The Need for Speed series has made a name for itself in the arcade
racing genre as one of the most fun racing games. This hasn't changed at
all with Need for Speed Underground, where the game takes a different
approach on racing. For the first time the game is based on illegal
driving,through a fictive city, at night. Also, for the first time you
are able to customize your car, including it visual appearance and its
performance.
It's hard to talk about Need for Speed Underground and not mention it's
terrific graphics. From car models, the road reflections and the city
sights, everything about it's visual presentation stands out. Every bit
of road in this game looks brilliant. As the action takes place at
night, the roads are very shiny and lustrous and there are tons of
reflections on it. The city light reflect one the road, shadows, cars
and other small things like the headlamps or sparks from the back of the
car when landing after a jump. Everything looks good in this game.
Unfortunately, one missing feature is a in car view which would have
worked great with these amazing graphics.
The game plays pretty good.It's the same approach from previous NFS
games, a more casual approach, but this time it's far too easy. There
are about five race types.The original circuit and sprint from all other
racing games, then there's a drag race, which is a race in a straight
line in which you'll have to shift gears.Then there's a drift race, in
which you must powerslide your car through corners and get points by
doing that, and there a knock-out race in which at the end of every lap
the last car loses.
These race modes work well for most of the time, and you will get bored
of the same repetition of modes and tracks by the end of the game.The
bad thing about the way the game plays is it's difficulty.The game is so
easy, that even on the hardest difficulty you'll need to struggle not
to win.You'll mostly lead all the races during the entire race and
winning it.That of course if you don't crash into something just before
the end and lose the race and have to restart the 6 lap race.Yes, it has
happened, and it can be frustrating, to lead the whole race and at the
end, because of pure boredom to just hit something and lose all your
progress.This happens, but overall the game plays great, and even with
it's easiness, the game has it's moments. The sense of speed is great.
The motion blur effect is great and makes everything look a lot faster.
The main mode in the game is the Go Underground mode in which you'll
begin your career by buying a new car and then making performance and
visual improvements to it. These tools are quite robust work well.You
will of course start with a rubbish car and work your way to the better
cars.If you're expecting Ferrari's , Lambo's, Maserati's or other
supercars, you will be dissapointed.There are mainly tuner cars,
japanese cars. This shouldn't however stop you from playing it, as
visual upgrades on a Ferrari won't really look that good, as the car
looks good as it is.
The Underground mode consists of 111 races, and you will play through the game modes mentioned before.
The sound design isn't anything special.The music is pretty ok, for most
of the time, but the engines quite seem to be alike so if you notice
that you'll be dissapointed,if not, you won't care.
Overall Need for Speed Underground is a great game, which take a new
take on racing games, one which we all embrace as something great. The
game looks great,plays great and well, looks great.It really looks that
good.Even with it's problems the game is worth checking out, cause it's
great fun.
