Gamer Gary Mercado
Once again my preference for racing games is challenged with Need for Speed Underground. It's
got great tracks, the music is loud and gets you pumped, the visuals are the best I've seen yet, the
AI challenges you and is way up to the task. You can do quick 3- or 4-minute races, but most likely you
won't settle for just a race or two. As in my case, you'll get hooked and play for more hours than you
bargained for.
Gameplay
You start out as a rookie, with a stock car and aspirations to become a somebody in the underground
racing scene. As you move up in the world by winning races, you will 'unlock' not only performance items
like suspension, tires, and engine enhancements, but also visual add-ons like trick spoilers, skirts, and
up to four layers of paint that'll make your car shine like no other. You'll need to pay attention to these,
as visual improvements and style points are just as important as performance to get ahead.
This can be off-putting for the performance freaks in us who might quickly dismiss this as frivolous. Lest
you forget, this is underground racing; how you look is just as important as how fast you go.
The Cars
The "underground racing" genre lets you pick ordinary cars you can buy off the neighborhood dealer. Here
you can take your pick of the Ford Focus, the Dodge
Neon, a Mitsubishi Lancer, and other "normal" cars. Later on you will be able to 'unlock' special cars like the
Mitsubishi Eclipse and Nissan Skyline GTR34. No Ferrari or twin-turbo Porsche disguised in street clothes anywhere
in sight.
The Sounds
The game features an eclectic mix of rap, hip-hop, heavy metal and even trance-like tracks from such luminaries as
Nate Dogg, Static-X, Fuel, Lost Prophets, Asian Dub Foundation, and Petey Pablo. While you may wonder who some
of these are, EA Games has arguably made a good effort in choosing appropriate music for blasting across a city at
almost 150mph.
The sounds emanating from the cars are music to any car lover's ears. EA Games recorded stock and race engines
to accurately capture the feeling.
The Graphics
This is where it really shines. EA Games has really pulled out all the stops on this one. Choosing to render the
races at what looks like 2 or 3 AM in a neon-lit city must have helped for sure. The game is just wonderful to look
at, detail is excellent and the cars are shiny and always perfectly rendered. In drag races, the screen shudders
and shakes as your speed increases. Slamming on the nitrous oxide at the most crucial time in a race makes you
lurch ahead and blurs your view of the streets as well, with only the finish line in focus. This is the best justification
for buying a high-end video card I've seen yet.
NFSU is an arcade game despite its high-end graphics and features. Visual and performance options are only made
available to you just when you need them for the next race. You cannot, say, change tire brands for a special track,
or switch cars because it would perform better in a specific race. Whether you choose Yokohama or Hankook, or a
VW Golf or Mazda Miata, these are all the same in performance and handling. The game is pretty much laid out for you
regardless of what you choose. All you have to do is go fast, look pretty, and keep winning - no deep thinking or
strategizing involved or necessary.
Another gripe is that almost all EA games have dif cult, slow loading, non-intuitive graphical user interfaces that are
just a pain to use and figure out. How hard is it to make an easy-to-use interface, I imagine?
While we're at it, the weakest points in the game are the extremely forgetful video cut scenes showing a female
guide named Samantha, the scenes before a race starts, and a mechanic named "TJ" who performs magical upgrades
to your engine without letting you in on the details. In the age of award-winning CGI, these just plain suck and perform
no meaningful purpose. You're better off pressing the Escape button and saving EA and yourself the embarrassment.
Nonetheless, it's still an absolute hell-raising, adrenaline pumping, fist-clenching, foot-stomping heart attack of a game.
I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick, good time with a fast PC, a 17" or better monitor and a high-end
video card.
