Another Need for Speed, but not your average Need for Speed.
Need for Speed Underground was a huge turn-over in the Need for Speed series, many may consider the series divided in before Underground and after Underground. With the first Underground the series achieved considerable mainstream exposition and the games quickly became a commercial success. The recipe was simple, fast-paced street racing with night-time atmosphere, lots of lighting effects contrasting with a slight metropolitan traffic. The formula was victorious, but after several releases with arguably decreased quality over the years, the need for a reinvention was imminent.
In this installment EA introduces some innovations in the franchise that might get in the way for long-time fans, it no longer is an illegal-type of racing game, the competitions are entirely legal. No more night-time racing too, the races are all performed during the day. You won't find cops or pedestrian driving around neither, just the other racers who will be competing with you for the first place. This might sound like it, but it doesn't feel like EA was trying to turn the Need for Speed franchise into a driving simulator, the gameplay doesn't have simulation aspects and the main focus of the game surely doesn't feel like it. The car takes damage and change aesthetically, eventually the car will get a decrease in performance but that might take a while and you'll be able to race with a damaged car long before you feel the need to fix it. It indeed sound like just a different approach to prevent the series of running out of resources in bringing new stuff to the table, maybe EA was a little hasty in releasing new Need for Speed games in a short period of time recklessly.
The franchise still revolves around racing real-life cars, but much of what the previous games inherently offered are now gone. Your driver in the game is a racer named Ryan Copper, the story surrounding him is a lesson in cliche; the guy was a no-one, he starts racing, gets reputation, beats the almighty best-driver-around who happens to be a bad boy who thinks he's the center of the universe and best pilot that has ever existed. Surely it doesn't sound that imaginative, and it really isn't.
The feeling of speed is still there, sometimes a little too much, boosted by a lack of control effectiveness. The controls in this game are the main complain that anyone could make if not trapped in the fact that the series are not what it used to be. Especially in a racing mode called "Speed", this Speed mode is a mode where you race at high speeds in courses that require minimal turning; the problem is, some courses in this mode will require lots of turning and the controls of the car are too responsive, a mode that falls in the field of being frustrating and knowing that it had so much potential due to the fact that the central focus of this would be speed, pure speed, makes it a sad fact. The sense of speed always played a major role in Need for Speed games, but the more speed you get, the best controls it demands, and that's not the case. The controls might get in the way in every other gaming mode, but will be especially present in Speed mode.
Besides the already mentioned Speed mode you have the Grip mode, which is the average racing where you just face opponents in different courses, the focus ain't speed like the Speed mode and the turns will be much more difficult to make. There's also the Drag mode which can be set out in two different courses, 1/4 mile drag and 1/2 mile drag, and the focus of this mode is perfect shifting along with a very powerful car with great acceleration; since you race in a straight way course, you should aim for power in this mode. You also find the iconic Drift type of races where you need to drift through turns in a certain course, the courses are particularly smaller, and you get a less amount of points while drifting than you used to get in other installments.
The customization still gives the player immense opportunities, you can basically tune everything in you car for different types of race styles and end up with several results differing from each choice you made. Aesthetically the choices are various too, there's a whole lot of different images and styles of decals and vinyls to be put in your car, you can use lots of them at the same time and at whatever place as you find fit. The cars available are the best-known super cars in the world, from renowned manufactures like Nissan, Honda, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mazda, Porsche, Chevrolet and many more.
The game itself is divided in racing days, a racing day is an event where you go to a specific location and race other races who will be there with the same purpose as you, each race day is set in a different location and the amount of races can differ in number and modes from the ones already mentioned. Each has a determined amount of point that you need to reach in order to win the day, but a higher amount of points is required to "dominate" the event. Dominating the event is the last feedback you have from a race day, aside from beating the high score record or online record of the day, and to finish the game with 100% of completion you need to dominate every race day available. To gain points you need to not only finish first, but also finish first with a significant advantage, the better you do in the race, the more points you get, and higher are the chances of you dominating a day. After you get in a certain point of the game you'll have the opportunity to race against an specialist in each game mode, if you beat every mode specialist from Drag, Drift, Grip and Speed, you'll be awarded with the opportunity to race against the so called "Street King", he's an all-around good player, plays every type of gaming mode, and if you beat him you'll become the most bad ass racer around and everyone will respect you, sweet deal.
Another must have for any Need for Speed game is a killer soundtrack, famous for being a game that compiles lots of rock, hardcore, hip-hop, electronic and pop music keeping the player with the adrenaline constantly in the clouds with its fast-paced songs. After a certain disappointment in the music department with Most Wanted, this game shows that not all hope is lost, some pretty nice tunes will follow the player's adventures through race days and challenges found in the game. The first Underground remains as the winner for most memorable soundtrack, but the improvement is clear over one of the prequels, Need for Speed Most Wanted.
Need for Speed was reinvented, it still delivers a considerable amount of speed and adrenaline to your racing needs, but much of the former appeal is gone, so if you want the good old Need for Speed with cops, illegal races in a delightful night or metropolitan atmosphere you're in for a disappointment. Instead you get a game that, even with some ridiculously basic control flaws and courses that fail in bringing much variation, manages to keep you interested in the new scheme even though it doesn't look like Need for Speed at all. Maybe not the best game the series has to offer, but pretty much will keep you hooked until you decide to move on to the next Need for Speed game.
