Need For Speed Underground

Written by Leigh Culpin  on March 02, 2004

Second View: Pretty mainstream game for something that's supposed to be УundergroundФЕ

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When the first Need For Speed game came out for PC and 3DO way back in 1995 things were a lot different in the gaming world, with racers being no exception. Models were boxy, textures were blurry, lighting was poor at best and utterly absent more often, and, truth be told, you could never really go that fast. Sure, the speedometer could SAY you were doing 150+ mph, but did it ever look like it? Not even close. Combine that with the fact that customizing your car was more of a gleam in some young squirt's eye then an actual possibility, and you've got yourself a pretty cut and dry genre of games. Now, less than a decade later, EA has released a game that is quite frankly one of the most intense of the genre, despite some major flaws that were so blatantly obvious you have to wonder who fell asleep at the wheel (no pun intended) while making this game.

The only three major qualms I have with this game are simple - no custom soundtracks, no decent multiplayer and no replays. The first isn't a game-specific thing but a console specific thing - both PC and PS2 versions of the game have online capability, but due to EA's moronic and irritating anti-Xbox Live policy, this has been sadly excluded from the Xbox version, easily the best looking of the bunch. Having said that, they could have at least included a System Link option, but even that was neglected, leaving us with a shoddy 2-player option as the only alternative to single player. I could rant on about the anti-Live policy for the rest of the day, so I'll save that for another article, but not including at the very least a system link feature is nothing short of offensive.

The next item on the no-brainer offences list is the lack of a custom soundtrack option. The Xbox has a hard drive. How hard is it for developers to get that through their heads? If it's there, it should be used. End of story. Perhaps I wouldn't be so sore about this if it weren't for the fact that the music that IS in the game is not only in somewhat short supply, but for the most part isn't really even that good -- save the odd song. I really can't communicate enough how frustrating it is to have all of the necessary components (hard drive, music on it, a working Xbox and some speakers) and not be able to use them. Time for MS to implement a new policy - all racing games (for that matter, all games that don't use a dynamic soundtrack to enhance gameplay) should have the custom soundtrack option as a requirement.

My final problem with this game is the lack of replays. Once again, this would seem like a no-brainer, twice fold in this case: A.) IT'S A RACING GAME. B.) It's a racing game about driving cool looking cars. What bloody good does it do ya if the only time you can see your own car is from behind while you're driving (in which case you're likely concentrating more on where you're going, and driving in third person diminishes one of the game's greatest features, the sense of speed)? It really makes you shake your head and wonder whose brain went out for lunch and didn't come back with the exclusion of such an obvious feature.

Right, so now that those 3 immensely frustrating factors are off my chest so to speak, I can let the raving begin. The only hard part's where to start, because the list of great features is damned long.

As with any game, the first thing you're going to notice is the interface. Underground's isn't exactly incredibly innovative, but it does its job through a series of basic menus and sub menus. There's your basic spread of quick races, Underground mode (the campaign mode if you will), multiplayer, options, and customize your vehicle. Quick Races only give you access to levels you've unlocked (as with the other Need For Speed games) in each of the 5 basic race types, using cars that you've unlocked or created. Underground mode is where most of the action is, offering you just over 110 races to play as your career as a street racer progresses. You'll start off with a basic boring ol' stock car (there aren't a whole whack to choose from to start with, and though the selection does broaden there's only around 20 in total) with a complete and utter lack of any decent do-dads; you'll have no performance upgrades and not enough cash to do much visually (plus you need to actually unlock the visual upgrades before using them). That changes rather quickly though, since you'll unlock a myriad of visual upgrades and a lot of performance-boosting parts as well, though the performance system is somewhat oversimplified.

The visual customization aspect is clearly one of the game's best selling points, especially on Xbox where there's really no competition in the field. There are four layers for vinyl's, you can add decals, spoilers, custom rims, body kits (side skirts and front and rear fenders are all separate so you have even most customization options), headlights, taillights, hoods and roof scoops along with accessories like paints of various types, window tints, different exhaust kits and of course neon ground effects. There are literally millions of combinations, giving you the option of having your car really reflect your personality. Again, the lack of replay is somewhat stupefying considering all of the glorious detail that's been put into the visuals of the game, but the options are nonetheless astounding.

The performance customization isn't so much that as a series of linear upgrades - there are 3 upgrade levels for each performance category (such as engine/exhaust, turbo, nitrous, brakes, etc) and each level has a set of manufacturer packages for you to choose from. The only problem here is that every package does the exact same thing as every other package of the same level, making the licensed names (of which there are many) seem kind of pointless. There are some "unique" upgrade options however, and playing through the game on hard will unlock all of them, giving you the most powerful car possible. Of course this doesn't matter a whole lot without system link capabilities or Xbox Live support, but it's nice to know that it's there.

The car models are all amazing, the levels are all highly impressive, and the reflections and lighting are astounding (the dev team worked with a movie industry professional for consultation on these latter two). Despite all that, or perhaps due to it, the real star of the game is genuinely the sense of speed you get racing throughout the city streets. The name "Need for Speed" has been with the series for quite a while, yet never has the need been so gratifyingly fulfilled. You really do feel like you're hitting around 200 mph at times (at least in the first person view) thanks to some astounding blur effects and the help of a little bit of nitrous here and there. The lights go whipping by, obstacles make appropriate whooshing noises as you pass them at insane speeds and other cars can create some pretty spectacular accidents should they not move out of the way in time (and they generally don't, that's left up to you).

Now the various game modes are all gratifying - drift is great for easy points (and since style points unlock new vinyl's playing a few dozen laps of in a few quick races is a great way to increase your visual appeal), the circuit is your basic x number of times around the track, sprint is a point a to point b race, and lap knock-out presents you with three laps and the car in last position at the end of each lap is eliminated until one remains. Drag is really the star here though, and although it's pretty straight forward (drive in a more or less straight line, shift gears, avoid cars, finish first) it's also extremely intense later on in the game. Each car has a "perfect shift" zone you'll need to find to get an extra boost for shifting in it's sweet spot, and it gets difficult later on in the game when your car's acceleration is so intense that that zone lasts for a fraction of a second. The hardest part about it is changing cars, because each car truly does have it's own sweet spot. Find it, however, and you're in for one intense ride.

The story mode is pretty linear, giving your one or two of each of the above game modes, the occasional tournament (which consist of 3 or 4 races of the same time in procession) and then repeating itself, but it takes you through the process of earning and using upgrades well and provides a decent variety of races. There's only one city in Underground, but the different courses are varied enough to make for quite a bit of replay-ability and there's quite a few obvious track favourites, such as ones with long straight-aways, raised bridges and of course highways to contrast the ever so difficult construction zones and downtown areas. Since the game lacks any real multiplayer the game's replay-ability isn't as high as it should be, but between the story mode and quick races there's enough here to keep you coming back for quite a while.

I'd say that most gamers have a "game-face" that they put on while playing most games. I have yet to find a game that draws me into tilting the control sideways as if this will somehow alter my direction, there isn't a whole lot of expression that crosses my face while I play and my hands never sweat. All that was true until I picked this game up. My hands would sweat, I'd jerk the controller slightly to the side before hitting something at 200 mph and I'd just out of my rather comfy chair and shout obscenities at the poor defenceless TV when I nailed a car in a drag race for the 5^th time. If nothing else written here impresses upon you how good this game is, let this be it. It takes you so far into its world that your eyes will be sore and you voice sorer by the time you're done playing it, because believe me when I say you'll be playing it till the wee hours of the morning and quite a bit at a time.