Need for Speed: High Stakes (aka Road Challenge)

Where the The Need for Speed series is already established as one of the best racing game series on the PlayStation. Need for Speed: High Stakes continues the tradition in fine style by adding several new elements to the gameplay, and offering a wide variety of tracks and cars.

Where the previous game in the series had you running from the law, this one has you racing for pink slips. Sure, you can still play cops and robbers (this time even playing the role of John Q. Law), but the real fun in this game comes from racing to win so that you can buy a better car. Once equipped with faster wheels, you can hook up with a friend to race for titles in the two-player mode.

High Stakes boasts the best graphics in the series, but they come at a price: slowdown. All too frequently, we found ourselves hitting a wall or an opponent's vehicle because the game stuttered as we drove into a graphics-intensive portion of the track. Good visuals are nice, but they should never come at the expense of gameplay. Still, when else will you get a chance to blow away a buddy's shiny new McLaren F1 in your "lowly" Corvette? --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Fun tracks and a variety of high-performance vehicles
• Playing as the cops can be fun
• Excellent sound effects

• Suffers from slowdown too often