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13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Another Winner in the NFS Series!!!Nov 29, 2004
By Scott Sloan EA broke the barrier with last year's hit Need For Speed Underground, and rather then let players have some time to catch their breath, BAM!! EA hit us with the new release NFS:U2!!! I saw the trailers, and read the reviews, and experienced some initial hand wringing due to some of the poor reviews i read on-line, but I can say that Underground 2 is an excellent game, and a worthy addition to EA's stable of racing games. The graphics are crisp and clean, and the city of Bayview looks beautiful in the neon washed, wet asphalt look that NFS:U made about as famous and imitatable as "Bullet-Time." The car selections are pretty familiar imports that you can soup up to insane levels of performance but not sure where the hydralics come into play?? Seriously the car selection offers the player some nice choices such as the 2000 Honda Civic SI, one of my faves, the Mitsu Evo, the Toyota Supra and Corolla (Legendary drifter), The WRX, and some brand news ones such as the Infinti G35, H2 Hummer, and the 2005 Mustang GT!!! The city is huge, but easy to move around in with or without the aide of a wonderful GPS system that is very similar to the one used in Smuggler's Run and Midnight Club (think BIG GLOWING ARROW)that helps the directionally impaired find their next race, garage, or shop. At first i found driving all over the city pretty distracting, and I wasn't sure if i liked the idea, but after awhile it becomes second nature, and I like tooling around Bayview in my Souped Up Civic. SUV's have been added to the stable of cars that can be raced but I am almost afraid to try that level of racing yet. EA was kind enough to add replays (FINALLY!!!) and a very nice Dyno center where the tuner in all of us can tinker, and tweak with your car to get the most out of it, and actually see the numbers on the dyno, nice touch. Many real world sponsors have gotten involved with this series and you can slap parts on your car in the game that you can get down at the local shops. I like the realism in that, plus it sounds cool to say that you have a Greddy Turbo, AEM Cold Air Intake, DC Sports Header and Venom Nitrous Oxide System on your Civic SI. Maybe its just me. The races are still set up with Drags, Drifts, Circuits, Sprints, and some new ones have been added the awesome URL, Underground Racing League, and Auto Cross racing which seems more like Nascar with all the banging, and shoving. A feature borrowed from Tokyo Extreme Racer Zero has also been added where the player can challenge random cars to Outrun matches which adds to re-play value, and adds that Bad Boy factor. The only negative i can see is that rather then use real motion, or animated sequences with your street racing tutor like from the first one U:2 uses a graphic novel approach to the cutscenes involving the "story". I'm not real crazy about that, BUT i will not let that one little tiny complaint detract from what i think is an exceptionally fun and satisfying racing game. I am still playing the Career mode like a madman and don't think i have the stones to go on-line and see how real people are racing, but the game is excellent by my standards, and I have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it in just a few races. So give it a try Drop it in and Drive. Come you know you want to!!!
22 of 26 found the following review helpful:
A Solid Street Racer!Oct 18, 2004
By W. Newberry
"agent_47"
I played a Finished version of this game.I gotta say it looks good. The driving mechanics are a little different ,but barely noticable.Its also free roaming game like GTA. You get to choose where to go to next and you can challenge other drivers,if you have enough cash for the bet. If you like NFS underground,You'll definately like part 2 . Its not to hard to drive the cars either. Its not like DRIV3R at all.Graphics looked good also. I only played about 20 minutes,but from what I saw its been improved.You definately have the feel of being on the real street underground scene. But I didn't see any cops?? So I guess no tickets. Well this review is based on 20 minutes of gameplay,but I gotta say Looks like a winner.Also Brooke Burke (that hot brunette on wild on E)is your personal narrator in the game. PLEASE NOTE: I played a version of this game before it was realeased.This Game Rocks in more ways than I can even explain.If you like racing games you'll LOVE NFSU2! It Raises The bar on this franchise, I can say honestly part 2 is better than 1st game.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Need For "Need for Speed Undground 2"Nov 21, 2004
By Daniel Burt I have the first "NFS Underground" and I really enjoyed it but I was worried that Underground 2 would not be different enough to spend money on it. So I rented it. I was blown away by how cool it is, so I went and bought it.
Pros (over the first game)
1. You get Nos much earlier in the game (than U1).
2. The points you get for "avoiding accidents" or "power slides" etc. instantly refill your Nos meter.
3. The game flows better, because you drive (in a free ride mode) from race to race, and you pick where you go.
4. There are more race types.
5. If you are struggling with a certain type of race, you can go to the garage and gear your car for a certain type of race.
6. You get sponsors and you scroll through different companies and names and you choose which you want. (Some contracts require certain types of races, and pay more money)
7. When you are put on a magazine cover, you move your car around until you are satisfied and you take the picture.
8. You can own multiple cars (including SUVs, Sports cars, and the original "U1" cars)
9. There is a GPS you can turn on to guide you to different events (aside from a very detail city map)
10. More details which you can upgrade on your car. Even the new available paint colors pay incredible attention to detail.
Cons:
1. I have played the game for hours and I am only 15 % through the game
2. I am only 15% through the game and the races are starting to get much harder
(I'm a little worried the game may go on too long and become too difficult and I have never enjoyed games that make you repeat the same thing over and over.)
The game is awesome! If you liked Underground, you will like Underground 2 even more. I think it is definitely the best car racing game available. If you rent it, you are going to want to buy it.
9 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Slow starter, but shines laterNov 23, 2004
By John M Spangler At first glance, I did not like this game and was ready to pop in burnout 3 again. I thought the gameplay was bad and the sense of speed was slow, but you have to earn your wheels to go faster in this baby. It felt a bit like the first Underground and definitely arcade style and not a real driving sim, but this time you can basically drive anywhere and the game doesn't restrict you to go certain routes in most of the modes. Some people may not like this, but for me anyway, it leaves for more possibilities. I was disappointed they didn't offer "custom soundtracks" you have to deal with what they give you, it's not all bad, but ever new racing should have a "custom soundtrack option" very weird. I was disappointed there is no "visual car damage" some might be seriously turned off about that, but if you don't care, then play on. Sweet graphics, no popup, no slowdown and the load times aren't that bad, but I heard the PS2 has a lot of that. Online play seemed smooth to me so far, but it's early on, so we'll see how that goes later. Overall, a good racer with tons of modes, tons of cars (real licensed cars like Ford, Chevy, Dodge etc) and tracks to earn, good graphics, and good fun. You'll like it.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Fun game, but are forced to play career mode to get all carsJan 06, 2005
By C. Johnson I got this game for Christmas and so far I have been fairly satisfied with the game.
Graphics/Look:
Though the graphics in this game are not as crisp as PGR's, they are still very good. The car's you drive and the opponent's cars are done very well with a lot of detail. However the car's of the computer controlled traffic are not done in the same detail. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does take away from the overall look of the game. The city you drive through has been done in a pretty good amount of detail. There is also a lot of advertising going on here, you will occasionally see Burger Kings, Cingular and other stores on the side of the street while you are cruising through the city. Also in this game are highways that are very believable, the highways are complete with green signs telling you what's at the next exit and what direction you are traveling. In addition while you are driving through the city, signs will tell you how to get on the highway.
Control: The cars handle amazingly well, and they respond to you commands quickly. Unlike PGR, your car will not mysteriously spin out of control while taking a curve at 15 MPH. The only time where you will find the responsiveness of the cars diminishes is when you are doing drag races. For some reason you have to press the button a little harder if you want to switch lanes during these races, if not, you will often find yourself crashing in a wall and totaling your car resulting in an automatic loss. Overall however you can feel comfortable driving and not worry about your car spinning out of control for no reason, or having to almost come to a complete stop to take a turn.
Sound: The sound is pretty good in this game, I wouldn't say its anything to drool over, but its adequate enough to keep you in the game. Your car makes the usual sounds while you shift gears and tires screech when you slam on the breaks. The one thing I don't like about the sound is that you can't choose you own tracks to play in the game like you could with PGR; you are forced to listen to the tracks that EA provided for you, which no doubt get old very fast. It would have definitely added another level of fun to this game but apparently EA didn't feel the same way.
Game play: The first thing you will notice in this game is that you are only provided with a handful of cars to start with, even when you are doing quick race. I may be wrong but to me it seems the only way you can unlock all the cars is to play career mode unlocking cars as you reach certain levels. Sometimes I just want to race with fast cars and not have to jump through hoops to do so. I shouldn't have to play this game 5 hours just to get a Toyota Celica. The manual does not tell you this, so I found out online that this is the only way to get more cars.
I will focus on Career mode since that's what the game forces you to focus on. The game starts with a storyline reminiscent of 2 Fast 2 Furious and you are ultimately dropped off at an airport with Rachel's tricked out 350Z. She tells you to drop it off and you eventually end up at a dealership to get a car of your own, you are only given 4 choices in cars, Peugeot, Honda Civic, Nissan 240SX and a Ford Focus. I choose the Civic. Another thing I hate is that you are forced to drive with the car they have, meaning you can't change the color. Only later do you "unlock" a graphics shop that allows to you pick any color you want, and even then you have to unlock certain types of paint jobs. Again the manual doesn't tell you this, and I found this out online. As you cruise through the city you get calls and text messages from your computerized friends informing you of races that are happening and other things going on in the city, the races that they tell you about never appear on the map, they just give you a general area of where they are and you have to find them yourself. The map does however have races that do appear on the map so there is always something to do. The main races are Drag, Sprint, Circuit, Street X and Drift.
As you complete races you are given money which you can use to purchase upgrades for you car and there are a lot of upgrades!! Anything you can think of, is included in this game; tires, neon lights, rims (You can even unlock spinners), graphics, body kits, exhaust tips, hydraulics, nitrous, and not to mention countless upgrades to your engine, transmission and suspension. This part of the game is very fun to say the least. Eventually you will unlock a graphics shop and there you can change your car's color.
Also as you reach certain points in the game more cars will become available at the car lot, and you can trade the car in you are driving for the new one. However you will eventually get a sponsor, and they will give you a free car so you don't have to trade yours in. I think you can have a limit of 5 cars at one time.
Another fun thing in the game is while you are cruising through the city, you can actually challenge others to "real-life" street races through traffic. When you drive up next to another person just press the up button and the game will immediately enter chase mode. The object of chase mode is to out distance your opponent by 1000 feet. Who ever is in the lead can choose ANYWHERE they want to go and the person trailing has to keep up. If you win, you get $100 if you lose then you lose $100. Regretfully there are no cops in the game, so speed all you want.
The game itself is not too terribly difficult, but the computer players will try to wreck you on purpose. The good thing about this though, is that you can wreck them too! Unlike PGR, this game seems fair and not impossible to complete. Another thing I like is that unlike PGR the tracks and city allow you to push to car to its limits, no more endless turns and being lucky to get your car over 110. I actually reached 158 in my upgraded Civic on the highway! I could never do that in PGR! "Borrowed" from PGR, This game also gives you bonuses for doing cool tricks while driving. The more cool tricks you do in succession, the more nitrous you get. I am so glad NFSU2 did not make the tricks the focal point of the game like the idiots who made PGR. This game concentrates on racing which is what "racing" games should do. You get rewarded for doing tricks, but it is very possible to progress without doing them. There is no car damage in this game, and the only real consequence of wrecking horribly, is that you will lose some nitrous. This is a bit disappointing.
All in all I am pretty satisfied with the game. The game itself is very fun and involving, I just don't think that I should be forced to play a career mode if I just want a quick race using the 2005 Ford Mustang. The only additional cars I have unlocked now are the Navigator, Escalade, H2, Celica, Tiburon, and the Sentra Spec V, I have no idea how long it will take me to get all the cars, but I just hope I don't get bored with the game before I get them.
I won't talk about XBOX Live, because I cancelled my membership.
based on 57 reviews
( 57 customer reviews )
