A bit of a letdown, considering the fans' elevated expectations after Underground! Still manages to hold its own,though. User Rating: 8.1 | Need for Speed: Underground 2 PC
By
agefreak | Review Date:
July 12, 2005 Many racing genre fans fondly remember a certain Need For Speed Underground, released last year, as the best Racing title for the PC. The game worked really well, combining the right level of car customization with decent track design, a challenging AI, and impressive graphics. EA ties up with Black Box Studios to bring its sequel (Underground games just gotta have sequels!!), NFSU2. Although the launch of the game was marred by some inadequate publicity, it is a game which will nevertheless make hardcore fans sit up and take notice. That’s because this is one of those rare occasions when EA has tried to take a leaf (or should I say plenty of leaves) out of the other popular racing titles, and has tried to create a perfect blend of everything on offer. The end result – I’ll say it’s getting there! Welcome to Bay View – home of the toughest illegal street racers you’ll find. At least that’s what your ….. um…….. aide claims. Uh……. The aide……. Right……. Remember Samantha from NFSU? She was that gal who got you into the Underground Racing mode, and sorta guided you through it. Well, apparently, you’re forced to flee the city after threats from some gang right after you won the final Underground event. So you run away to Bay View (of all the places), where coincidentally, Samantha has an invaluable contact in the form of Rachael (Brooke Burke). So, here we go again. Another city of mean racers to take care of! Need for Speed Underground 2 tries to inject a story into your career mode using static-image cutscenes, which are similar to Max Payne’s Graphic Novel, although with a lesser impressive outcome. The story isn’t anything to write home about, and as in a racing title, shouldn’t really be. The City. Well, that’s where the game stands out. NFSU players had one common complaint – the tracks were too repetitive. So in NFSU2, players are provided with an entire city at their disposal (a la Midnight Club II). In the explore mode, there are no barriers (provided you’ve unlocked them!). You can follow any route to your destination. Of course, this does tend to get a bit tiring at times, coz the city’s just too big!! All events in the game (like Races, time trials, photo sessions etc.) have to be driven to. It’s sort of a partial blend of MC2 and GTA3 (without the character, of course). You'll also have to drive to different parts shops to customize your ride--in fact, you'll have to find most of the game's shops by cruising around the city, looking for the right type of colored lights. The game gives you an onscreen map, but shops don't show up until you've found them, and some races don't actually appear on the map, either. Tough luck!! On paper, this whole open-city thing sounds like an interesting idea. In practice, driving around the city might become a real drag that keeps you out of the action longer than you'd like. The game rarely takes advantage of the open city for racing purposes, staging a majority of its events on preset tracks, rather than adopting a “Get there however you can” style. It’s pretty well thought out actually. Using the open city for racing might not have appealed to some. There's a menu in the garage that lets you jump to a handful of different events, but most races don't show up here, and none of the shops do, either, making it completely useless. You'll start out in some pretty slow cars, so the racing isn't very exciting until you earn enough for a full set of upgraded performance parts. But once you've done so, the racing is fun and the cars handle well. In fact, the overall handling of cars is much better than NFSU. The cars are fast, and thankfully, are quite well balanced. Like in NFSU, there are a handful of different race modes: Circuit races are long lap-based events, sprints take you from point A to point B on a set course, drag racing lets blast down a quarter mile at a time, and drift races rank you based on your style. Additions in this year's game include The Street X races, which are essentially regular races that take place on drift tracks. Outrun races take place in various parts of the city - you roll up behind another racer, tap a button, and then try to pass and outrun him or her (MC2 anyone??). You'll also encounter a few time trials, in which you'll have to get from one point in the city to another before a photographer leaves the area. Make it, and you'll get to put your car on the cover of one of the game's magazines or DVDs and get a generous helping of cash. Another new race type is the URL (underground racing league). Although they’re essentially circuit races with proper racetrack scenery, according to the game’s cutscenes, they’re the “happening stuff” behind the game’s storyline. Go figure!! Though there are three different difficulty settings for the career mode. The AI is pretty decent. However, it is pretty easy to beat, even at the hardest setting. Personally, I found the AI of NFSU to be much more competitive. If you can use your nitrous boosts timely and cut corners effectively, gaining the lead isn't very difficult, and the game doesn't seem to employ any heavy AI routines to retake the lead from you, so you can usually stay in front without any trouble at all. To make things more challenging, try turning on “Catch Up”. This option has it’s own problems. For instance, on some tracks, the rubber-band nature of the AI cars becomes so obvious that you almost give up the race out of sheer frustration. Me…… I just went through a bad case of keyboard bangs! NFSU2 also incorporates the ability to “refill” your NOS by gaining style points (Remember Burnout). Street X races are the most challenging, as it all comes down to how well you cut corners. Graphically, NFSU2 showcases impressive car models, lighting and reflections. Crash damages are still non-existent, even after countless debates on numerous message boards. For the most part, the game keeps running at a smooth frame rate, even in the later stages, when you're moving much, much faster. The graphics are quite similarly themed as compared to Need For Speed Underground, but with more lighting, more trails, more effects and more particles. The shakey drag cameras, the motion blur and all the other niceties which were bundled with the original installment, make a comeback with NFSU2, although they’re a bit less pronounced than before. You still get blurring at very high speeds or when you kick in the nitrous oxide, but more would have been better. Controls are pretty much stable, although a Gamepad does wonders to your control. But the overall keyboard controls have been given a brush up. A big part of Need for Speed Underground 2 is the ability to customize your car's performance and appearance. On the performance side, you'll purchase parts that have been organized into stages, which gives the game an easy way to lock the better parts away from you until you're ready for them. Parts fall into different categories, and upgradation is pretty much similar as in the previous installment. You win races, earn cash, go to the performance shop, buy what you need, wash, rinse, repeat, till you’ve got the meanest machine in the city. NFSU2 also give you the option of buying parts individually. This option makes a big difference in some cases. Having a flashy car is the only way to get noticed and end up on magazine and video covers. Your set of wheels are rated based on a star system similar to NFSU, only slightly expanded. Spoilers, neons, vinyls, roof scoops, spinner rims, custom gauges, and even speakers for your trunk are just some of the available modifications, and they all help your car stand out. Clearly, car customizability is one area where EA has done its homework! Sound effects in NFSU2 have been nicely done as always. Engine sounds show changes after upgrades, and differ from one car to another. Other subtle sounds like the wind whizzing past you as you blow down the street at 180 miles an hour add to the fun. The dialogue and voiceovers, however, are sub-standard and definitely do not go well with the game’s “Graphic Novel” (© Max Payne) presentation of the storyline. Brooke Burke, who’s done the voice-overs for Rachael, is particularly ineffective, going with the game’s presentation. Musically, Need for Speed Underground 2 is a bit below par. It starts out with a Snoop Dogg remix of the Doors’ “Riders on the Storm”, which is, arguably, the best opening sequence I’ve ever heard in a game. Racing music is also licensed, but fails to create much of an impact. I remember criticizing NFSU’s policy of repeating 20 odd tracks again and again, till they bore off your pants. NFSU2 sticks to the same philosophy, the only difference being that the track selection is pretty awful! NFSU2 does build up on last year’s Racing Game of the Year. It shows improvements in plenty of areas, and more importantly, in gameplay. It might not be perfection, but it comes much closer than any other Racing game for the PC out there. If you loved NFSU, give it’s sequel a try. For racing fans, there’s no better option right now. There are plenty of loose ends here and there. One might say that EA gave us what we wanted to be present in the original installment, but left us wanting for much more. These guys love playing with our money, don’t they!!! 
