Gaming Target - Xbox: Need For Speed: Underground

Written by Leigh Culpin on October 03, 2003

First Impressions: Street Racing + NFS Series = Win

The Need for Speed series is taking a drastic turn, and it looks like it's going to end up being one of the most satisfying racing experiences on any platform Ц think GT3 but aimed at the street racing population. With over 30 customizable areas that affect performance on your chosen car(s), you can both visually and statistically pimp out your set of road wheels; time for The Fast and the Furious to move over.

The NFS series has always been about what most racing games are Ц taking an extremely expensive and rather exotic car and racing the damn things like you're gonna die tomorrow. That hasn't necessarily changed, but this time, rather than simply picking from a list of cars and maybe adjusting the down force or gear ratios of your car, you can customize your car till your next life, and then some. It's long been obvious that the Xbox has needed a rival to GT3 on PS2 Ц while Gotham provided an excellent racing experience, the customization aspect simply didn't exist, especially not to the extent of GT3. NFSU may change that, and while I'm not holding my breath on EA's game being nearly as huge as GT3, it is almost certainly going to be the next best thing.

Something that's always impressed me is the grandness of the tracks found in the NFS games Ц Hot Pursuit 2 provided us with courses that averaged probably around 10 minutes a race, rather extensive for three laps and nothing to shake a stick at as far as design elements are concerned. However, EA Vancouver is taking a slightly different approach to the tracks than usual: rather than building the city and the track within that city, the track is being built first to optimize the amount of skill required to successfully race it. The development team is making a huge effort towards feeling the speeds you'll be traveling, a common problem with most racers Ц aside from futuristic games such as N64's Pod Race and the Xbox's Quantum Redshift, you'll rarely feel as if you're traveling faster than 80 mph. However, EA is spending a very respectable amount of time in an attempt to insure that we actually feel like we're going 205 mph in our Nissan Skyline R-34 with twin turbos, dual exhaust, a $400 spoiler andЕ. Well, you get the idea. While a car list hasn't yet been released, a list of car manufacturers has, and all of your street racing favorites are there, so don't worry.

While somewhat comparable (for the Xbox anyways) in customizability options to GT3, the racing style is going to be pretty drastically different Ц not only will speed be a huge factor (as it well should be) you'll likely encounter a more arcade-feel here than in the GT series, making the game a bit easier to get into or sit down and play with a friend who's never touched a racer. The NFS series has long been one of the best arcade racers out there, and don't expect that to change with this installment.

Game modes are more or less what you'd expect, with a single race mode and the career mode intact. Alongside these are the multiplayer options, and Xbox Live support is included, so you can pit your mad racing skills against (literally) the world's best gaming racers. You will naturally be able to take your own sweet rigs into the races with you, so it's very much an accumulation of car design as well as driving skill.