Pros: Different Race Modes, Totally Customizable Cars and SUVs, GPS Map, Soundtrack, Fun
Cons: Long Load Times, No Damage
The bottom line: Need for Speed Underground 2 is one of the best racing games out for any platform today! Very flexible and excellent game overall!
I was never a big fan of the Need For Speed series when it was out for the PC or the PS2, but EA Games had delivered a real hit with it's Need for Speed: Underground series. I haven't played the first Underground game, but I got bored at my friends apt. one night and decided to play Need for Speed Underground 2. I enjoy racing games and most car games so I figured it couldn't be that bad. I was instantly addicted to NFSU2. Here's why.

The Game
NFSU2 is a game based on street racing. This isn't your regular circuit type racing. This is peddle to the metal, souped up cars with body kits and NOS, racing decals and underbody neons. NFSU2 is as much as about show as it is about winning races. There are two modes to the game, quick race and career mode. Quick race allows you to choose a car and set up a race against computer opponents. Career mode is the meat of the game and this is where you will spend 99.95% of your time while playing this game.

In career mode you play the part of a former street racer who was injured during a race. After leaving the racing scene for awhile, you are back looking to make a name for yourself. After seeing the opening story, you are introduced to your friend Rachel(played by the lovely Brooke Burke) who will guide you through the game and keep you updated on the local street racing action. First you need to get a ride. You start at the airport and have the use of Rachel's Nissan 350Z for a short time. If you want you can drive around but you'll ultimately end up at the garage where you get to pick your first car. There are only a couple of cars to choose from at first so you have to make a wise decision. The ratings for each car are shown at the bottom of the screen. There isn't much at first, the Honda Civic or Nissan 240SX are probably your best bet at this point, seeing that the only other cars are a Mazda Miata, A Toyota Corolla and a Ford Focus. You will be able to return here at later stages in the game to get new cars and even SUVs like the Hummer H2, Escalade and Navigator.

After you select your car you will get a crash course in the messaging system and how to use your map. Now it's time to get down to business. Now you have a choice of what you want to do. You can either compete in the races, go to the performance shot and soup up your ride or just drive around the city looking for money and hidden shops/races. You have a lot of freedom with what you want to do and you can drive almost anywhere on the map. As you beat certain races you will unlock new cities and sponsors will become interested in you as your street credit and reputation get higher. Sponsors are a good way to make money quickly, but you have to agree to their terms and compete in their races. There are also several new shops and races to find in each part of the city so look around as much as possible!

The Races
NFSU2 features several different race versions. You have the typical drag race, where 4 cars line up and go all out on a fairly straight track. Top speed and use of NOS is the key here. Next you have the Sprint, which is a street race through the city. You compete against 3 other drivers and your goal is to get to the finish line in the shortest amount of time. Circuit is next, this is basically the same as sprint except you drive in a circle and have to complete more than 1 lap. There is also the Street X, which is street racing on a tight enclosed course where cornering and acceleration are the most important. The final race feature is the Drift, which is the most fun part of the game, at least in my opinion. Drifting is basically power sliding with style. In drift races you have 2 laps to amass as many points as you possibly can. The faster and the longer your drifts are, the more points you will earn. There are also SUV races once you get an SUV in the game and also Underground Circuit races that you can enter only after you have gained a sponsor. Overall there is a lot of variety and flexibility with the races in NFSU2.

Options
Here is where this game excels in my opinion. You can do almost anything to your car. There are all kinds of performance parts you can install to make your car one mean machine. Whether it's NOS or racing tires, the performance shops have a HUGE variety of performance parts. The only thing is you have to unlock certain parts as you progress in the game.

The best part of this though, is the ability to create your own look to your car. Through the Body and Graphic shops you will find in the city, you can make your car look really slick. This is a must because your car will have a visual rating from 0-10. The higher on that scale the better. The better your car looks, the more money you will receive from being featured on Magazine and DVD covers(part of your contract with sponsors). The body shop and graphic shop have just about everything, including body kits, spoilers, hoods, roof scoops, rims, exhaust tips and side mirrors. You can also paint your car and it's parts to your liking. You can mix and match colors on the car and body accessories like the spoiler, rims and brake pads to make your car look truly gorgeous. You can also get Vinyl racing decals and sponsor decals for the different parts of the car. You can put Vinyls on the sides and decals on the doors and quarter panels and both your windshield and rear window. Overall there is a lot you can do to your car to improve it's visual value.

Gameplay
NFSU2 is a really fun game to play. The cars drive fairly realistically, but it is not so hard to drive the car that you will lose interest in the game. I compare most driving games to Gran Turismo 3, because this is the game I am most familiar with and the game I think sets the standard for all the rest. The cars in this game handle almost as realistically as they do in GT3, but this game is based more on having fun than serious driving action.

The controls are a little complicated at first but don't take much to get used to. You can choose to drive with either the control pad or the left analog stick. Whichever you choose, the opposite will become your in game command button. For example, if you drive with the control pad, the Left analog stick will allow you to open an in game menu where you can access your map, messages and game status screens. You will also use it to enter shops and accept races against cars that are just driving around town. X is accelerate and square is brake. You use Triangle to back out of menus and to toggle your rear view mirror while driving. Circle allows you to check out what is going on behind you. R1 is your E-brake and R2 is camera toggle. L1 lets you use your NOS, if you have it installed in your current vehicle. You can also set the controls to your liking in the options screen. Overall the gameplay in NFSU2 is excellent.

Graphics and Sound
The graphics in this game are excellent. The cars all look like their real life counterparts and all of the car body kits and accessories look realistic. The city you drive in is actually pretty well detailed for just being the background of the game. There is a lot of attention paid to minor details as well. Tire burnout marks stay on the tracks you race, even after you have completed a lap, smoke comes out from your tires when you burnout or take a turn really sharp and flames burst from your exhaust when you use NOS. You can read street signs and exit signs for the interstate fairly clearly, even at speed and from a decent distance. Overall the graphics in this game are great and I would rate them better than GT3 and most racing games. 9/10

EA went all out for the soundtrack on this game. It features a few big name artists like Chingy and Snoop Dawg, but a lot of the other artists on the game I didn't recognize. This didn't really matter as the game has a perfect blend of hip hop and techno tunes that really get you into the races and into driving your car around town. A lot of the tracks sound just like the music used in the Fast and the Furious Films during racing scenes and this really improves the value of the game in my mind. The soundtrack to this game is absolutely awesome. The sound effects are also incredible. Each car has its own unique sound in terms of the engine and when you change your muffler or intake you can hear a marked difference in the sound of your car. You can also hear when your car shifts gears, and burning tires sound very realistic. The sound in this game rocks, period. 10/10

Gripes
NFSU2 is a great game but of course it has its flaws. The first is that there is not car damage during races or when you are just driving around. You can crash into other vehicles on the road and you often will. The majority of the "Street" races are just that, races that are held even while there is traffic on the road. If you hit another car hard enough the game switches to the crash cam, which shows your accident from a different angle. The only penalty for accidents is a NOS penalty and lost time in the races if you are currently in a race. You can also get points for avoiding an accident which boosts your NOS total. It would be nice if there was actual visible damage to cars, but I can see where this would be a huge hassle if you had to repair your car after every race or ride around town.

The only other thing I have to complain about with this game is the long load times between menus and saving. It takes quite a bit of time to save and load games and it also takes a while when you are trying to leave a shop or race because you have to save after each thing you buy and each race you enter. This was enough to agitate me a few times when I first started playing the game, but with the overall greatness of this game, I soon got over it.

Overall
Overall I think Need for Speed Underground 2 is one of the best games out there for the PS2. It is fun to play, but just serious enough where you will enjoy the races. The number of things you can do to each car and the freedom you have of just being able to drive around the city and mess around are also wonderful. I know there are a lot of people out there who wish they could be a street racer or like me, wish they could own a Nissan Skyline or Toyota Supra. This game allows you to live that dream....if only for a little while and without the broken bones of an 80 mph accident or the stained underwear from a shot of NOS at 120 mph.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this opinion and as always I welcome any comments or suggestions! Happy driving!