Rate top gamesNeed for Speed: Underground
About
Need for Speed: Underground is the seventh installment in the Need for Speed series, and was developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts in 2003. It is the first game in the series to use the THX technology. Two different games were produced, one for consoles and Windows, and the other for the Game Boy Advance.
Underground rebooted the franchise, ignoring the previous Need for Speed games which featured sports cars and exotics. It was the first game in the series to offer a career mode featuring a storyline, and a garage mode that allowed players to fully customize their cars with a large variety of brand-name performance and visual upgrades. All races take place in a generic city at night called Olympic City, though the city bears some resemblance to New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Rather than exotic cars, Underground featured vehicles associated with the import scene. Underground was commercially successful, and inspired a sequel.
System requirements for PlayStation 2
System requirements for Xbox
System requirements for GameCube
System requirements for PC
Top contributors
Need for Speed: Underground reviews and comments
It's enjoyable to play, especially if you're not accustomed to playing racing games with a proper sense of progression anymore. While I'm a fan of Forza games, I have to admit that I genuinely missed this kind of experience. Starting with a seemingly "underpowered" car and progressively becoming faster through your own skill and effort is an incredibly satisfying feeling.
In terms of gameplay, considering it's a game from 2003, it remains impressive. However, there are certain aspects that haven't aged well. I wasn't particularly fond of the gimmick NPCs. It becomes evident at some point that the game employs calculations to position cars conveniently along your route. Beyond the sixtieth event, the game introduces some monotonous six-lap circuits that can become quite tedious – a single mistake hitting a curve or colliding with a gimmick car can lead to failure.
Nevertheless, the cars themselves are impressive, and their customization options are noteworthy. On the other hand, the soundtrack is terrible. Regardless, if you're a fan of racing games, it's definitely worth giving this game a try.
