far, still unsurpassed.
PC version also has split screen mode. :)
@@mitternacht4062 Oh wow! And can you play Hot Pursuit with both players as cops?
Late 90's and early 2000's were a magical time for gaming. So many fresh ideas, huge leaps in HW technology...
Absolutely awesome review! I really enjoyed watching this.
Need For Speed IV: High Stakes is one of my favorite games of all time and my first racing game that I ever owned. The atmosphere and passion that went into the games of this era are untouched imo and it really ignited my passion for cars. My love of the E39 M5 started because of this game (I own one in real life now). I still play Callista and the other songs from the soundtrack in my M5. The nostalgia is so strong!
Nice video! It is amazing to see how fast the quality of games evolved and are continue to do so.
I haven't played reaching game since the 2000's.. But watching this makes me want to buy and play Need for Speed 4..
I didn't even realize most modern racing games had lost career modes of vehicle showcases.. Wow.. What a loss
True review about this game. I was one of those who experienced this game as the first 3d game on my brand new pc back in 1999 and most loved till these days . I was impressed so much playing it on vodoo banshee. The music is another subject of awesomeness . You forgot about the rocks hitting windshield . Thank you for that awesome review man!
Really wish I had this game for my PC back in the day. My dad bought a multi game pack that had NFS: Porsche Unleashed, and NFS:3 Hot Pursuit. Looking at this now, it looks like a combination of the two games while appearing more polished. Looks like its using the game engine and details of NFS:PU while having the theme of NFS3.
This was the NFS that got me into NFS. the soundtrack, graphics (at the time), the fun factor; Awesome 👌
Great retrospective analysis of the game! I liked that you mentionned other contemporary racing games in your analysis, like test drive, and showed footage for everything! You had gameplay footage for everything you talked about, must have taken you a long time. I have the fondest memories of need for speed porche. I liked a lot the old cars and the beautiful country race tracks. But i think it was kind of slow :) i dont know if I remember right, have not played it in 20 years now :)
This game was basically my entire childhood. So glad to see a video on it! We were so spoiled with this game back in the day.
Underground was the joke that NFS 4 pre-emptively made fun of in its intro.
My favorite NFS game from the 90s. I played it on PS1 because my family didn't have a PC. Still had a lot of fun! I really want to play the modded version of this game.
Great watch on the way to work, amazing work!
Thanks Jack - I appreciate the sub as well! 👍🏻
I love those tire marks on the roads that stayed there for whole race, unlike now disappearing after 10 seconds
The background music from Mass effect 2 is magnificent.
It's actually from Need for Speed itself. :) Mass Effect took some of the original music composed for NFS.
@@GamenoobYT nice
Love people covering retro NFS. you earned yourself a sub.
Right in the feels man.
Always nice to see the pre-Underground NFSs get some love!
I wish you didn't crop out my watermark at 12:37 but other than that this was an amazing video :)
What a beautiful video. I actually have NFS High Stakes emulated on my phone. Even with the plethora of racing games in the market, NFS high stakes and hot pursuit 2 are my go to racing games. The way of controlling each car; simplicity of upgrading cars to stages 1, 2, and 3; the really nice layout of the tracks; and the day/night and variable weather conditions were what made me made these games stand out for me. All in different tracks from real life ones we see. These games were really a salute to creativity, esp during the years they came out.
I was looking for something to watch while eating. Glad I found this! Thank you!
Easier to eat and watch retrospectives than follow analytical AoE videos for sure :)
thank you sir, thank you soo much for making a video about my favorite game of all time
wow! i love this game, this is my 1st need for speed game i`ve ever played. i was in HS in 1999, this CD came with as a bundle set w the PS1 i got as a gift.
i agree the game is advanced for its time and the sound track is awesome!
Awesome production value my friend. I can't wait to see more content from you, but also if it's a passion project, make sure you take a rest
Will do - thanks Speedy!
Sorry to hear about the channel woes. I think you make really good videos my dude so i've subscribed - look forward to them when they pop up in my feed
Thank you for the support Kieran - I appreciate it!
Man, Road Challenge was my childhood and the first nfs I've played, it was my favourite game on ps1. I will always remember that chilling main menu soundtrack, the pursuit mode and that F1 GTR i've always longed for. Great game that gave me unique vibes.
Nice one. I do miss a new "good" Need for Speed.
Same here...
ND4SPD High Stakes 99 PS1 was MY First
and this game made me to play the other games of the series in PS1 Era
I was just 6 Years old
Nfs High Stakes was my first racing game on PC and first game I had ever played when I was very young.
I miss all these classics, would love to play them on my pc some how
I was so amazed by the damage in NFS 4 and 5 and so disappointed by the lack of it in later games.
Here to make this new channel of yours grow. :)
Really a very complete explanation of this "not so valued jewel" of the NFS franchise and of racing video games in general, although I just need to add to mention how those arcade races can have interesting and challenging civilian traffic, a hallmark in this type of racing game , something that differs from games like the aforementioned Gran Turismo.
This game has a great place in my childhood and in my heart, since as an NFS fan, this game was where I invested hours and hours and it took me years to complete the Career mode, but it was worth showing that I could do it with my effort.
And thanks to the modder community, I was able to enjoy it even in almost recent years and with some worthwhile additions (to my taste).
And how not to forget its wonderful soundtrack, like all the classic soundtracks of the first versions of this franchise, something that seems like it won't be repeated, but it's very, very worth listening to over and over again.
Gl with the new channel.
Thank you :)
Fantastic video. I have actually been playing Gran Turismo 1 on my PC for last week with my racing simulation setup. It's actually incredible fun and I am enjoying myself way more than I expected! Old racing games were brilliant. i'm so glad to see them get some recognition.
I started with NFS Road and Track on DOS, and I'm still playing racing games through FH5. I love touching base with history and reminding ourselves where we came from. It's why i'm playing GT1 even though I never owned a Playstation (only at friends or relatives' houses!)
I'm looking forward for what you're doing on this channel. I don't know if you've subbed to Raycevick, but he does this kind of content too, and he makes brilliant videos. I think his video essays may be some good inspiration for you for this channel.
Thanks for sharing! And I do watch Raycevick, he does amazing content and I love his narrative voice as well. Pretty sure I watched more than half of his videos. :)
My favourite NFS game along with Porsche unleashed! I would only press the up key and press it till my finger goes numb because pressing it hard = car going faster. Thanks for reigniting good old childish memories!
Well done making me care about a game I've never once touched in my life. Brilliant retrospective.
I grew up playing this and it got me into upgrading PCs. I played on our family computer and it only got 15 fps in software renderer mode. But I still played it.
awesome video! NFS III/NFS IV were pretty much my introduction to video games.
is there any chance you could share which settings/patches/mods you're using for all the footage in this video? the graphics look phenomenal here and they're in a really high resolution, plus i'm seeing a handful of cars that look extremely accurate to the ones modeled by EA, but that i've never seen in the game or any of its regional versions or downloadable content (the mercedes at 6:01 for instance).
Great video
I am playing this master piece after 20 years, it is the best NFS even better than underground...
Have a good start on your new Chanel!
Thank you!
the PS2 version of HP2 has been one of my favorite games since childhood, and this game really does read like a predecessor (given it's described as being like a sequel to HP1, yeah, that tracks huh) so it's definitely something i should check out!
Also, I really appreciate the decision-making and semi-experimentalism of early-console-gen game development, and i super appreciate the attention given to that aspect in this video!
I had the PS1 version of this game. I think one of the things I absolutely loved about it was the requirement to pay to fix your car, the progression from 2 'cheap' cars to start with then to finish with the McLaren and Merc actual racing cars on proper race tracks etc. It felt incredible and the soundtrack I loved, I still think back to the Overseer songs and such of the time, it was great. The game looks even better for PC with more content, I'm definitely going to put this in my list of games to play when I get my next PC for romming/emulating.
great video!
Thank you!
lmao dude be like "aight imma play this 1999 game in 4k" then go "omg i had no idea it looked this good back then"
my brother in christ 😭😭😭
6:19 I was 10 when this game came out and kids now days have no idea how good they have it, I remember spending hours looking at every inch of that interior 360 picture of the F50, I do anything for just a glimpse of these cars.
Brilliant video! I agree with pretty much everything said here, except the bit about Underground making NFS mainstream. NFS was already mainstream since NFS II. The only reason Underground surged in popularity was because of Fast and Furious. Underground was a good game indeed, but not a great NFS (and don't even get me started on Most Wanted). High Stakes is both, along with all 6 of the first gen games. And funnily enough, I played High Sakes AFTER both Underground 1 and 2 - so no one can say I'm just nostalgic - and I still say High Stakes is better than both. Not only was it revolutionary, it had A LOT of little tidbits that made it great, such as the car showcases, official manufacturer paint colours, switchable headlights (low AND high beams!), the composed soundtracks, the magnificent race track design, the stunning weather effects.... and almost all of them were ditched from Underground onwards. These are things that made you feel a fascination for the cars and the locations and made the game an experience, one very special to me. And I always enjoy whenever a RUclipsr reviews these games and doesn't dismiss them in favour of Underground or Most Wanted.
Just found your channel, loved the work on this! Though i do think that NFS High Stakes/Road Challenge is still severely underappreciated for the advancement of NFS as a whole!
Another fun part about this game: in the Hot Pursuit mode the voice accents of the police changed depending on the region: US/UK and European. It was a small addition, but it was really fun to notice the stereotypical "American" Cop voice vs a British cop!
Wow I didn't know that detail - thanks for sharing!
This deserves more views
Cheers :)
This was my first PS1 game :')
Seeing this game being underrated and loved and looking at it again gives me nostalgia and some tears to see how a great racing game wasn't catching most attention like a mobile game called racing experience released back in 2020. Also wish we had a remake of it.
Nice review on such a great game, these older nfs games really did show an appreciation for each individual car in its line up. Rather the quality and indepth overview of the cars rather than just a huge car roster of random modern supercars.
Just installed NFS4 again this month. For YEARS I couldn't run it on more modern windowses. Finally I took the task with full ambition and... found some solutions to run it, so now it looks like perfectly the same as back in the day but... in full HD :D
I think I spent thousands of hours driving in NFS4. Simple and brilliant modability extended this game's life for long years.
And I have to say, 25 years after its premier it's still such a fun to drive. It's an arcade game at heart but no so dumbed down, you've got feeling of driving real cars on real roads. Cockpit view, cars selection, tracks with day/night good/bad weather... If you take different cars in the same class you will see the differences - like author said F50 drives different to Diablo to 911 Turbo and to 550 Maranello. Hey, even option of manual/auto box have an impact on how many gears you've got - Corvette or DB7 has only 4 gears in auto (like in real world) but 5 if you choose manual (again similarly to real world). Engine sounds are also different in each car and you can hear echo of Ferrari's V12 in them or Porsche's flat-6 in 911. And actually you've got representatives of each major and imporatant sports cars makers of the time - maybe except for Lotus.
And most importantly it looks like there are you and your car. No stupid flashy nitro on F50 or sending shockwaves etc. destroying feeling that you are driving your real F50 on the real road.
Nice to see this game getting some love. This game was clearly made for the love of cars and racing, and that's the end of it.