![]() ![]() But being classed as Burnout 1.5 is no real criticism since Criterion's racers are so far ahead of the competition anyway. Now Underground 2 hits the streets with more than a little Burnout influence to be found within, although somehow manages to only overtake the original of the racing trilogy.īy this I mean the instant replay, slow-motion crashes (that are not a patch on Burnout's) and the increasing of your boost by achieving near misses (except it is more awkward to carry out because the handling is not as smooth in NFSU2). You see EA has always been on to mimic winning formulae, with the most recent examples being the two different styles of Lord of the Rings: The Third Age games, one which 'paid homage' to Fire Emblem and the other that was an out-and-out Final Fantasy pastiche. However, in the interest of fairness I must explain this label. ![]() This game would not be what it is without any of the funk, hip-hop tunes or urban lingo.īut that is just the dressing, you want to know how the main salad tastes, right? I suppose if I were to be straight to the point I would hastily state 'Burnout 1.5' and leave it at that. What is it? The extremely 'cool' atmosphere. Now, there is an extra layer that Underground brings to the table, one that turns this from a run-of-the-mill racer into a hi-octane thrill-fest that attracts enough gamers to its speedy courses to make it the Christmas No.1 game here in the UK. See? Simple! Now, obviously I am exaggerating beyond belief, but for those of you that had not quite grasped the idea of Need for Speed, a rudimentary premise was called for. Picture the scene you are in a car and you must race. The idea of Underground is quite a basic one, if you think about it. As for sound effects, the car engines can grate on the nerves ever-so-slightly, but everything else seems in order, with some clear voice acting to boot that brings a welcome underground atmosphere to the experience… This is a very nice feature that deserves much laudation, as there is nothing worse than dreading a specific track because of its terrible and/or annoying music. Thankfully, should certain songs distract you too much during a race, they can be switched off or just to ‘menu’ status, with the option of placing other songs it their place. Up step heavyweight Rap artists such as Snoop Dogg to provide an ‘urban street’ feel to the experience be it when you are browsing the multitude of menus, tweaking your vehicle and options to perfection or just blasting round a hectic track, trying desperately to cling onto your slim lead. When it comes to in-game music, EA tends to beat its competitors hands-down by splashing money around to ensure its EA Trax set-up is one of the finest in the Industry…and it works. You would think after creating so many games on the Nintendo platform that EA would be able to wrap the system round its little finger! There are a few nice touches, like with the lighting, weather and neon effects – but you cannot help feeling not as much effort was put in as could have been… It is just a shame that this honestly does not look like it has been modified to take advantage of the GameCube’s extra horsepower. This really does not bode well for the rest of the game, but thankfully the track designs and the general city of Bayview where you spend a lot of your time roaming around GTA-stylee are visually impressive, with the frame-rate proving to be more than adequate in one-player mode. Thankfully you have some friends, like the lovely Brooke Burke to help you along.Nice!īooting NFS: U2 up and sitting through the annoying loading times you are greeted with some poorly compressed FMV clips, static comic book-esque images that drive the story along and car models that are barely up to PlayStation 2 standards. That is until you are run off the road by some thugs and must gradually build up your reputation from scratch, racing on any of the underground tracks that are offered, all in the hope of finding and inflicting painful revenge on the people who almost ruined your career. The storyline that forms the basis of the main career mode of play is somewhat banal in the fact that you are King of the Underground, a legend amongst legends, simply unbeatable. ![]()
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