If you can put up with the lack of online play, this game is worth picking up from your local bargain bin.
User Rating: 8.8 | Need for Speed Underground XBOX
This review was written in 2003 when the original NFSU was released. It was very prescient with the request for a garage feature (added in NFSU2) Overview: If you’ve just finished watching “The Fast and the Furious” and want in on the action but don’t have the budget to trick out your ride (or the desire to risk crashing at 150 mph), you can find the next best thing on your console. Need for Speed Underground provides a fast paced introduction into the world of illegal street racing. There are two ways to fix your need for speed. To play the career mode you “Go Underground”. This is where you race your way to the top of the streets unlocking various visual and performance upgrades as well as new cars. By the time you have finished your career you will have unlocked 20 career mode cars plus a few extra cars that can only be used in quick race mode. Quick race is the mode of play for someone who wants to do just that. The player can choose to play split screen against a friend or to play any of the race variations against the computer. While you can play quick race mode with a nice selection of cars from the start, as you progress through the career mode, you will unlock additional cars, upgrades, and more tracks to challenge your mettle. There are two different upgrades for your car: visual and performance. The performance upgrades enhance your car’s speed, acceleration, and traction. The visual upgrades make your car look cool. If you’ve played Gran Turismo 3 on the PS2, you are already familiar with the idea of performance upgrades. NFSU has the standard array of performance parts separated into several categories. Once you put the part on there is no fine tuning like in GT3 but that is no major loss. The visual upgrades give your ride more personality. There are thousands, if not millions of possible designs for your car once you’ve unlocked all of the visual upgrades and cars you can choose different rims, bumpers, spoilers, hoods, paint jobs (gloss, metallic, and pearlescent), roof scoops, decals, and vinyls. Vinyls are essentially giant stickers that go on your ride, and you can paint them different colors to accent your car. There are also unique vinyls available that provide a full design by themselves. As you upgrade your car visually, your reputation improves. Reputation serves two purposes. First there are some events that you cannot enter without a certain reputation level (but you will always be able to enter the event because the requisite upgrades to attain the reputation level will be unlocked). Second, Need for Speed has a number of goodies that are unlocked by attaining style points at the end of events. You receive style points for the way you drive during a race event. Your reputation level is also a multiplier that determines your final style points for an event (for example if you obtained a total of 1200 style points after a race and have a reputation level of three, your final points for the event will be 3600 points). The game does a superb job at conveying a true sense of speed as you race. As your car speeds up the scenery begins to blur and tunnel vision sets in. The engine whines and you hear the whoosh as you pass cars, trees, and other objects at a dizzying rate. I’ve heard complaints that the cars drive very similarly but I must disagree. There are definitely differences between each of the rides. There are corners I can take full throttle in the Mazda Miata that I wouldn’t dream of doing in the Nissan Skyline. Even the little details like engine sounds vary from car to car. Now that we’ve discussed the ups of Need for Speed: Underground, let’s discuss the downs. First off, I have to complain about the lack of a replay feature. The player spends a lot of time tweaking his or her ride and the only time the car can be seen in detail is during the customize menu. EA practically invented the replay (play almost any of their sports games) and it’s very disappointing to find it missing here. One of the features that EA touts is the online capabilities of Need for Speed. What they mention in small print is that this feature is only available on the PS2 and the PC versions of the game. This game is a wonderful single player or split screen experience. But it begs to be unleashed online. Players can show off their design skills and determine once and for all who the real king of the streets is. EA claims they left this feature out because they don’t want to provide another revenue stream for Microsoft (via Xbox Live) without being compensated. That does not answer why online play was left out of the Gamecube version. Regardless, it is a bad argument because Microsoft has already built a strong subscriber base for Xbox Live. People who buy Need for Speed won’t subscribe to Xbox Live JUST for that game, there is a huge library of Live compatible games. EA is more likely to find people will pass on Need for Speed for an online capable game like Project Gotham Racing 2. Finally, I definitely wish there was a garage feature where you could store multiple cars that you’ve purchased and/or won. Maybe a future version of Underground will support this (including racing for pink slips and of course online play). Overall, Need for Speed: Underground is a wonderful game. Although a replay feature and Xbox Live compatibility would have been wonderful additions to the game, Underground does perform well as it stands. Review: - Story: 8 You’re new to the street racing scene and you need to climb your way to the top challenging the best the streets have to offer. As you progress you unlock new features for your car, new cars, and the respect of the streets. - Graphics: 9 Quite frankly, Underground uses the pixel power of the Xbox to great effect. From the detail in the car models to the sheer sense of speed provided by the blur effect, the game is absolutely gorgeous. - Audio/Music: 8 The EA Trax system provides a nice array of music to race through the city to. It does lose a point for not supporting custom tracks through the Xbox hard drive (the PC version allows it). Nevertheless, you’re probably not going to even care about the music as you immerse yourself in the beauty of in game sound. The whine of your engine, the hiss of your turbo system as you shift gears, and the whoosh of passing objects are just some of the sounds that will immerse you into the world of street racing. - Controls: 9 The controls are very approachable for anyone who knows how to drive. To truly master the technique of high speed racing takes a bit of practice. The other events (drag racing and drift racing) have a slight learning curve involved but once you’ve practiced you’ll be winning them with ease. - Fun Factor: 10 Racing through traffic at breakneck speeds…what could be more fun? - Intensity Factor: 10 Racing through traffic at breakneck speeds…what could be more intense? - Gameplay: 8 The game loses two points for lack of replays and online racing. - Overall: 8.9 
