Zooming into fifth gear easily, High Speed is yet another game published by Rare on the NES. Back in the day, Rare used to bring out a slew of game and built itself up to be a powerhouse, through hard work. It later on would bring us a series of classics on the N64 and would, later still, kind of vanish into thin air. It's one of the things I regret about the game industry, as it did have talent. I own a lot of Rare games on the NES and most are good. Now, is High Speed one of those games?
High Speed is not a racing game, as one would come to expect, but a pinball game based on fast cars and fast driving on the highway. It has one board of play and a lot of flashing lights everywhere. So far, all is standard and as far as pinball games go, how much more can you implement? Well, a lot, apparently.
In this game, you'll be dodging ball-eating fireballs, destroying flipper-crushing bombs, outmanoeuvring pirate-looking mechanics and more. To add even more to the punch, you can also save up three items of the same kind and unlock a mini-game. On one hand, you have a mini Pachinko game. For those unaware of the game, it's based on getting balls on a set space on the board; a popular Japanese, arcade game. On the other hand, you have a really fun race game, where you boost your vehicle by shooting it with your ball or crashing other cars by shooting them. It's a nice change of pace to take you away from the one game board and at the same time have a completely different challenge ready. Other than that you have your standard pinball play, with jackpots, multi-balls, extra balls, ramps and the likes. All the features are well represented on the board and it's fun to try and acquire the set goal laid out for you.
Graphically, High Speed takes some getting used to. With gritty and flashy colours everywhere, you might lose track of your ball once in a while. And when you are operating a multi-ball, things will become absolute chaos. It doesn't help that the game only splits into a split screen that's confusing when speeds are up and disappears only a moment before the ball hits. Overall, the many things that are happening on the board at once might confuse you, as they aren't too clear. But with time, all will seem more clear and you'll know what blotch means what. In all, Rare made a good attempt at better, more "adult" graphics, but it kind of backfired in the perspective of gameplay.
Another bad effort is the sound. This really is the worst part of the game. In their aim for realistic sound, they've made some of the most awful, distorted and downright annoying noises out there. Every time you'll get a point countdown, you'll think your television is dying. the only thing that really works out on this level is the police radio with voices of police officers. As radios always sound a bit distorted, this sound comes off really well and it's nice to be chased by the cops for real! Although the fuzz is the least of your worries on this godforsaken playing field. Other than that, I can only urge anyone to play with sounds low.
What saves this game, is the replay value it holds. Just like other pinball games, if done properly, you'll replay the same experience over and over again. It becomes more tricky with time and with all the extras on the board and all the animations trying to cut your progress short, you'll try again and again to get as far as possible. And every time you meet another foe out to get you, you'll wonder what else this game has in store for you. To really peek your interests, Rare has put a clever, mental challenge into it by putting a monstrous high score on first place. And with only three balls, you'll sweat out your best game and try to get there by any means necessary. To help you in that quest a little, it is possible to replay a ball with an extra ball, if you play well enough.
I'm lucky I found this game back in my collection, as I had forgotten I owned it. Rare pulled off a lucky shot here, overcoming all odds with the great gameplay the game holds. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and reach my favourite mini-game ever and race on a pinball game!
