Need for Speed Underground 2

"Pretty Good, could be better..."

Need for Speed Underground 2 is a great game for the other consoles, I was actually very excited to know that the game would be coming to the DS. It's good, not great. Wasn't exactly what I had expected, but it's something that could still probably be enjoyable.

Gameplay
The game controls are pretty hard to get used to. Most of the turns require you to only tap the left or right pad. If you press too hard, you'd be making a very sharp turn, and unless you're supposed to do that for a turn, you'd be zigzagging across the roads for a bit until you can regain control.
The collision part of the car isn't exactly the best. a slight tap can instantly wipe out 10 to 20 miles per hour of the meter, so you should be careful. small crashes can lead you rotating 520 degrees in a narrow passage and struggle to find your way out of the situation. The CPU on the other hand, is godlike. They'll mess up once for every ten times you do.

Unlike their console counterparts, there is no campaign mode. You are only limited to a set amount of levels and you can't roam around free.

Graphics
It's so nice to see 3d graphics being used on the DS, especially since a bunch of games don't take advantage of it. It's great, especailly the detail and the lighting of the environment. There have been no instances where the game would overload and start slowing down or lagging. It runs very smoothly. However, you'd find that there is a limited vision of what's ahead, so you might have a hard time seeing incoming cars or turns.

Sound
The sound effects are pretty good. All the cars, however, sound pretty much the same and the passing cars all have the same beeping sound.
The music is debatable. Some are very catchy... others... well... you might want to turn it off.

Replayability
There are several unlockable cars and tune ups. You can also play the races over and over again or you can make your own. You can also customize your cars with your own set of decals (though the space is limited). Points used to upgrade and buy cars are somewhat limited since you can't get points replaying a race or making one up.

Overall
As said before, it's not a great game, however it's ok and it's very challenging. You might get a little frustrated with the game at first, but once you get used to the controls, it gets a lot more addicting. Rent or Buy? Definately rent first. It kinda grows on you later.

7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/18/05