Need for Speed Underground 2 – PC – Review

It all started with a movie called: The Fast and the Furious, and since that
time, it seems like the “underground” racing scene has exploded. There have
been many different movies, TV programs, and video games based off this
sport, and there seems to be no stopping it. Last year EA redid their Need
for Speed franchise and modeled it after this racing scene, and while it was
good, there was a lot of areas that needed improvement. This year they have
released Need For Speed Underground 2 and it improves on every single area
of the first game! If you love racing games then you must own this game,
it is that simple. Read on to find out why this is such a great game.

Players are in the town of Bayview, which thrives on underground racing. There
are more than 125 miles of road to drive and race upon.
During the course of the game you will be able to cruise the freeways for races,
find secret hot spots, and garages to outfit your car with the latest body
kits and modifications. Your goal is to make your car the coolest and fastest
car on the road so that it strikes fear into all of your opponents. It is
up to you to see if you have what it takes to become the next legend in the
town of Bayview. Are you up to the challenge?

Look at the smoke coming out behind the tires.

Here are the different racing modes that you will get to take part in:
Circuit, Sprint, Drag, Drift, Street X, Underground Racing League, and
Free Run. Circuit
mode is the traditional lap race, where players must beat their competitors
in “X” laps around a track. Sprint is when you see how fast you can get
from point A to point B. Drag race is where players must mash their pedal
as far
as it will go so they can win. Drift racing is where a player tries to break
into a stylish drift and obtain lots of points. In Street X players must race
around in a small lap track and fight for first place. Be warned – the other
cars will get cheap in this mode. Underground Racing League has its own
closed-off tracks that provide the best type of racing. In Free Run, players
can do whatever
they want, like just cruise around the city looking for secrets.

As players go through races and gain more prestige, sponsors will start coming
in and giving nice things to help motivate you to continue doing what you
know how to do best. The greatest thing about obtaining a new sponsor is
that they
will usually give you a free car, which is usually way better than anything
that you currently have in your garage.

Nice doors!

The most disappointing thing about this game is that there is not any car-damage modeling. So you can be traveling
more than 100 miles an hour and
hit a car and
they will just bounce off each other like nothing happened. Nitrous
Oxide or NOS is handled differently in this game than the previous ones.
The
way to
gain more “juice” is to avoid traffic and pull off some sleek power
slides. If you crash into anything you will lose some, so it is a balancing
effort
to make sure that you are driving correctly and avoiding collisions.

One thing that is really impressive is the selection of cars that is
available in this game. Last year’s game focused more on foreign cars,
and this year
has a little bit of everything. Now players can get their speed fix
by driving such cars as the Skyline, Mustang, trucks, and even SUV’s!
This
game goes
over the top with the car selection, but not only that, they all handle
differently. For instance, a truck will handle a whole lot differently
than a sleek Skyline
or another racing car.

Gotta love the neon lights!

Besides winning races you will want to make your ride as cool as you
possible can and you do this with the many different car modifications
that are available
to the players. This includes spoilers, neon lights, mufflers, rims,
decals, and anything else that you could possibly imagine that you can
put on
a car is available
in this game. Half of the fun is making your car as neat as you
can! Also, this boosts up your reputation points which will help players
out in other
areas
of this game.

Need For Speed Underground 2 is a great looking game! Since racing
is held at night, lighting becomes a huge issue for games like
this, and
this game
does not fail in any respect. The lighting for it is wonderful,
from the neon signs, lamp posts, and headlights, it all looks realistic
and great
on the
screen. Another thing new about this game is that even though
it is held at night, many times it is held at different “times”
of
the
night,
when it
is darker or even just a little brighter, which makes it feel more
realistic like
you really are racing a car.

Look at how detailed the game is!

One of the best things about this game is the unpredictability
of the weather. One moment you will be driving in perfectly
dry streets
and
the next a
downpour of rain will come upon you. This is bad because
now your car handling
has changed so you will have to compensate for it. On the
other hand it looks really good. Also, when you burn out or attempt
to do a donut
there
will be
a cloud of smoke that will be billowing out behind you, which
looks really nice and realistic.

Need For Speed Underground 2 is rated E for Everyone for Mild
Lyrics and Suggestive Themes.

Gameplay: 9.0
Need For Speed Underground 2 plays really well. I don’t suggest playing this
game without a racing wheel as it will be a little harder to win some of the
races. With a steering wheel this game plays like a dream; it is just as responsive
as one might think, with racing through the streets at high speeds.

Graphics: 9.3
Need For Speed Underground 2 has some of the best-looking graphics for a racing
game that I have seen released this year. The reflection off the cars to the
lighting looks really great.

Sound: 8.9
This game sounds really good, and if you have a quality sound card with a 5.1
set up it will sound even better! The music really fits the entire game as
well from the rap to the rock it really meshes in well. Sound effects are
also nicely done.

Difficulty: Medium
This game starts off really easy and then gets progressively harder. Some of
the later levels are really hard as one small mistake can kill your chances
of winning the race. Even though it might be on the hard side it will keep
you coming back for more.

Concept: 8.9
Unlike the first one, this game really opens up the city and allows you to
explore and really feel apart of the underground scene. One thing that I
noticed is that this game has a lot of in-game advertisements, such as Cingular
and Best Buy.

Multiplayer: 8.6
The online mode is pretty straightforward – create an account and then race
in any one of the game’s racing modes. It is pretty good and I hardly ran
into any lag that ruined the game.

Overall: 9.0
Need for Speed Underground 2 does everything that the first one did except
bigger and better!  This is one of the best racing games that I have had the
chance to play in a long time, and you will be able to tell how great this
game is from the minute that you load it. It will offer you hours
upon hours of racing challenges that will keep you coming back for more.
This is one game that should not be missed.