Amazon.com: Need for Speed Underground 2: Playstation 2: Video Games

109 Reviews

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(14)

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4.0 out of 5 stars (109 customer reviews)

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56 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Racing Fun, but Almost Too Much of a Good Thing, January 21, 2005

By	D. R. Jeanclerc "Reader, Listener & Obsessive... (Brunswick, OH USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars

Need for Speed Underground 2 (NfSU2) is the latest installment in a long-running series of EA racing games. The "Underground" element wraps the game up in a world of nighttime drag races and super-tuned and modified import coupes ala "The Fast and the Furious" movies.

The most engaging part of the gameplay is the career mode, which allows you to build your reputation and your bankroll by entering events found throughout a sprawling urban landscape. All of the now-familiar features are here: a variety of race types, a huge selection of cars and options to be unlocked, purchased and installed, etc. There's a lot of straight-up racing fun to be found on these streets.

The graphics are really good; not Gran Turismo good, but close. The cars are especially fine, and you've got ample opportunity to examine your customized baby. You'll occasionally get a mini-mission to have your car photographed for a magazine cover where you control the background, "pose" and camera angle. Sure it's kind of a silly way to build your bank, but not a total waste after you've spent an hour selecting the perfect color scheme and combination of paint and artwork for your car.

One minor gripe about the graphics is the lack of options for camera angles. Given how big the city is, the always-nighttime gameplay and the fact that some shortcuts and objectives are tucked away between buildings, it can be tough to spot things. I feel the other reviews when they complain about long times searching for this or that between races. Another minor problem is the perpetual nighttime during gameplay. Coupled with the brightly lit and highly detailed environment, it's sometimes too much to look at and the car can actually get lost in the overall scene.

The controls are intuitive and well-designed. One of my favorite features is the ability to use the right analog stick as the accelerator and brake. Couple it with a manual transmission (shifting uses the L2/R2 buttons) and you've got a great amount of subtle control over your car. It's not as good as playing with a wheel and pedals, but it really beats the usual x-and-square two-button setup (which is also available at all times if you prefer).

Does it play a lot like GTA-lite? Of course it does; it's meant to do so. There's a plotline running through the career mode focused on getting revenge on the rival who did you wrong before you landed in Bayview. It's not as deep or sequential as the GTA missions, so you're free to do pretty much whatever you want in whatever order you want. This can be good or it can lead to a lot of aimless driving around.

The game also struggles a little bit with identity - what game does NfSU2 want to be? It's not an exact sim like Gran Turismo, although you can certainly tune and tweak your car's performance options all day long if that's your thing. The race action has a big-time arcade feel, but it's not simply an arcade racer because of the GTA-esque missions in career mode. During some lulls in the action, you may find yourself wanting to pop this out in favor of one of those other games instead.

Nonetheless, the good easily outweighs the bad in this good-looking and ultimately exciting racer. It does a very nice job of satisfying fans of all flavors of driving games: arcade, sim and mission.

PROS
* Beautifully-rendered cars (and SUVs) that can be exhaustively customized in terms of looks and performs
* Exciting racing action with very little learning curve
* Well-designed controls make the most of the PS2 controller

CONS
* Too much time getting around the huge environment
* Notable lapses in realism, i.e. gigantic crashes with no consequences; no cops at all (I guess then it would simply be a GTA clone)
* Lots of product placement gets a bit heavy after a while - meet me at Burger King, the garage is next to Best Buy, I'll call you on my Cingular wireless, etc.

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33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT GAME! *Note: I actually own the game, November 18, 2004

By	Chris Bizzelle - See all my reviews

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

Yes, thats right, im a reviewer who OWNS this game, unlike the reviewers under me who are just talking about what it will be like when it comes out. To acknowledge some of the other reviews talking about sponsors of the game...thats how street racing is, you get sponsors. Also, the people complaining about fine tuning of cars, once again, thats how street racing is. They made this game more realistic than the previous one. The free roam option (career) has changed in a better way, I'm more of the guy who would rather get my missions/races done so i can get better cars or upgrades to race them online. The online option is also another great great feature. The graphics on this game are beautiful as always. The control seems to have changed just a little, maybe to make it easier, but its hard for me to notice a change. The sound has changed for the better, sounds are more realistic and clear. The music of the game is good, but not my preference. Its got a demo of Burnout 3, which is also a good game. This is just an all around good game, very addictive since you can get better cars as you progress and then race online. Also, if you dont have online features, I highly recomend it, I just got it when Mortal Kombat Deception came out. It adds a VERY high replay value to the game, you can beat a game over and over again but theres always new people to fight/play/race online. For only $39.99 its a great deal as opposed to xbox's high priced Xbox Live subscription required service.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Game, November 29, 2004

By	JJ (Visalia) - See all my reviews

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars

In NFSU2 you can do almost anything to your car. You can change your front and rear bumpers. You can change window tints and spoilers and side skirts. That isn't even half of what you can do to your car. You don't have to buy everything in packages like the the first NFSU you can buy parts separately. You can also add spinners, other rims, and hydrolics! You can add a sound system and trunk neon colors and engine neon colors. There are a lot more cars in the sequel opposed to the first one. For instance there are Escalades, Navigators, Hummers, Civics, the new 2005 Mustang, Skylines, RSXs, Audi TTs, Audi A3s, Supras, and much, much, more. You have your own garage so you can hold more than one car at a time. You can even tune your car for any kind of race. 3 new styles of races have been added. This game is extremely fun and to me is worth $49.99. If you like racing games this is the game for you unless you like Nascar type games.(for Tony to use the hydrolics you hold down R1 and move the left analog stick then it will make the hydrolics go up depending on which way you press the analog stick.)