Need for Speed vs Need for Speed: High Stakes
Need for Speed is an open-world racing game from Ghost Games (2020) while Need for Speed: High Stakes is a racing game from EA Vancouver (1999).
Quick answer: Need for Speed and Need for Speed: High Stakes are too close, or too thinly reviewed, to separate on the numbers; the table below shows what each holds.
Need for Speed: High Stakes
What each one is
Need for Speed is filed under Open-World and Racing. In contrast, Need for Speed: High Stakes under Racing.
Ready to own the streets? Get behind the wheel of iconic cars and floor it through Ventura Bay, a sprawling urban playground. Explore overlapping stories as you build your reputation – and your dream car – and become the ultimate racing icon.
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
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 | Need for Speed: High Stakes | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 6.4/10 | — |
| Steam rating | Mixed (69%, 29,486) | — |
| Critic aggregate | No aggregate | 86/100 |
| Price | $29.99 | Unknown |
| Install size | 30 GB | — |
| Steam Deck | playable | Untested |
| Released | 2020 | 1999 |
| Developer | Ghost Games | EA Vancouver |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Need for Speed 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 SpeedOpen-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 SpeedRacing, Driving, Open WorldNeed for Speed: High StakesNo descriptive tagsThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Content and scale
Need for Speed29,486 reviews · 30 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$29.99Need for Speed: High StakesUnknownRead live from Steam and subject to change.
Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 0 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.
Where they differ
RacingMultiplayerDrivingOpen WorldActionAdventure
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Need for Speed is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Need for Speed: High Stakes is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Need for Speed and 0 for Need for Speed: High Stakes. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
If you like one, also try
Common questions
How different are Need for Speed and Need for Speed: High Stakes in scope?
Need for Speed has drawn 29,486 Steam reviews and installs in 30 GB. Need for Speed: High Stakes lists little scope data.
Is Need for Speed 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 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 or Need for Speed: High Stakes?
Need for Speed and Need for Speed: High Stakes are too close, or too thinly reviewed, to separate on the numbers; the table below shows what each holds. 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.