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Very few games in my life have brought the kind of emotion and excitement that the Need for Speed series has brought to me. From the very first Need for Speed to the Hot Pursuit version, I just could not get enough of the high speed, high performance, and high adrenaline involved in the races in Need for Speed. There was something of a dreamy car fantasy to be able to pick between a Lamborghini and a Ferrari. Each newer version brought us newer cars and better tracks. No two races were alike. Cops chasing you was the ultimate race, but even more so when multiplayer capabilities made that cop car a good friend of yours. Two good friends turned enemies as each one tried to edge the other out to be able to cross the finish line before the other. I still have vivid memories of loud laughter when my friend would get pulled over, or screaming anger as he sped by me after I screwed up on a sharp corner. We all experienced that in Need for Speed 3: Hot Pursuit (which we also reviewed). Techno or Rock sound tracks thumping over your subwoofer and your tires squealing or the police calling for support blaring over your police radio tracker. I just couldn't wait till the next Need for Speed game came out.

Now EA has released a new version to my all time favorite racing sim: Need for Speed : High Stakes. High Stakes incorporates everything that has made the Need for Speed series what it is, and adds those things that we have been waiting for since Need for Speed 1. Read on to see why this racing game is the best arcade racing sim available on the market.

For those of you who have ever played any of the other Need for Speed games, or any other arcade racing sim for that matter, Need for Speed : High Stakes includes all of the gameplay modes that we are used to. You can take a quick spin, by yourself or with a friend, and race one track of your choosing. Single player mode also includes the Tournament mode, in which you race all of the tracks and are awarded points depending on what position you get in every race. After the last race all of your points are added together, and if you are good enough to be in first place, you are awarded with either a bonus car or a bonus track or both, depending on the level of difficulty. You can also play in Knockout mode. Here once again, you race all of the tracks, but this time you must not place last, or be eliminated. Make it to the end and beat the final car, and again you are awarded with bonus cars or tracks.

One of my favorite modes is the Hot Pursuit mode. Here you can take either of two roles. You can be the racer, trying to beat an opponent without being caught by the police a certain number of times, where a win awards you the Most Wanted medal for that track (Earn most wanted on all tracks and get rewarded with high speed cars). Or, you can be the police, and try to catch as many speeders before they finish the race. Catch them all and earn a Top Cop medal for that track (Earn Top Cop for all the tracks and earn a super cop car).

New to the Need for Speed series is the Career mode. This has got to be the best part of the whole game. You begin with a certain amount of cash with which you can purchase a car and participate in various different races and tournaments, each earning you cash depending on your finish. With more cash earnings you can either purchase upgrades for your car, purchase more cars, or participate in more challenging tournaments and circuits. You even have the chance to wage your own car against another opponent. Win, and you win his car. Lose, and you are short a car. Sounds like fun? It's even more addicting than it sounds. Just when you got that bad ass car, all upgraded to the max, and you think that you can take anyone on, one small mistake racing through downtown in Dolphin's Cove, and you lose the car in which you have invested so much time and money. Time to try again. Sounds like it might get tiresome, but it doesn't, it just gives you a sense of wanting revenge, and wanting to get the car back.

Oh, and now you must take care of your car. That's right, you could drive recklessly before, now you can't. Your car now aquires damage as you collide into other cars, posts, trees, and what else. Blow your tires out and your race will be over quick. Rev up your car too much and get massive engine damage. This new and long awaited aspect of Need for Speed : High Stakes makes you drive much more carefully, because you may be able to cross the finish line in a wreck, but will you be able to pay for the repairs after the race?

Career mode includes Tournaments, Knockouts, and High Stakes, in various circuits, where winning one circuit will give you access to more circuits. The whole cash idea, being able to upgrade your car, and the fact that if you do lousy, you will lose more than just your self esteem, makes this one of the best aspects of this game, one that will keep you coming back for more.

Need for Speed : High Stakes also adds multiplayer support via LAN or Internet and modem to those willing to lose or win races against their friends. Racing against real live humans is still the ultimate in excitement. Once again, and I have yet to find this in any game, computer AI for drivers is non existent. The manual states that each driver has its own personality, but I have yet to see any racer drive any different. The good ones race faster, and the worse ones drive slower. Rarely do you see them commit errors that are not provoked by the human player. It would still be nice to see computer players take corners too fast, crashing into the side (as I always manage to do) and lose a few places. This is the only reason why this game is not the perfect arcade racing sim. But that is the only reason. Get some friends to play against you, and you will have the best time of your life, I guarantee. One hint, don't drink beer and try to race against friends, you will probably be very humiliated, that or see the WRONG WAY words flashing on the screen.

The main factor that will keep this game on your hard drive will either be the Career mode or that fact that you have plenty of friends to play this game against. Career mode, in some instances, can be very tiresome for some who, perhaps, are not as good at racing sims. I'm not that good though, and I'm still having a blast trying to get farther and farther in the circuits.

If you are lucky enough to be on a LAN or have a good connection to the internet, then you can really enjoy the multiplayer aspect of the game. I have tournaments every weekend at my place, and hours of fun every evening against my wife (just as long as she's not in a McLaren F1, I'm fine).

This should most certainly be on any hard drive. That is, until the next Need for Speed game arrives.

What does everyone want in an arcade racing sim? They want to be able to get right in, without any special joysticks or wheels, and start driving. Need for Speed : High Stakes, like its predecessors, is nice and simple in this aspect. If you wish, with only the four arrow keys, you can race without any worry about special buttons, changing gears, or anything of the sort.

Of course, having a wheel attached adds extra excitement. Think you really know how to drive? Then change your car to manual transmission. If you're good at it, no one will be able to defeat you.

Although just a tiny step down from Need for Speed : Hot Pursuit, probably to include the damage to the car, these are still the best graphics around. With support for most 3D cards in the market, there is nothing like seeing yourself in a shiny BMW convertible. You even get personalized plates. Dust kicking up, rain and snow, the shine of the blue and red in your rear view mirror, cars catching on fire, glass flying all over the place, and much more really puts you in the seat of the car.

There are various camera views, from the intense dashboard and inside the car view to far away helicopter and TV views. There are even more camera views when you view the replay, great for watching your amazing victory, or for making fun of the crazy mistakes your friend made.

Graphic options are very configurable to make sure it runs best on whichever system you might have.

From the first Need for Speed, the sound, and even more the music, has been one of the best parts of the game. There is nothing like a Rock track firing you up or a Techno track thumping your subwoofer making you more confident to outrun those cops. Oh, and the cop radio is still the best. Being able to hear everything the police are blasting over their radios adds the element of audacity. So they set up a road block, but you heard where it was, now you're ready to take them on. Just don't get too confident. The police have a few surprises, such as their own high performance cars, and the new and scary surprise, the helicopter that does not leave you out of its sight.

Great soundtrack, excellent real life sounds, superb voice samples. No other game surpasses this one.

Great. Simple. Easy to set up and to get running.

The absolute best arcade racing sim out there at the moment. The Need for Speed series and now Need for Speed : High Stakes are the best games that you can get your hands on. For the best excitement you can't go wrong with this one.

High performance cars, high speed tracks, high doses of adrenaline, high replayability, it has it all. Get ready to shout, laugh, mock and cry as you get behind the wheel of this instant success. Oh, and if anyone would like to challenge me to a race, you better be good, or I will oblige in taking your car from you.

PS. I would suggest looking at the older Need for Speed games, as they are all just as great.