Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Need for Speed Underground

Written by Adam Woolcott on January 22, 2004

Full Review: Street racing, it's not just for image-sensitive, middle class teenagers anymore!

Since the franchise's inception back in the mid-1990's, the Need for Speed series has been about 2 things Ц fast, exotic cars and tricky, shortcut-laden courses to race them on. The previous entry in the series, Hot Pursuit 2, was the culmination of this ideal, and stands as the highpoint in the series. Apparently, EA Games felt that was as far as they could go with this particular branch of auto racing, as the franchise has now made a sudden turn to the underground Ц Need for Speed Underground, that is. Taking away the exotic cars and exotic locales that the NFS series has been known for, NFSU instead slips in urban racing with slightly less exotic Japanese imports and puts you into a struggle to climb the ranks of the underground racing scene, via numerous challenges Ц none of which, unfortunately, revolves around the NFS trademark of escaping the pursuing police. Still, NFSU is a fine racing game that isn't nearly as good as Hot Pursuit 2, but fans of street racing (i.e. the middle class kids who wanna be urban, poor kids and race Civics even though they have no idea what the hell they're doing) and video game racing in general will at least find a game that has enough depth, options, and customization to last a while. That said, I just hope we get a more traditional NFS game on the next go around.

Need for Speed Underground is comprised of one career mode, known as Go Underground, and an assortment of race types and options. Traditional NFS racing styles like circuit racing and point-to-point tracks make their return, with the new drag and drift racing modes tossed in to further suffocate us with the underground racing theme. While the drag mode is a bit clunky and not particularly fun, the drifting races are awesome and I hope these never disappear from a NFS game. Any race mode where the idea is to powerslide around corners and rack up big combos is fine in my book. These all make appearances in the Underground mode, and also online for those with broadband. It's really odd that the game does require broadband though, as there is no use for a USB headset for communication; I see no reason why it would be a problem for 56k users. Racing online is smooth and fast, but the short races and lack of communication options make it feel anonymous and random Ц especially when some dork with a fully loaded Skyline takes you on in your puny little Civic if you haven't tuned it up all the way.

The main Underground mode is as much a walking, talking customization engine as it is a racing game. As you race through the 100+ events and climb the ranks of all the different leaderboards (for drag, drift, and regular racing, naturally), and improve your reputation on the streets, you unlock all sorts of different customization options, be it changing the colors of your car, and even adjusting the hood, spoiler, skirts, etc. of your ride. You can really spend hours fiddling around with the different options to make your car unique Ц which you can take online to show off as well. Also, you unlock new performance options as well, which is much more rewarding as it lets you soup up your car into a finely tuned monster (or, hell, we'll just call it a rice rocket like everyone else does) to rip apart the competition, be it computer AI or online opponents. Better yet, you can earn the right to buy newer, faster cars like Skylines or RX-7's, swap all your parts over to it, and further dominate the competition.

On the tracks, which all take place at night in the same nameless city, the game does manage to maintain a classic NFS feel. Each track has a nice array of shortcuts, and you earn points a la Hot Pursuit 2 that helps you raise your reputation. If you can pass opponents, draft behind them to sneak ahead, get some air, or find a shortcut, you gain points. If you happen to ram into innocent bystanders (an annoying practice that we'll talk about later), points are docked. While not as intensive on a score as, say, the Project Gotham series, you do want to get lots of points to unlock all the customization options, if you're into that. This is the most common and the most difficult part of the game, but thanks to some fun with N2O, you can blast by if you need to. The combination of point-to-point tracks and circuits is classic NFS, as are the different kinds of races, be it tournaments, single races, lap knockouts, and tournament knockouts, but unfortunately the track designs are a bit off from the past, as many are mere extensions and reversals of other tracks, and they tend to intersect more often than I'd like. This compared to HP2 which had more than enough track variety and designs to have each one stand out.

The drift races are a bit different than the regular races, as there is no other car on the special drift track, instead it plays like a rally game, only with points in the corner that tally up as you go along, letting you know the score you need to win. You can gain points by making a perfect corner, chaining drifts into one huge drift, and running clean laps. The only downside is the cars are very hard to stop when rounding a corner and avoiding hitting a wall, leaving some thought and memorization on the table to figure out the best time to hit the brakes and barrel through the turn. Seriously, the drift races are my favorite part of the game and will really test your cornering abilities Ц and they'll help you in the regular races as well.

The biggest hassle with the game is drag races. While they're not really long, nor all that tough (the entire game really isn't that hard, actually), they're a chore due to all that's going on. Drag races are always done with manual transmission, which is fine, but you have to watch your tach before shifting, to be sure it's the right time, or you run the risk of a bad shift or even over revving your engine which will blow it out and end your race. All this, while you have to watch the other cars you're racing, and the moronic innocent bystander AI that makes the strange AI from Gran Turismo 3 look like valedictorians, to avoid crashing and ending the race. Eventually, I just gave up and shifted on instinct, which somehow managed to work. Use the force, Luke!

No doubt that NFS Underground is a fun game, and a good racing game, but there are problems as mentioned above. The most bothersome problem unrelated to the races really is the overuse of customization Ц look, are you here to race a car, or make it look pretty? It's not worth jack if you have a pretty looking car that finishes last all the time. It's very superficial and utterly worthless in a racing game where it should be about what's under the hood, not the pretty stripes and flames on the hood. Granted, it's not totally required if you just want to raceЕbut the fact that it does affect your respect meter (which in turn lets you advance up the ranks) makes it at least semi-mandatory. Sure, it might look cool, but that's all it looks. Go into auto detailing if you want to pretty up a Civic.

Finally, we come to the issue of AI in greater detail Ц it pretty much is garbage. You do get decent competition from opposing cars, but it's not all too tough to run away and win if you're good enough. It's handling the traffic that's the problem. It wouldn't be a problem if EA had bothered to make sure the traffic had actual brains and not run in a set pattern and completely ignore your presence. In Burnout, the AI at least would notice a car blazing by, but here, they won't even notice Ц plus, they managed to place these morons only in points where it's easy to get blindsided and blow the race. It results in a frustrating time on the track because of the static AI. This isn't even going into the hassle of barely nudging a car resulting in a flip out and a 50-foot slide backwards to cost you 1st place. Personally, the whole thing feels like a big fat PSA Ц look, you can race in this game and not get a scratch, but this is what happens when you do this stuff for real, you bloody idiots - which is probably not a bad thing.

One area I can't complain about is the graphics Ц they're pretty darn stunning. With the whole game raced at night, NFSU has all sorts of lighting effects and slick roads and neon-ed up buildings to catch your eye, and still manages to maintain an awesome sense of speed 99% of the time. That's not mentioning the highly detailed cars that look like the real thing right down to reading the Lancer name of the back of that car while you swing around the tracks. And yes, with the entire customizing thing going on, the cars can look stunningly unique, especially when you take it online and show off to others Ц if you find someone with a car that looks just like yours, it's a rare feat. The only flaws are the annoying blur that makes it hard to see sometimes, and the occasional slowdown in busy sections of the race. NFSU is really pushing the PS2 to its limits visually, and it shows, both good and bad.

As you'd expect, NFSU is loaded up with an EA Trax soundtrack, with an equal mix of rock andЕuhЕrap, I guess. It's definitely not the best soundtrack EA's put out, and it gets off on the wrong foot thanks to Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boyz Ц if I never hear that group of Сartists' again, it wouldn't be soon enough. The song they contribute (УGet LowФ) manages to get on your nerves within 5 seconds, leading to hitting the mute button almost immediately. It does have Rob Zombie on it, which adds on 2 cool points to the 15 it lost for including Lil' Jon and company. Otherwise, the game has a nice assortment of sound effects on the tracks, including matching skidding effects to help make the drifting races even more awesomeЕbut the voice acting for some of the other racers manages to get on the nerves after a few seconds as well.