Need for Speed Underground 2

"Go fast on the go!"

I had been anxiously awaiting this game for a long time, ever since I first heard of it, really. I have always been a fan of the Need for Speed series and when I heard I could have a portable one, my heart jumped for joy. I went and picked this game up on the day of its release and, oh my, I can't put it down.

Graphics
My mouth gaped open when I first turned this on. The graphics are simply amazing. The cars look sweet, the tracks look great, the amount of detail is nice, too. These graphics are better than your average PS1/N64 game.

Controls
The controls are nice, but a tad sensitive. You use the D-Pad to control the vehicle, A is acceleration, B is brake, and your touchscreen is the nitro. Just tap your screen to inject some Dinitrogen Oxide into your fuel for a burst in speed.

Sound
The sound is nothing to write home about. The car engines are nice, as are the horns of traffic, as well as the sound of twisting metal when you wreck. The music is just funky techno music that is surprisingly enjoyable.

Gameplay
The meat of any game. You can do a quick race, and just do a race, you can choose Go Underground, which is the career mode, and you can go Multi. In Go Underground, there are three types of races to do, Circuit, Drag, and Own the Zone, as well as one section for mini games. Circuit is your normal competitive race, Drag is, well,a drag race, and Own the Zone is a time trial type thing against other cars. The track is split into sections and you compete for the best time in each section. The mini games are nothing special, just happy little games to play to unlock parts for your ride. You can also choose to go to the garage, where you can get new cars, add new parts, customize your ride visually, and even create your own decals for your car, which is an extremely fun feature.

Multiplayer
I haven't gotten to play multiplayer on this game, so I won't go into any details about something I haven't experienced. All I know is that is is a multi-cart multiplayer function.

Replay
The replay value is high. You will want to first complete all 66 events and collect all 18 cars, as well as try and set the fastest records on tracks, and highest scores in mini games. You will keep playing this game for so long.

Rent or Buy?
If you want to have fun, buy this game. It will not disappoint you at all. A very worthy purchase and a must have for any NFS fan or DS owner.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/15/05