| Need For Speed: Underground |
| Game Info Category: Racing Size: I Game Disk # of players : 1-2 players simultaneous Memory Blocks: 8 Publisher Electronic Arts Release Date: Nov, 2003 Score: 9.0 Screens from IGN.com |
| When playing Electronic Arts lastes on the Need For Speed series, Need For Speed: Underground I just can help but think of The Fast and the Furious movie. EA desided to go for a diferent touch from their last years game and goes along the lines of the lastest popular racing movie flicks. NFS: Underground taking you to the night streets of the city for a chance to show off your racing skill and compete against top drivers for cash. EA Games has made an attempt to remake the experience of night street racing and they surtainly do a good at it. From drag racing, drifting, sprints and lap racing to tournaments gives plently of veriety in game play. Players also choose in the mode "Go Underground" competing for cash and rewards. In return you spent it on up grades and car parts to build your ultimate sports car. I am not just talking about changing your tires and tweaking the handling. Everything from adding or improving spoilers, front and rear bumpers, rims, hoods, head lights, window tinting, paint jobs, decals and more. Plus all the essentails like tires, brakes, engine, turbos, and suspension upgrades. Players got a wide selection of fully licenced vehicles from car manufactors such as Toyota, Mitsubishi Motors, Honda and more. When starting out in the underground mode you choose your starting vehicle and then are challenged in a series of evens from drag races to tournaments. There are three difficulty levels (Easy, Medium and Hard). The higher the difficulty you choose greater points and cash you can earn. I would recomment starting out on Easy or Medium when getting the hang of the game. The courses you race all take place in last hours of night. there are about 20 tracks to race. All the race tracks however take place in the same city map using the tactic like in Burnout, to either open or close alternate path routes making a bit different each track. Need for speed keeps you in the fast lane always running at 60 frames per second with little slow down. The physics and handling simulate racing paying close attention to drifting and sliding for a challenge when taking turns. If you want a greater challenge turn off the default setting 'stability' handicap for a less arcade style handling. This makes it easier to pull nice drifts and skids but also increases you chance of spinning out and do a 360. EA's attempt to recreate real-time night city enviroment was excellent. The city streets all are wet textured so you will notice the amount of reflections off the roads I think look quite amazing. When driving at high speeds you will notice the background starts to motion blurr and even shakes abit for a greater feal of speed. You probably notice this special effect more using the front end camra view. Visually the vehicles appear like they would in real life looking quite slick after a good upgrade and paint job. NFS comes with a fully licenced sound track including songs from artist such as Rob Zombie and Eastside Boys. Multi-player is available for up to 2 players split screen. Players can race their friends with their own upgraded car and challenge each other. In split-screen are various modes to play including drifting, curcit, drag and sprint. The frame rate in multi-player mode does not slow down and skip keeping a smooth flow. Summery Need For Speed: Underground is fine tuned racer with awsome visuals, nice sound track, and great special effects. Gamers who pick this game up should find plently of hours of gameplay here including an in depth Underground career mode. Playing around with car upgrades and visual details should keep players busy. I would recommend people to give NFS: Underground a spin. Back to main page Back to Gamecube titles |
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