Need for Speed Underground 2

Plot:

Need For Speed Underground 2 takes place in Bayview after the events of Need for Speed: Underground. The prologue begins with the player driving in a Nissan Skyline R34 in Olympic City (though the racing scenes are actually in Bayview), the setting of NFS:UG. He then receives a race challenge from a rather ominous personality who offers him a spot on his crew, but "won't take 'no' for an answer." The player races off — despite Samantha's warnings — only to be ambushed by a mysterious driver in a rage that totals his Skyline. The driver, who has a unique scythe tattoo, makes a call confirming the accident, and the flashback fades out.

Fast forward to the present day, where we see the player arriving in Bayview via airplane, with a note from Samantha referring him to her friend Rachel (Voiced over by Brooke Burke), who will set the player up there. He also has the keys to Rachel's Nissan 350Z, which is waiting for him outside the airport. The player then has the option to complete a few races in the car before inevitably returning it to the car lot, where Rachel will give him an earful for being late before allowing him to choose his first car. This one is free, as it was paid for by the player's insurance from his totaled Skyline.

It is then that the player embarks on a quest to become the top racer in Bayview and eventually take down the man who sabotaged his ride in the flashback, who turns out to be Caleb. After winning many races, the player runs into Caleb's street racing crew, The Wraiths. The crew has the same vinyl, paint, and rim set. The player challenges them to a series of URL (Underground Racing League) races and eventually gets Caleb's second in command, Nikki, to join his side. Rachel tells the player that Caleb has been manipulating the sponsorship deals throughout Bayview towards him. After the player beats The Wraiths, an infuriated Caleb challenges the player to one final race in his custom Pontiac GTO.


Review:

I might be a little outdated on doing this review, but if you want a PC racing game recommendation, Need for Speed Underground 2 is the best game for you.

THE GOOD - Career mode in my opinion is the best mode of this game, just think of Grand Theft Auto's free roam and errand quests combined with the elements of a pure racing game; the only thing is, you cannot steal and get out of the car unlike the Grand Theft Auto series. There are many things to do on career mode, you can race with random racers you pass by the road/highway by tailgating the car and pressing the challenge button. You can do quests to earn money and unlock cars, performance, body kits and other visual upgrades so you can have the advantage against other players on LAN game mode.

What I like the most about this game is you can change almost every detail of your car. You can also combine every option available on the market, like the body kits (for example: you can combine the side skirts with a different set bumper.) In my opinion, this is the only Need for Speed game with deepest customization system yet, not even the newer Need for Speed titles can compete to Need for Speed Underground 2's customization system. The controls and handling is not too hard, unlike other racing games.


THE BAD - The thing I hate about the game is when you reach the maximum performance of your upgrades, the speed becomes too fast and exaggerated; technical slower setups for technical courses becomes no match due to the fact that you can use the guard-rails to turn on sharp corners without losing too much speed. The cars are like toys; there's no car dent/damage or even scratches. Maybe its time they make improvements if ever they're planning for a new NFS title.


There are many racing modes to choose from;

Circuit - A circuit race is a standard race that involves up to four cars driving around a track that loops back to the start line of itself. A circuit race is typically a maximum of four laps and minimum of 2 laps. A sprint race is just like a circuit race except that the track does not loop back to the start line. It's a race from A to B involving a maximum of four vehicles, and because of the track design there is only one lap.

Sprint - A sprint race is just like a circuit race except that the track does not loop back to the start line. It's a race from A to B involving a maximum of four vehicles, and because of the track design there is only one lap. Street X races are similar to Circuit races, but they take place on closed courses similar to Drift races. Drifting is one of the easier types of racing (depending on difficulty level) in Need for Speed Underground 2.

Drift - Drifting is one of the easier types of racing (depending on difficulty level) in Need for Speed Underground 2. One difference to the drifting mode compared to the original Need for Speed Underground is that the player drifts with the other competitors at the same time. Players race against a maximum of three competitors. Points are awarded when the player successfully slide the car and finishes the drift without hitting any walls.

Street X - Street X races are similar to Circuit races but they take place on closed courses similar to Drift races.

Drag - Mostly straight line courses, you compete with other players by reaching the finish line similar to Sprint. You can only use manual shifting on this mode.



Rating: 9/10 ( Probably the best Need For Speed game ever. )


Additional info: The EA online servers are not working anymore, although you can still play via LAN using the program called Hamachi.