NFSU

Reviewed by soad84 on August 29, 2006  |  report this review

Yet another classic

great game

Reviewed by mediagamer on May 01, 2007  |  report this review

Instead of racing through gorgeous locales or escaping the cops, this time you are set in a thriving downtown city, where the chicks are plenty and the rumbles are sweet. The entire game takes place at nighttime because, well…let’s face it, racing during the day isn't very "underground". What gets so many people excited about the game, is that they could potentially race cars in game that they drive in real life. Unlike the McLarens, Porsches and Ferraris in previous versions, here you will deck out your Volkswagen Jetta, Honda Civic, and Hyundai Tiburon, amongst others.

The primary mode in the game is Underground Mode, which attempts to recreate the street racing scene. Your goal is to pass through the races while building up your car. You begin with enough money to buy a car, and you unlock new ones the more you play. Customization is one thing EA hit dead on, it's near perfect. You can customize any part of your car: Hood, Bumper, Wheels and even go as far as changing your engine color. The more Skill Points you acquire through the races, the more customization pieces you unlock. The better you customize, the better your "Rep" will be, up to 5 stars.

Although customization is great, upgrading is not. You would think from a game like this, you would have ultimate control over the under-the-hood upgrades and tweaking. What EA did include works out very well, but for the people who know their stuff, it's very bland. You will get to choose up to three levels for each upgrade, and even choose the brand name for each one. While that's great, there is no real strategy to this. It's completely a "buy this, then install" system. No matter the brand, the performance will be similar, as long as it's the same level upgrade. This does work, and well for the less mechanically inclined, but it could be more in depth.

The actual racing is impeccable. The entire game takes place in one huge city, and each track will make you travel a different route. Although the city is very large, there was a feeling of repetition for sure. It went from what was at first a killer race, to playing the same route again, except backwards and other variations. Considering the city is so damn cool looking to begin with, this was a relatively minute problem. Some other levels of the game will have players proceed through normal races, circuits, lap knockouts and drift races. Drift races you ask?

Completely new to the series is Drift Racing, which is becoming a popular type of racing in some places. Drift racing is considered a skill, where you control your car while you are going sideways, whether around a corner or just a straight line. In Drift, the tighter the suspension, the better the control, so upgrade your parts as necessary. You earn points as you drift, and you can get mega points the faster you go, and the longer you last. If you even so much as tick a wall, you lose the points you earned for that drift. This is a great mode to unlock things, since you c