Need for Speed Heat vs Need for Speed: High Stakes
Need for Speed Heat is an open-world racing game from EA Gothenburg (2019) while Need for Speed: High Stakes is a racing game from EA Vancouver (1999).
Quick answer: Need for Speed: High Stakes has the higher Metacritic, 86 to 72.
Need for Speed: High Stakes
What each one is
Need for Speed Heat is filed under Open-World and Racing. In contrast, Need for Speed: High Stakes under Racing.
Hustle by day and risk it all at night in Need for Speed™ Heat Deluxe Edition, a white-knuckle street racer, where the lines of the law fade as the sun starts to set.
Need for Speed: High Stakes, released as Need for Speed: Road Challenge in Europe, is a 1999 racing video game developed by EA Canada and EA Seattle and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows. It is the fourth game in the Need for Speed series and a follow-up to Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit. The game features more realistic elements than its predecessors and introduced a damage system that allows cars to take damage when colliding with objects, affecting their appearance and performance. It also introduced a series of economy-based tournaments, awarding players with a cash prize that can be spent on repairing, purchasing, or upgrading cars for subsequent races. The game's Hot Pursuit mode, which was introduced in Hot Pursuit, was expanded with more options, allowing players to control police pursuits attempting to stop racers.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
The player (male player voiced by Andrew Lawrence , female player voiced by Jamie Gray Hyder ) arrives in Palm City for the SpeedHunters Showdown, a citywide exhibition that draws in racers who compete in sanctioned races throughout the day, and illegal street races at night. Lt. Frank Mercer (Josh Coxx), leader of the police's High-Speed Task Force, announces his intent to arrest all street racers in the city. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Need for Speed Heat received generally positive reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Critics welcomed the overhauled progression system (compared to the predecessor Payback where one of the methods to gain upgrades for a car was to purchase loot boxes ) and the option to choose between day and night for increased race variety, but criticized the short story and lack of innovation compared to previous titles. Luke Reily… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception High Stakes received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic . Next Generation stated that, while the game is fundamentally similar to its predecessor, it adds enough new features and gameplay modes to attract Need for Speed fans and newcomers. Similarly, IGN remarked that High Stakes refines the series' formula while introducing realistic elements, calling it "a well-rounded package. (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Need for Speed Heat | Need for Speed: High Stakes | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.4/10 | — |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (84%, 153,208) | — |
| Critic aggregate | 72/100 | 86/100 |
| Price | $69.99 | Unknown |
| Install size | 50 GB | — |
| Steam Deck | playable | Untested |
| Released | 2019 | 1999 |
| Developer | EA Gothenburg | EA Vancouver |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Need for Speed Heat vs Need for Speed: High Stakes, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Need for Speed HeatOpen-world racing gameNeed for Speed: High StakesRacing gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Need for Speed HeatRacing, Open World, DrivingNeed for Speed: High StakesNo descriptive tagsThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Need for Speed HeatMetacritic 72Need for Speed: High Stakes ✓Metacritic 86Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.
Content and scale
Need for Speed Heat153,208 reviews · 2 add-ons · 50 GBNeed for Speed: High Stakes—Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Need for Speed Heat$69.99Need for Speed: High StakesUnknownRead live from Steam and subject to change.
Need for Speed: High Stakes takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The better reviewed of the two: Need for Speed: High Stakes (Metacritic 86)
Where they differ
RacingOpen WorldMultiplayerDrivingActionSingleplayer
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Need for Speed Heat is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Need for Speed: High Stakes is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Need for Speed Heat | Need for Speed: High Stakes | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | AMD: Radeon 7970/Radeon R9 280x | — |
| Minimum CPU | FX-6350 | — |
| Minimum RAM | 8 GB | — |
| Install size | 50 GB | — |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Need for Speed Heat · Need for Speed: High Stakes.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Need for Speed Heat and 0 for Need for Speed: High Stakes. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Need for Speed Heat and Need for Speed: High Stakes in scope?
Need for Speed Heat has drawn 153,208 Steam reviews, ships 2 add-ons and installs in 50 GB. Need for Speed: High Stakes lists little scope data.
Is Need for Speed Heat or Need for Speed: High Stakes better?
Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.
Which is cheaper, Need for Speed Heat or Need for Speed: High Stakes?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Should I get Need for Speed Heat or Need for Speed: High Stakes?
Need for Speed: High Stakes has the higher Metacritic, 86 to 72. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.