There are some great new additions to NFSU2, but some aren't quite as welcome. Excellent title, but arguably.
User Rating: 8.4 | Need for Speed Underground 2 (Greatest Hits) PS2
After waiting for a good few months after hearing about this title, I played this title immediately after I got it. After spending about 20 hours in 4 days, I couldn't help but feel mixed reactions for this game. It's easy to say that there are a healthy amount of welcome additions to this entry, but I can't help but dislike a few. Like always, EA's Need for Speed series offers fast cars, cool tracks, and ultra fun racing. NFSU diverted from the supercar tradition and approached import tuner racing instead. Instead of pretuned exotic imports, the new entry allowed you to select a standard car, tune the crap out of it, and race it on dark streets in an urban environment. NFSU2 follows the same formula as well as upgrading on what it's predecessor did. Perhaps that most obvious is the open-ended exploration in career mode. Instead of just choosing what race you want from a menu, you actually have to navigate an entire city in order to find it. You also have to find hidden shops in order to get upgrades. All of this seemed really cool at first, but it soon dulled out after I literally spent more time driving through the city searching for races than actually competing in them. This is definitely the most serious hit to the title. Other upgrades are offered as well. There are now 3 additional race modes, including Street X (racing on a drift track, tight and technical), Downhill Drift (standard drift, but in an organic environment), and, probably the most innovative, the Outrun. In Outrun, you have to match the speed of another racer on the streets, then outrun him by 1000 feet. It's a really cool concept, and it's a lot of fun to do. However, the system seems somewhat unpolished. For example, I had a 600 foot lead, but my opponent suddenly did a 180, and he got the lead. It's a start, but it could have been done better. Along with race modes, a new physics engine gives a better feel, the option to tune your car lets you squeeze the maximum out of your ride, and the addition of new car models makes for a total of almost 30. Though 30 isn't a horrible amount, what really makes this game cool is the customization system. As if it couldn't get much better, there are almost literally double the options, some of which include side mirrors, hydraulics, and trunk audio. All of the categories from the last game have more options to them, which makes for even more combinations. There's really nothing negative to be said for the customizing system. As far as technology, graphics and sound are good and solid. The car and environment detail are improved over the last title, but for some reason, it doesn't achieve the same sense of speed, which I honestly miss. The sound effects are pretty similar to the last game, but still make do in this game. Once again, the soundtrack contains a selection of rap and rock songs that go pretty well with the title's atmosphere. However, I really thought that the last game's song list was more interesting (I actually knew some of the sounds there). Again, this game offers good and bad things, but is a title that won't disappoint fans of the original. It will likely appeal to arcade racing fans, but might not be the best choice for all gamers. 
