Need for Speed Underground
Need for Speed: Underground (NFSU) is a racing game, developed and published by Electronic Arts in 2003. It is part of the Need for Speed computer and video game series. It was created at the EA Black Box studios, located in Vancouver, BC.
Its premise (highly tuned, customised cars participating in illegal street races) was likely inspired by the Import Scene and the movies The Fast and the Furious and 2 Fast 2 Furious.
A complete reimagining of the series' formula, NFSU offered a career mode featuring a storyline, and a garage mode that allowed players to fully customize their cars with a large variety of brand-name performance and visual upgrades. All races take place in a city at night. Instead of hundred-thousand dollar exotics, Underground featured vehicles associated with the Import Scene. This, plus the increasingly arcade-like controls, became points of controversy for Need for Speed fans. Despite this, Underground was commercially very successful, and inspired a sequel.
It is rumoured that the car manufacturers were very strict in how their vehicles were to be portrayed in this game, especially considering the "illegal street racing" reputation of the tuner culture. EA took some effort in making the races appear as sanctioned racing events, and included a public service announcement in the game's introduction. In addition, vehicles do not have damage models.
Racing Modes
Circuit
Circuit is a standard race that involves racing with up to four opponents cars around a loop track for two laps or more, and is the main mode of the game.
A variant of Circuit is Knockout, which, similar to previous Need for Speed titles, involves "knocking out" the last racer who passes the starting line in each lap until the final leader of the race remains, and wins the race. In the case of Underground, Knockout sessions have a maximum of three laps for four racers.
Sprint
Sprint mode is a variation on the Circuit mode, where the contestants race in a point-to-point track instead of loop tracks. These races are typically shorter than "circuits" (with a maximum of 8 km in length), so players are required to be more cautious of any mistakes during racing.
Drift
Drifting is one of the most challenging and technical aspects of the game. Drift mode consists of one player in a short loop track, where the objective is to collect as many points as possible by drifting along the track. The player competes with three other contestants, who appear to accumulate scores along with the player during the drift session. The player would be required to beat these scores in order to obtain top positions.
Bonuses are awarded for players who drift in the other borders of the track, drift vertically, or perform chained-drifting (continuous drifting by constantly steering the vehicle during drifts to maintain speed); if the player succeeds in ending a drift without collisions onto the sides of the track, the collected points are added into the score, otherwise, the collected points are cancelled.
Drift mode is the only type of racing where time taken to complete the track does not matter, since players are given the freedom to complete the allocated number laps at their own pace. This may explain the absence of nitrous oxide in this mode, since it serves no suitable purpose in this situation.
Drag Racing
Drag racing is the second most technical form of race in the game. It involves racing against three cars on typically straight tracks, and attempting to obtain top positions to win. In order to master Drag mode, players must employ good timing and reflexes for gear shifting, redlining, overtaking, and the use of nitrous oxide boosts; the mode places particular emphasis in monitoring the tachometer during races, which is enlarged and situated on the leftmost portion of the screen. Steering in this mode is simplified to simply allow for lane changes, while the computer handles the steering along the lanes, and the player focuses more on maintaining an optimum speed for the car.
Two conditions will result to players being forfeited during a drag race: head-on collisions with a vehicle (traffic or opponent), barrier or divider>; or blown engines as a result from prolonged redlining and the subsequent overheating of the engine.
Car List
- Acura Integra Type R
- Acura RSX
- Dodge Neon
- Ford Focus ZX3
- Honda Civic Si Coupe
- Honda S2000
- Hyundai Tiburon GT
- Mazda Miata MX5
- Mazda RX-7
- Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
- Mitsubishi Lancer ES
- Nissan 240SX
- Nissan 350Z
- Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V
- Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34)
- Peugeot 206 S16
- Subaru Impreza
- Toyota Celica
- Toyota Supra
- Volkswagen Golf GTi
Soundtrack Listing
- Overseer - Doomsday (3:13)
- The Crystal Method - Born Too Slow (2:45)
- Rancid - Out of Control (1:39)
- Rob Zombie - Two-Lane Blacktop (2:54)
- BT - Kimosabe (4:55)
- Static-X - The Only (2:51)
- Element Eighty - Broken Promises (3:16)
- Asian Dub Foundation - Fortress Europe (3:51)
- Hotwire - Invisible (2:52)
- Story of the Year - And the Hero Will Drown (3:12)
- Andy Hunter - The Wonders of You (7:09)
- Junkie XL - Action Radius (3:54)
- Fuel - Quarter (3:39)
- Jerk - Sucked In (2:52)
- Fluke - Snapshot (3:59)
- lostprophets - Ride (3:40)
- Overseer - Supermoves (4:46)
- FC Kahuna - Glitterball (5:43)
- Blindside - Swallow (2:24)
- Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz - Get Low (4:25)
- Mystikal - Smashing the Gas (Get Faster) (3:09)
- Dilated Peoples - Who's Who (3:55)
- Nate Dogg - Keep It Coming (4:18)
- X-ecutioners - Body Rock (3:36)
- Petey Pablo - Need For Speed (3:32)
- T.I. - 24's (4:06)
