Need for speed: Underground

The essence of this game is customising your car’s look and modifying its performance. The more vinyl and transfers that you adorn your car with in a ‘bling, bling’ style, the more respect you gain from your peers. In the world of underground racing, image and style are as important as anything else according to this game. That’s not to say that what’s under the hood doesn’t count. The vehicles engine set-ups can be modified to greatly improve performance too.

One of the things I most enjoyed about this game was that the cars you can choose from are far from exotic at the outset. VW Golfs line up alongside Peugeot 206s to race for glory. It’s only as you begin to modify your chosen chariot that they begin to differ from cars you will see on the streets every day.

Because of the illegal nature of underground racing, all events take place at night. The cars and scenery in the game are rendered in a completely over the top glossy style. Everything has a highly polished sheen that is a little off putting at first. Once I began to race through this slightly unrealistic environment at speed, I began to appreciate it for the eye-candy that it is.

The variety of races that you can compete in is impressive. Apart from the standard first to the finish line challenges, there are time challenges, knockout challenges, tournaments, drag strip racing and drift racing. Most people will probably already be familiar with the concept of drag racing – a short race in a straight line at maximum speed. But EA games have of course put a twist into the event – you must perform the race in heavy traffic. All the while timing your manual gear changes perfectly to maintain maximum acceleration.
A modification that you will need to apply to your car in order to achieve success in the later Drag levels is a Nitrous Oxide Injector. Use the NO2 when you are approaching the car’s top-speed and you will be rewarded with a short but fierce dose of extra acceleration.

The frame rate in this game is almost flawless; there is very rarely a slowdown or shudder. The illusion of speed is very convincing and at times I found myself driving with only one eye open as I hurtled through traffic at terrifying speeds.
Another highly enjoyable mode of play is Drift racing. In these events the object is to race around short many-cornered tracks in an almost constant power slide. It took a little while to get the hang of, but once I got to grips with the technique, I found these events to be hugely entertaining and different from the rest of the game.

Unfortunately I do have some criticisms of this game. While the gameplay itself is almost perfect, the game is just a little too linear for my tastes. Much has been made of the customising cars aspect of this game. And to be fair, once you’ve achieved some success at the game, you can play around with your car’s appearance to your heart’s content. There is huge freedom in the number of elements you can add to make your car look better. However, the modifications that you can make to the car’s performance seem to me to be little more than power-ups that are delivered to you at certain times in the game. There is no option to fine-tune the car’s set-up like in the Gran Turismo series of games.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this game and once I begin to play the game I find it very hard to put down. It isn’t a realistic racing sim; it’s a fun arcade styled, over-the-top, high-octane blast of pure fun. Highly recommended.

Need For Speed: Underground
Specs:
Rating: 96%
Requirements: PlayStation 2 console
Price: EUR59.99
Contact: GameStop 01-8724305