First Look: Need for Speed Underground 2
Need for Speed goes GTA with a free-roaming world and a toolbox full of sleek tuning.
The first Need for Speed Underground sold so well that it became the number-four bestseller of 2003 -- an astonishing number for a November release. So it?s only natural that EA?s heading right back to the trough with Need for Speed Underground 2, which has been in development since July 2003 and is shaping up into a very sharp sequel.
NFSU2?s main innovation is its switch to an open, free-roaming map that spans 125 miles of road across five separate neighborhoods. Unlike the first game, there are no resets for driving off the course -- you can traverse any road surface that you see. Visual cues and signs will help you navigate, as will an onscreen mini map and a larger pause-menu map. In an attempt to tap deeper into tuner culture, you?ll start as a raw newbie with no clue where the racing scene is. As you prowl the streets, you can stumble across races or challenge other tuner cars, who will tell you where to go to find the good action.
Tuning figures into this open-world setup too -- performance and visual upgrades are now bought in shops, some of which are marked on the map, while others must be found or their location must be won in a race. Each shop will have its own custom line of parts, but once you unlock a shop or part, the shop appears on the map and the part can be bought in any shop, eliminating the need for commuting between shops. Best of all, you can now specifically tune your car?s performance, not merely its visual style, with mods in 20 categories. Style points are also more useful -- instead of being redeemed for vinyls, they earn you additional NOS refills during a race, which can be a huge advantage.
An in-game IM system will tell you when challenges are being issued, new parts are available, and other notable news. The Career mode will no longer be linear, either; you?ll be able to skip, for example, drifting events as long as you complete a minimum number of challenges to progress. Drifting, however, was one of the most popular elements of the first game, and EA?s amping that up by adding open-road drifting, which is sometimes set on windy mountain roads in a nod to the origins of drifting in Japan.
Some race types will involve a load-time wait, then you?ll race inside a closed course before returning the open world. Others, like the new Outrun race, will take place on the free-roaming map. Once you match speed with an opponent, you win by gaining a 300-meter lead on them, and lose by dropping back 300 meters. Whoever is in the lead can pick any road they choose, and it?s up to the follower to keep those tail lights in view.
For a bit of star power, EA signed Brooke Burke, host of E!?s Wild On series, to provide the curves and the sass by playing Rachel, the character that guides you through your career. Visually, the game currently looks pretty much like its predecessor, but EA was quick to point out that lighting hadn?t been implemented and the game was still very early, so any graphical upgrades won?t be apparent until later in the development process.
Other details, such as online play, new race types, and new car and part brands (the Mazda RX8 is one new addition) were still being kept under wraps for now. But EA showed enough of NFSU2 to prove that it?s got a meaty sequel -- and probably another sure-fire hit -- in the works.
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