You owe it to yourself to play Need For Speed Underground, it's an incredible experience, and it shouldn't be missed

User Rating: 8.6 | Need for Speed Underground GC
By Demonic_Jin | Review Date:
When you’re talking about street racing, or customized cars in general there really aren't any street racing games that are worth mentioning, until Need For Speed Underground was released in late 2003. Need For Speed Underground shifts the near decade old racing game series into a whole new direction--the import tuner street racing direction, and it manages to deliver a virtual street racing experience you won't forget any time soon. The Need For Speed series (as already mentioned) is about a decade old, but never before has the gameplay been as fun or entertaining as this. At it's core, Need For Speed Underground is a arcade street racing game, but it has some depth in it, and the sense of speed is above average, making it easily the best street racing game out there. As you progress through the game, you'll be able to upgrade your car, both visually and performance wise. As you upgrade the performance of your car, you'll notice some significant changes to its acceleration, handling and top speed. Upgrading your car visually can become pretty fun, as you can try out a bunch of different looks for your car. As you would suspect, when you purchase a car, it will be stock, but by using the visual and performance upgrades, you can rip up the streets, and look stylish doing it.

There are various types of race types in Need For Speed Underground. The most popular race type (and my personal favorite) is the drag race type, where your main focus will be to shift gears at the precise moment while at the same time making sure that your not about to collide with traffic. Some of the other race types are drift--where you'll slide around a special track, getting as much drift points as possible, there's also sprint, which is a point A to point B kind of race, and the race type that you'll be doing the most-- circuit racing. Though there are some race types that can be more enjoyable than others, but all of the race types are enjoyable experiences.

Most street racing games stories are along the same lines--someone starts street racing to make money, or something like that, but that's not the case in Need For Speed Underground. The basic story line is that a girl named Samantha takes you under her wing to bring you up in the world of street racing, and you have hopes of becoming number one in each of the race types. The problem is there's a guy named Eddie that has a fully customized ride and he's currently number one. Though there really isn't much story throughout the game, there are some pretty weird races towards the end of the game. All of the customized rides in Need For Speed Underground all look amazing, especially since there's an extremely large amount of possible customizations. When your traveling at high speeds you get the blur effect that makes the cars feel a bit faster which is nice, and additionally there aren't any frame rate problems. The soundtrack is what you've come to expect from one of EA's games--very, very good. The soundtrack is filled with rap/hip hop music, and some rock/metal music as well. The cars also sound pretty realistic, and the sounds of your car burning rubber as they slide around corners is sharp and high quality (which is what you should expect).

Though it is EA's first try at a street racing game, Need For Speed Underground is an outstanding racing game, and it's also easily the best street racing game out there. It has impressive sound and visuals and great presentation overall, and the gameplay is fun and entertaining enough to keep you coming back for a long time. If you’re a street/racing game fan, or your a car fanatic, you owe it to yourself to play Need For Speed Underground, it's an incredible experience, and it shouldn't be missed.

Other Helpful Reviews for Need for Speed Underground

  • Rating:7.8

    Good but so anoying!!!

    By Karaam | Review Date: Nov 29, 2005 | GC

    How should I start this, oh ok i think i'll first talk about the first 5 minutes because thats the time it will take to load to the "input your name" screen. Then when that is settled its just like every other racing ga... Read Full Review

    2 of 2 users found the following review helpful
  • Rating:6.8

    This game is on the downside of the NSFU series.

    By paulwall9705 | Review Date: Feb 08, 2006 | GC

    i hopes this game was gonna be a lot better, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and that just ruined it for me. my favorite was Need for speed underground 2 it was the perfect ballance of racing and tuning. Need for... Read Full Review

    2 of 3 users found the following review helpful
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