Need for Speed: Underground is the seventh installment of the Need for Speed ​​series, and developed by the EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts in 2003. This is the first game in the series to use THX technology. Two different games are produced, one for the console and Windows, and the other for Game Boy Advance.
Underground restarts the franchise, ignoring previous Need for Speed ​​games featuring sports and exotic cars. This is the first game in the series that offers a career mode featuring a storyline, and a garage mode that allows players to fully customize their cars with a variety of brand performance and visual enhancements. All races take place in a generic city at night called Olympic City, although the city has a resemblance to New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Instead of an exotic car, Underground shows the vehicle associated with the import scene. Underground is commercially successful, and inspires the sequel.
Video Need for Speed: Underground
Plot
The player starts right into the action, on the race circuit driving a unique style of Acura Integra Type R with Mantis wide body kit, easily wins over his opponents... only to be awakened by Samantha (Cindy Johnson) from his reverie.
Samantha is a friend of the cast in a new neighborhood; he shows players how the consoles with race work, who's who, and make fun of the player's starter car. Eddie (and the orange-metallic Nissan Skyline), is the leader of Eastsiders and the current street racers, and Melissa (Amy Walz) is her boyfriend.
Time passes, the race is won. The player meets with other drivers, and eventually collects a small list of nemes that continue to challenge and be defeated. He was introduced to TJ, who promised a unique performance improvement in lieu of time trial challenges; Samantha does the same thing from time to time, offering a unique visual modification.
The player's streak does not impress Eddie. First, he mocks the players skills, saying he has a long way to go to 'roll his streets'. Later in the game, the player builds enough hype to be too difficult to ignore, so Eddie challenges him to defeat Samantha in a race run before coming after him; the player's willingness to do so upset him. Samantha's total Civic engine was trying to beat the player, to no avail. TJ takes the car junked for himself after the event.
When the player almost reaches # 1 in all types of races, Eddie tries to once again get rid of his rival. Around the same time, the player sees TJ in Samantha's recovered car, now working again, but has been tampered with. Both run circuit races worth another vehicle, which was won by the player. The player returns the car to Samantha to make amends, and he gives the player a wide body kit option for his car.
Right after the moment of touch, Eddie challenged the player and lost, just like anyone else who has ever challenged a player so far. Before any victory can be sung, a mysterious, legendary 350Z Nissan 350Z challenges players to the last run through the Market Street circuit. The challenger who, after being hit by a player, was revealed as Eddie's girlfriend, Melissa.
The event established the player status as the best new underground racer in town.
Maps Need for Speed: Underground
Gameplay
Circuit is a standard race that involves racing with up to three opposing cars around the loop path for one or more turns, and is the game's main mode. For about the last 4 races of underground mode, the number of players decreases to just 1 rival, and the number of laps reaches up to seven (endurance race).
Knockout mode is similar to the previous "Need for Speed" title, and involves "knocking out" the last rider passing through the starting line in each round until the final leader of the race remains there, and win the race. In the case of Underground , the Knockout session has a maximum of three laps for four racers.
Sprint mode is a variation in Circuit mode, where contestants race on a point-to-point path rather than a loop track. This race is usually shorter than the "circuit" (with a maximum length of 8 km), so players are required to be more vigilant against any errors during the race.
Drifting is the most challenging and technical aspect of this game. The drift mode consists of one player in a short track, where the goal is to collect as many points as possible by hovering along the track. Players compete with three other contestants, who appear to collect scores together with players during the drift session. Players will be asked to beat this score to get the top spot.
Bonuses are awarded for players floating on the outer boundary of the track, floating vertically, or chained-drifting (continuous drifting by constantly driving the vehicle during drift to maintain speed); if the player manages to end the drift without a collision to the side of the track, the points collected are added to the score, otherwise the collected points are canceled.
Drift mode is the only type of race in which the time required to complete a track is not a problem, as players are given the freedom to complete round numbers that are allocated at their own pace. This may explain the absence of nitrous oxide in this mode, as there is no clear purpose in this situation.
Drag race is the second most technical ramp in the game. It involves racing against one or three cars on a straight track, and trying to get the top spot to win. To master Drag mode, players must use good timings and reflexes for shifting, redlining, overtaking, and the use of nitrous oxide boosts. Because the player will put the machine to its limit, the mode puts special emphasis in monitoring the tachometer during the race, which is enlarged and located at the very left of the screen. Driving in this mode is simplified to allow for path changes, while the computer handles the steering along the path, and the player is more focused on maintaining optimum speed for the car.
Two conditions will result in the player being defeated during the drag race: a collision with an opponent, a barrier, a traffic car or a divider (being 'total'); or a blown engine as a result of an elongated redlining and overheating of the engine.
Car customization
In the car customization menu, the car can be changed with improved performance and visual enhancements, such as paint colors, vinyl, neon, special front and rear bumpers, custom side skirts, spoilers, special hoods, exhaust tip, roof spoon, special tires and stickers, and wide body kit.
Players have the ability to improve the performance of their cars by applying performance improvements to the car. Players can upgrade their car engines, drivetrain, suspension, tires, engine control units (ECUs) as well as adding nitric oxide, turbo chargers and reduced car weight (in the form of "weight reduction package").
Reception
Need for Speed: Underground received a positive review. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 84.29% and 85 of 100 for PlayStation 2, 83.73% and 83 from 100 for GameCube versions, 82.29% and 82 from 100 for PC versions, 81.76% and 83 out 100 for versions of Xbox and 77.33% and 77 out of 100 for Game Boy Advance versions.
In the UK, PlayStation 2 UK Official Magazine gives the PS2 version a score of nine out of ten and makes many of the illegal properties of the game. They praised the pace, but said that it was, "breathtaking, just another driving game with the addition of Hollywood sparkle." In Japan, Famitsu gave GameCube and PS2 versions scored two eight and two nine, taking it to a score of 34 out of 40.
In July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version of Underground had sold 2.6 million copies and generated $ 115 million in the United States alone. Next Generation rated it as the sixth best-selling game launched for PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in the country. It's the highest-grossing Need for Speed ​​game released between these dates in the United States. The PlayStation 2 version also received the "Double Platinum" sales award from the Association of Entertainment and Recreation Software Publishers (ELSPA), showing sales of at least 600,000 copies in the UK.
Underground eventually sold 15 million copies worldwide, and entered the "best-seller" of each of PS2's Greatest Hits and BigHit Series consoles, Xbox's Platinum Hits, and PlayerCube's Player's Choice.
The editors of Computer Gaming World presented Underground with their 2003 "Racing Game of the Year" award. They wrote, "This may not be a conventional racing title like the title of NASCAR or F1 , but no other game will make you feel Gs at every turn like NSFU do it. "
Note
References
External links
- Need for Speed: Underground in MobyGames
- Need for Speed: Underground (Game Boy Advance) on MobyGames
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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