Need for Speed Underground

Sam develops a penchant for 'cruising'...

More Images

But unlike the bouly-bashers this game is fast. Really fast. For a driving game with wheels there is no equal. I haven't enjoyed such a sense of speed since the bad-old days - NFS:U really flies like the proverbial. And not only does the scenery zip by but the courses are designed so well that they are full of breakneck corners and Dukes of Hazard style jumps, all of which add to the sense pushing the envelope past the edge of reason. When you enter the zone or even are just having a good race this game is so much fun, so pleasurable, it makes me want to ask it round the back of the bike shed. The adrenaline rush is palpable, the sweat flows freely. And for some reason there is no replay function. This omission takes the nitro out of the booster. The number of slick moves or lucky scrapes I have had that I wanted to save for posteriority number in the low hundreds but for some reason the developers have neglected to include the staple of any racing game worth its salt. I sense a serious case of 'it will be in the sequel-itis' which is a real shame for in all but one other way NFS:U is a complete driving experience.

Getting back to those visuals. Well just feast your eyes on the screenshots while bearing in mind that it will look this good AND go by at a fair rate of knots on even a mid-range PC. The highly-reflective nature of the road may not be to everyone's taste but apart from that it would be very hard to grumble about the visuals in this game. The motion blur effect is very well done and adds to the sense of insanity, although I did find myself switching it off after the novelty had worn off as it became distracting once my car's max speed increased. The environments are varied, even though all of the courses are just tracks laid out from one big map, with various routes weaving their way in and out of other tracks. Along with the obligatory mirror-modes there are plenty of courses. This design choice is a little disappointing if you wanted more in the way of varied environments - city at night is all you get - but for me it worked out just fine as all of the tracks present both a good, fun challenge and are a treat for the eyes.

The rest of the presentation is up to the very high standards that EA has been achieving of late. The menus are a breeze to navigate and become embedded in the mind in short order. The soundtrack surpasses all expectations for this kind of game. There is a wealth of quality artists on display here and most styles of music are well represented. Rather then relying on a hip-hop/nu-metal soundtrack as could have been expected EA have gone out of their way to source a wide spread of differing flavours, not one of which is out of place. I have been tuned into some new music through this game, and with over 30 tracks to listen to, all of which can be playlisted how you choose, you won't get bored of them too quickly.

All good things must come to an end but my time with NFS:U began to lose its sheen about 20 races before I had finished all of the 111 on offer. The beginning of the game has a masterfully well proportioned learning curve which is sustained all the way through to the appearance of the real speed-demons. Once you get behind the wheel of a Skyline or souped up Acura the small niggles that were apparent earlier on become frustrating obstacles that begin to clutter the path of your enjoyment. The traffic that ALWAYS pulls out in front of your car now becomes a serious problem. Before you would have enough time, usually, to see it coming but now you are going so fast that there's nothing you can do except crash. And for some reason a crash will now almost always mean that you wind up on your roof or pointing the wrong way down the road. The absence of this utterly frustrating 'feature' of most racers in the first 50-plus races was one of the things that made me so highly enamoured with this game, so as the exasperation levels increased as did my disappointment. But this is not fatal by any stretch of the imagination, and my annoyance was no doubt highlighted because of the very lack of these problems earlier on.

The other big fault with NFS:U is the total lack of any LAN gaming. The online racing works well, allowing PC users to race their PS2 counterparts, but don't even think about trying it unless your car is modded out to the max. I was well saddened to see I couldn't race against my friends as racing others in the same room is an utterly different and better experience from doing the same online. A shame, but fortunately some amateurs have quickly stepped up and provided a tool to allow LAN racing. Third party is also the only way I could get my game patched correctly as the java-based auto-updater is rubbish.

Yet in the overall scheme of things these oversights are forgivable. The racing is of the highest order, and that is what really counts. Your opponents are not infallible so it's always worth sticking to a race even if you have had one of those soul-destroying major wipe outs. The pack also tends to stick together with your opponents cars keeping up with your own buggy's performance, and the AI on harder levels is one stiff challenge.

This is a big name game from the biggest name in publishing. Whatever your views on the healthiness of such domination it does leave us with a company that can really deliver slick and engrossing pieces of software entertainment. Even if, like me, you're snobbish over the scene represented here or dislike EA games because they come from EA, the game itself is of such quality that you would be slashing your tyres to spite your ride if you were to pass up on this one.

Additional: This seems an appropriate addition to Sam's review.

86%

By Sam Gibson